- yesterday
On Monday’s Toucher & Hardy, ESPN’s Mike Reiss said nine wins is a “fair” but optimistic goal for the Patriots, citing a favorable early schedule and improved coaching. Fred and Wallach said it all hinges on rookie QB Drake Maye avoiding mistakes, while raising concerns about the O-line and receivers—even with Stefon Diggs. Reiss noted Maye’s growth under Josh McDaniels and called Diggs’ healthy return a good sign. Plus, he brought a fun game for the guys about concerts he went to this offseason.
Images courtesy of USA TODAY NETWORK
Images courtesy of USA TODAY NETWORK
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00:00mike here we go um the i'm gonna try not to lead you anywhere but i still may the the win totals
00:09that people are putting on this patriots team this year are high uh high enough where there
00:14would they would be in the wild card conversation late in the season um just what is your feeling
00:21let's go macro and then we can break it down a little bit what's your feeling on those kinds
00:26of expectations not let's say nine wins is an expectation what what do you think of that
00:32fair okay that's the first word that comes to mind i i do think the schedule gives them a chance
00:38fred like they got a chance to start fast with three of their first four at home and i think if
00:44you were to say what are the hardest games on their schedule baltimore buffalo cincinnati maybe like
00:53those are those are later in the year other than the week five at buffalo right because you're
00:57playing buffalo twice so i think combination of personnel improvements schedule coaching
01:05i think they got a chance okay so to me there's a tremendous amount of pressure on drake may
01:12and this is my thinking is that last year he proved he had the mental acuity to be an nfl quarterback he
01:21could handle it he has all the physical attributes you'd want in an nfl quarterback this year though
01:27if they are to win nine games he can't make many mistakes if you're going to win nine games you got
01:35to be a pretty consistent quarterback that's a big leap um do you that that seems like people are
01:43almost certain that that's going to happen and you know you know the area if there's a couple games
01:50in a row where he throws late interception or or he's off and i don't think this is going to bother
01:56him from what i've gleaned from other people about him but you know the attitude on drake may could
02:01change fast is there more pressure on him this year than last year oh i think absolutely more pressure
02:07on drake this year than last year and i think you hit on a good point fred when i think back to what
02:12we watched in the spring and how drake and josh mcdaniels the returning offensive coordinator
02:18worked together two things stood out to me number one drake by the end of the spring felt like he was
02:25i think his words you know hitting a stride because it is a change in a new system and i think the second
02:31part that i observed is that josh is trying to impart on drake the saying and i think peyton manning used
02:39to say it you never go broke taking a profit and that was like one of the greatest things i thought
02:44brady would do over the years hey kevin fox there in the flat just throw it to him like don't always
02:52wait for the biggest play and i think that leads to some of those mistakes you're talking about
02:59and the the turnover numbers need need to come down i i think nine wins is a lot to ask for this
03:06team i think that there are a lot of people a lot of 30 somethings and younger that get caught up in
03:12okay we're back to winning now all the problems are over look look at drake may he's going to be
03:16spectacular you guys just detailed it but the people in front of him there are a lot of questions
03:21garrett bradbury was let go by the vikings for a reason he graded out as one of the worst centers
03:26in the national football league he's the starter for you and i don't care where will campbell was
03:30drafted to expect him to hit the ground running and be a big physical dominant left tackle
03:35is also a lot to ask because that is mike hard to ask a left tackle in the nfl to be
03:41you know to be very very good their their rookie years or am i wrong there no you're right and i
03:48think two things one i just back to drake i mean he's still very young let's not forget that we are
03:53going to see mistakes exactly okay oh yeah sure and that doesn't mean and my point is if he makes
03:59mistakes they don't win nine games that doesn't mean drake may is a bad quarterback it means he's he's
04:04still growing in in getting used to the speed of the game and in in catching up go ahead and you
04:10also it's a function of not only the offensive line the receivers are better but not particularly
04:17great i mean no one really knows what stefan diggs is going to be but he's not going to be
04:21110 catch 15 touchdown guy and he's your best guy coming off a major injury all i'm saying is i look at
04:29nine wins and i think wow that's a lot to ask considering they've coming off back-to-back four
04:35win seasons i think six maybe seven is much more fair for this team and not to expect much more than
04:41that so so my thought is i wouldn't expect nine but i think it's possible based on the pieces and
04:48going back to fred's part of point about the offensive line left tackle to me a good uh comparison
04:54point here is 2001 if we were to go back they draft matt light in the second round similar to
05:01will campbell and that there were questions about the physical stature the arm length we went through
05:05all that in the spring so you can do it right with a good offensive system gets the ball out fast
05:11protect the offensive linemen but john to your point the same questions we've had about the offensive line
05:18in the last two three years i am still asking the same question i don't think they've snapped your
05:24fingers and solved it that's still tbd based on what we see here in camp and what unfolds and going
05:30back to like the jumping off point where you're looking at the schedule and you see where the tough
05:34games are and this is something that we've been talking about you know since before the schedule
05:38came out any team that you circle as a winnable game for the patriots that other team is thinking the
