Patriots' LB Jahlani Tavai joins the show!

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Patriots' LB Jahlani Tavai joins the show! Tavai on Bill Belichick and being on social media.

Transcript

00:00on time this morning and ready for football. Here he is. Hey,

00:04Jelani. How you guys doing? How are you? I'm good. Ready and

00:11excited. Did you get to watch any of that game last night?

00:14Not at all. Nothing. Leap by the first quarter. Really?

00:20Alright, good. That's good. You get that rest. Yeah. You got

00:23your eight hours or your or your ten hours. That's good.

00:27Jelani. Jelani. We did it. When you obviously approaching

00:31this game, I guess it seems like it's still up in the air. We

00:34talk to Mayo. You guys are gonna prepare like Jamar Chase

00:37is playing. If he does play, what are some of the problems

00:41that he he's gonna create for that defense? I mean, he's a

00:46dynamic receiver. You know, he's he got a a big catch radius

00:51and you know, we just gotta make sure that we do our jobs

00:54on on the back end and make sure we just secure our

00:57tackles. We don't want him to if he does catch the ball or

01:02whatnot like we don't we just don't wanna make don't wanna

01:05allow him to become a a threat after after the catch you know

01:11so we just gotta do our job on pressuring Burrow and and

01:17causing him to have those off the clock throws and maybe

01:24that'll that'll be one of the ways that we can limit Chase

01:28at you know receiving the ball or whatnot so we're just gonna

01:33have to play fundamental football and rely on rely on

01:38each other on the defensive side. Jelani, obviously, the

01:41Bengals are a talented team and have been for the last couple

01:44of of years but since 2020, they're one in seven in the

01:47first two weeks of the season. How important is it for you to

01:51capitalize on something like that and make sure that you

01:53guys make a really strong first impression? I didn't even

01:58know that they were like that but I don't I don't look at

02:01people's past because you know it's a whole new team.

02:05They're not they're not the same team that they were last

02:07year and the year before that so we don't know what they're

02:11capable of other than what they put on film and so far what

02:15we've seen on film is that they have really good receivers.

02:18They have a really good offense and it's just another

02:22opportunity and challenge that we we're excited for on the

02:26defensive side and regardless of what happened in the past,

02:30we're just gonna approach it as if it's another brand new

02:33week because I'm sure that they're doing the same thing.

02:36They wanna probably change that, change the script on that

02:40part of what they've been doing. So, we just gotta expect

02:44the expect them to bring their A game. Jelani, one of the

02:48things you just talked about is is kinda getting Joe Barr off

02:51his timing and and his spot a little bit. We always talk

02:54about familiarity and when teams have it, they play

02:58against each other or even personnel. You're gonna have an

03:01opportunity, I think and you talked about this to be a guy

03:03that can come off the edge and put some pressure. You're going

03:06against your former teammate, Trent Brown's gonna be down

03:09there. Obviously, Orlando Brown Junior is one of the other

03:12tackles. What are some of the things that you guys know from

03:16playing with Trent Brown that you might be able to attack to

03:20maybe expose a little bit. Your opportunities coming off

03:23those edges to give Joe Burrow some problems cuz it is really

03:28about that pass rush that you guys can create.

03:33You know, yeah, they got some big tackles, you know, and I

03:37think definitely that's just another, like I said, it's just

03:41another opportunity for us to showcase what we got. Obviously,

03:45I don't wanna go into full detail about what we know about

03:49Trent or Orlando or whatnot, but you know, we have a set

03:53game plan about what we wanna do and we just gotta trust the

03:57process that the game plan is gonna work out. Did you give

04:01Bill Belichick a follow on Instagram, Jelani? I did

04:06actually. Did he follow you back? I'm not sure but I'm

04:13interested to see what he wants to do on on what what do you

04:18call it? Snap face? Is that surprising to you that you see

04:22basically you turn on your TV or you're seeing Bill on a new

04:25show or he's on Instagram. What have you made of all this? Oh

04:29no, it was it was a big shocker for all of us. We were I think

04:33that was a big talk of the locker room yesterday. I don't

04:36know if it was yesterday or the day before but we're we were at

04:40shop when we saw that. Yeah, I mean a tad bit hypocritical. I

04:43guess when a guy is telling you to stay off social media and

04:46then as soon as he's not the coach anymore, he's on social

04:49media. It's kinda interesting. Yeah, well, I mean, I think I

04:53think his biggest message for us is while we're in the

04:56building and and in league, try our best to get off of it. I

05:01mean, he wasn't wrong. It's it's kind of a distraction for a

05:05lot of guys. Yeah. Um and you know, it it helps clear your

05:10mind when you don't see all the noise going around, all the

05:13buzz. So, speaking of noise and buzz, has any of the back and

05:18forth on who should be the starting quarterback affected

05:24you guys been a distraction at all? Not really. Um not really.

