WEEI Afternoons: Ross Tucker joins the show week of Patriots @ Cardinals

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00:00On the line right now is Odyssey NFL insider Ross Tucker insider calls are brought to you by Hellman's real mayonnaise mayo game day

00:06Be delicious Ross Tucker. What's up?

00:09What up, how are you guys doing doing good now? You're gonna be heading our way pretty soon, right? Are you already here?

00:15No the opposite

00:18Game right the game after I'm sorry. I got mixed up the I mixed up the weeks. All right, so you're heading to Arizona

00:23We won't be seeing you then not that we were gonna anyway

00:26Right, I would think that as a WEI host like knowing where the NFL team's game that weekend is should be

00:34Although it's only Tuesday you probably by Thursday would have figured it out

00:37I probably wouldn't have honestly and the next game is in a way game, too

00:40So I was wrong in pretty much every single part of that either way Ross wherever you're gonna be

00:44You're gonna be calling the games for a team that I'm concerned

00:49Maybe checking out having a late

00:51By week this late into the season and then knowing that these last four games don't really matter in terms of

00:57Competing for anything. They've already been eliminated from the playoffs. You played in the league for several years

01:02How do you how do you stay focused?

01:04How do you how do you not let this season or this last month of the season kind of get away and stay engaged?

01:10Well, so two things first of all

01:13I'm very fired up to be doing the Patriots game because I'm looking forward to meeting Drake May and I'll be honest

01:20I am glad it's in Arizona and not in Foxboro

01:26This time of year, although the Patriots do have pretty stellar press box food like I'll miss the chowder and the

01:33The cookies as big as my head

01:36It's a good question though. It really is because I was in that situation

01:42At least two years of my career, maybe three actually, but definitely two years of my career

01:47I was starting games late in the season that were quote-unquote

01:53meaningless games now what made those games interesting, especially interesting Christian is

01:59in both cases

02:02We kind of knew the head coach was getting fired or we knew there was a decent chance

02:07So guys take that I've noticed one of two ways

02:12You know, like there were guys with the Cowboys Oh to that new Dave Campo was getting fired

02:18They skipped curfew before the last game. They're like, ah, this guy's getting fired anyway, and they skip curfew

02:25See, I was always the opposite and maybe it's because I had already gotten cut once

02:30but I knew I knew exactly what a potential new head coach or

02:35The changes that come as a result of a disappointing season. I knew exactly what that meant, right?

02:42so if anything, I took my

02:46Preparation and I I took everything to the next level

02:51because I was

02:53Thinking one of two things either there's gonna be a lot of change

02:56So I either need to play well enough that they keep me

03:02after they make the change that I'm not part of the change or

03:06If if there is change and I am part of the change I better play well enough on tape

03:12So that somebody else picks me up

03:13so that was the mindset I had and I think a lot of the guys that have been around or guys that are

03:22I guess more aware or smarter about the realities of pro football. That's how they'll handle it

03:29There will be some guys that that maybe aren't as locked in

03:33you know, maybe they're maybe they're not as focused as they should be and I think that's on

03:38Drawed Mayo and the veteran players to get those guys locked in to get them to understand

03:46Why it matters what they're trying to build why they're trying to win these games, even though Andy wasn't to lose

03:52That is true and they've lost a lot

03:54So they are in the top three picks in the draft and that's the reason there have been reports as recently as today

04:00that Robert Kraft if he

04:03Decides that he made a mistake with Gerard Mayo would rectify the situation

04:07Do you think the Patriots should consider moving on from Gerard Mayo after just one season? I

04:16Do not

04:17I'm a little bit surprised that they are

04:22Even considering it, you know, I talk to you guys every week, but that's not the same as you know watching every single

04:30Gerard Mayo press conference or every snap from every game, you know, I always I watched every snap from the Colts game and I

04:39Came away on on some level impressed with how the Patriots were playing and you look at them

04:46Man guys, I mean they don't you look at their offensive line. How many of those guys would start for other teams?

04:53You know, I can tell you right now

04:54None of those guys, maybe maybe on when you would start for like the Eagles

05:00At receiver. I mean you look at the Patriots offense

05:04I'm not sure if any of those guys would start for some of the better teams in the NFL and I've been very disappointed

05:12With how they played on the defensive side of the ball. I think that's the question

05:16That's the question I would have if I was mr

05:20For Mayo is like what what happened on defense, you know, because that's that's the side of the ball where they I think they expected them

05:28to play better

05:29We're talking to Odyssey NFL insider Ross Tucker. He's brought to you by Hellman's real mayonnaise Ross

05:35We got numbers back this week that the Patriots are once again

05:38Bottom of the barrel when it comes to pass blocking the actual stats went right over my head

05:43But they were down at the bottom of the league if you were to rebuild an offensive line from the studs up

05:49What's the first position that you that you take on is that does it matter even and how much does?

05:54Improving one guy on the line sort of help the remaining four

06:00Really really good questions. These are smart smarter questions than then probably you even realize

06:06number one, I would tell you that I

06:10Don't think there's a difference really these days between left tackle and right tackle

06:16You know so many of the best rushers rush over the right tackle that the whole blind side

06:23And this guy's a left tackle

06:26You better have a really good player

06:29at both spots and

06:31In particular right tackle. I mean, you know either guy you can help with one-on-ones

06:37You can give them chip help or whatever slide to them

06:40But you want to have at least one tackle that you feel really good about

06:45So you can slide and help the other guy. I do think tackle is

06:50More important than center of guard. I do I think that they're going to be isolated more often one-on-one

06:58Whereas the interior trio more often. It'll be three on two although

07:03Defenses are doing a much better job now of having five guys on the line and forcing the old line to go big on big

07:10Five-on-five, they're they're much better at that than they were when I was playing

07:15but your second question was super important, which is

07:21Having a really good. Let's say you got Trent Williams to be the left tackle for

07:27For the Patriots next year, whoever you think the best tackle is in the NFL or the best in the draft

07:33It doesn't really do that much the other guys

07:36You know, I mean like what I've always said is

07:39It's most important that you don't have anybody bad than it is that you have

07:46Somebody really good. I'd rather have

07:49Five guy on scale one to ten. I'd rather have five fives

07:54Then have two nine and three twos. Yeah. Yeah, hopefully I'm making sense

08:00Yeah, yeah, there is something these these are the kind of numbers I can follow Russ like this is right

08:05I get this

08:08For you're only as bad you're only as good as your weakest link now, I do think on offensive line

08:14You can probably protect one guy. You can scheme around one guy and

08:21Try to not put him in bad positions whether at the center or guard or even a tackle

08:27Once you have more than one guy who's a problem

08:31Then you have a major major problem because you can't really schematically protect

08:38more than one guy all that effectively, so I

08:43I am NOT I understand teams that draft guys super high and or pay a guy a ton of money and

08:49There is some value if it's like a lockdown pass pro tackle that you can slide the protection away from him a lot

08:57But what really matters is you can't have

09:00Multiple below-average guys out there

09:03Ross what started as a story that I think most people thought was just sort of a PR stunt by somebody or something

09:08We could laugh off has seemingly gotten serious Bill Belichick, North Carolina

09:13The athletic within the last hour said Bill Belichick is considering an offer to become the next head coach at UNC

09:19What do you make of this whole thing? And do you think Bill Belichick would and could be a good college football coach?

09:24Well, so based on my experience playing college football, which is not the current era mm-hmm and

09:32based on my experience

09:34Playing for coach Belichick, which was you know, almost 20 years ago

09:39He would be

09:41Probably by far the worst college head coach I could ever imagine

09:45The idea of the guy that I was around

09:51Recruiting or like going into the living room of a seventeen-year-old. I

09:57Want this to happen so bad I can taste it. I mean if they do it they got to have cameras

10:05Everywhere. I mean the guy when I was in New England was like a hundred percent negative reinforcement

10:10I would love to just see how quickly those kids go into the transfer portal. I mean

10:16It's he look I guess college football has changed now and there's basically going to be a salary cap of like 20 million bucks and

10:24The deal is the deal and and maybe that's something that

10:28Belichick can wrap his head around and maybe he can hire some some really good recruiters

10:34You know one of the reasons why Chip Kelly never had as much success when he went back to college to UCLA is

10:41He doesn't like recruiting. He doesn't like doing it. He doesn't like the recruiting or the donors or all this stuff, you know

10:48college right or wrong is

10:51For the head coach. It's a lot less about the recruiting and the recruiting

10:57It's more about the coaching and the coaching. It's more about the coaching

11:02It's a lot less about the football X's and O's and a lot more about

11:07your personality and

11:10your charisma and your ability to convince

11:15adults to give you money and

11:18your ability to

11:20Convince young people and their parents that that you're the right person

11:26To watch over them and to put them in the best position now

11:30I heard what he said on McAfee and I think that's the right way to say it the right way to sell it is

11:35It'd be an NFL program at the college level and you know

11:39You're hoping people buy that buy that pitch and that that's what you're selling

11:43But man, like I just can't imagine him

11:48Recruiting, you know, I just can't imagine him, you know kissing butt right like that like that's the opposite

11:56Of what of what bill was an NFL head coach the polar opposite

12:01Yeah, it is very hard to imagine. It's hard to envision, but I think it's happening

12:06I mean, it seems like it seems like they're very far along in this process Ross Tucker

12:10Great to talk with you as always

12:11We will enjoy your call on the Patriots and the Cardinals in Arizona

12:15Breaking news the games in Arizona and also next week against Buffalo and Buffalo as well. Thanks so much for the time this week

12:22All right, you guys can't wait that is Ross Tucker insider calls brought to you by Hellman's real mayonnaise

12:27You can purchase Hellman's at your local Walmart Kroger or grocery store to add extra

12:31Deliciousness and creamy flavor to your game day dishes this football season

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