05:30I mean, I can just speak on the defensive side cuz we we're

05:34we're just we're we're so focused and dialed in and

05:38regardless on who plays on that side of the ball, we're just

05:40gonna make sure that we have their backs. That's how we

05:43always been preparing and that's how we we've always

05:45played. Whoever's whoever's on that side of the ball. Um

05:50regardless of whatever the situation is in the game,

05:53we're gonna make sure that we continue to just get after the

05:55ball and and get the ball back into the offense's hands. That

05:59way, they can make a play and put some points on the board.

06:02So, yeah, our job is just to make sure we got their backs

06:05and and uh you know, get us out of uh situations. How do you

06:13feel like the defense is this season compared to how they

06:18were last season?

06:21Um I I think I think we're approaching the same way. You

06:25know, um I know I know II probably say the same thing

06:29about our teams uh how different it is every year but

06:32uh I think our approach has never changed. Uh how we are,

06:38you know, we're excited. We're dialed in. We're we're focused

06:40on what we have, you know, on what we have to do and uh come

06:45Sunday, we get to just showcase it all. What was the biggest

06:49difference Jelani now that camp's over and you're getting

06:51ready for week one of uh a Gerard Mayo camp versus Bill

06:55Belichick.

06:58Um I don't know. I I still feel like the page you're away,

07:03you know, but I think I'm I think the difference was just

07:06the energy that's the like the um that male brings. You know,

07:11it's a little bit more youthful and and young uh and yeah, I

07:19don't know. You you gotta be in the building to understand it

07:22because I'm sure I'm sure by the interviews you guys have

07:25with him, you can you can tell that the little uh the little

07:31jokes he probably says or or whatnot but he brings that same

07:34energy that he has with you guys to to the meetings as well

07:37um and and you know, it just never changes. So, we really

07:41appreciate the way that he's been approaching uh his first

07:45year as our head coach. Alright, well, what? Oh no, I

07:48was just gonna ask real quick. Jelani, I know you guys always

07:50talk about it is about the three units, special teams, defense,

07:53and and offense but I've been, I played for teams where one is

07:58a little bit stronger than the than the other is the mindset

08:02from the defense standpoint because you got a lot of

08:04returning guys, a lot of veterans. Is it the mindset

08:07that we have to make sure that we're the strongest unit out

08:11there cuz we're gonna have to carry this football team cuz

08:13it's gonna take some time for the offense to get clicking.

08:18Um we always have that like have that mindset really. It

08:24doesn't matter if our offense was um you know productive or

08:27not like like our mindset is always we gotta be the ones to

08:31set the tone and you know to make sure that the team runs

08:35through us you know and that's how we I guess that's how I see

08:40things um and uh and I'm sure people will see that too but I

08:46don't I don't I don't know. It's more of just like how I

08:53think it's just the type of football that we play on

08:55defense. You know, we're tough and we're freaking. We're just

08:58blue collar workers. You know, we're just we we wanna make

09:01sure that everything's like everybody can rely on us. It's

09:04like I don't know. I don't know. That's a good one. Uh

09:11Rob Ninkovich suggested this week that uh should it be

09:14necessary, he would essentially slap Mac Jones

09:17silly. Who would win in uh who would win in a fight? A

09:21linebacker or a quarterback in in your mind? A linebacker or a

09:26quarterback. Yeah. Any linebacker or quarterback or

09:30are we talking about this situation? I was trying to give

09:34you an out but if you who would win Ninkovich or Mac Jones? Oh,

09:38I don't know. Well, I don't know but if if we're just

09:43talking broad, a broad statement, um I would I would

09:47say a linebacker. Okay. Yeah, I would too. Alright. Alright.

09:51Listen. I would do that. You'd have to put me in the

09:53situation and I'm not gonna I'm not gonna allow myself to let

09:57that happen. The quarterback room Jelani a little happier

10:00this year. Is that the way you would view things? Uh I don't

10:05know. I hope so. Alright. Well, listen. I got nothing but

10:09respect for Mac so. Uh yeah, 100%. There you go. Plus Joe

10:13Milton's a big guy too. Yeah, Joe Milton's yeah, Joe Milton's

10:16a big guy. Alright. Uh he's a big guy. Um alright, listen.

10:20Uh can't wait for Sunday and can't wait to talk to you again

10:23next week. So, uh go get him. Appreciate it. Have a good one.

10:27Alright, there he is. Jelani Tvai on a Patriots Friday. He's

10:32taking Rob Ninkovich. I mean, who wouldn't? Yeah. Yeah. Oh,

10:35absolutely. And I was on the island for a while but um

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