05:46exact same thing so if you're you know whether it's vegas or miami with the issues that they're
05:52going through right now and and it's carolina or new orleans whatever all those teams are thinking the
05:57exact same thing whether it's home or away like oh patriots well okay we'll get a win there you know
06:03that's they're just kind of banking on that even with their new coach yeah even with their new coach
06:08who else do they have what are they what are they you were dealing with a second year quarterback
06:12drake may who we think might be good but looking at him last year other than just how he looked
06:17you know taking snaps and and and you know being in the huddle he didn't do much to to i i guess
06:25create all this confidence and there is a lot of confidence people like him they like the way he
06:30looks he looks like he's going to be an nfl quarterback but you can't base it on anything
06:35other than how you feel because if you just do it on the results and what actually happened last year
06:41no every other team i think is right to be looking at the patriots as a win on their schedule let me
06:47ask you guys this and i'll be quick on it if i were to go through the first four games and tell you
06:51what you know if i were to predict the wins losses to challenge me on this like i think they should
06:55beat the raiders at home in the home opener one and oh probably lose at miami week two just because
07:01it's always tough down there one and one come back home against the steelers tough game week three
07:07aaron rogers i'll even i'll even call it a loss i mean they lost to aaron rogers last year in week
07:12three at the jets so they're one and two and then home against the panthers in week four i feel like
07:16they should win that game you're two and two coming out of september so you've sort of held serve for
07:22lack of a better term and then you're going into october so you got a chance is what i'm saying just
07:27to get off i mean agree disagree um because if we're talking about getting to that nine number john
07:33you got to start somewhere and you want to start in september that's fair it's certainly it's
07:38certainly it's plausible that they win two of those first four games in whatever way because
07:43i mean the raiders are a different team now and i'm not sure that's a win but i'm not sure and i know
07:49they have trouble in miami but i'm not sure that's a loss i'm not sure the stealers are a loss so like
07:54yeah they're there you could look at the schedule and certainly see that and i and if i'm a patriot fan
08:00what i basically want is come late november early december you're in the conversation that's all
08:07is that that the season's not over in early december and that's fun so that's really all you
08:13can ask for as a fan look it'd be great if they made the playoffs it's a building block right
08:18they're not washington i mean i don't think they're going to go and you know beat the number
08:23one seed in the afc like it'd be that kansas city or buffalo or whoever you know in the first round
08:29of the playoffs or their their second round of the playoffs but just to there's a chance if there's
08:35a chance in december for them to make the playoffs i would look at that as a hugely successful year
08:41because the decembers have been brutal absolutely brutal around here uh recently over the last few
08:49years just just a thought on that fred um last year remember they had the late bye and then they go
08:54at arizona coming out of the bye already eliminated from the playoffs and i'm sitting there guys and
09:01you know we've had tremendous good fortune as reporters fans with this team going back to you
09:08know call it 1993 even with bill parcells but even the belichick years right and it's a whole new world
09:14when it's december 7th you're entering the bye already eliminated from the playoffs and you're thinking
09:20to yourself am i supposed to already be reporting on the draft which is in april so to your point
09:26fred avoid that and then bring it to the current situation why this weekend to me what what should
09:33people know that are following this team they had their rookies come in uh and they had their
09:39quarterbacks and players coming back from injury report we know the rest of the players reporting
09:45tomorrow stefan diggs was there i know that for a fact and he was not placed on the physically unable
09:53to perform list or the non-football injury list which tells us they i believe they expect him to be
10:01on the field for the first practice wednesday so you're if you're looking for momentum just to start
10:07camp right like this is a good place to start like that that absolutely that is significant
10:13development to me oh absolutely yeah stefan diggs like a receiver a veteran receiver that shows up
10:20and is ready to go yeah absolutely and and just to follow up on that i love to tell the story um
10:25when randy moss first came to the patriots in 2007 and we were watching practice and we and i watched him
10:33run and i i said oh i've never seen that like he is going so fast but it looks so effortless and so i
10:41always have said who who's not who's the next randy moss but who looks different when you're watching
10:48practice as a reporter and i don't want to say stefan diggs is randy moss please don't take it this way
10:55but when i was watching the drills in the spring it and maybe this speaks to the rest of the receivers
11:01yeah but he looks different guys yeah i mean diggs is a is a pro bowl receiver i mean diggs is a guy
11:08who's had a tremendous amount of success in the league do you have a game for us today i have a
11:12game in the spirit of dan roach i i roachy one time came in i think he had like a game of uh you know
11:17trivia or something like that so you know i love concerts so i sent in one short video clip from
11:25each concert that i've been to this off season and i want you to guess great game name of either
11:33the song or the band and we'll see who comes out oh i think we need to end i think in order to claim
11:39a point you have to come up with artist and title okay all right because well he goes to very some
11:44very obscure show i know all right what if it's not in english i mean then we're gonna have a problem
11:49all right so these are all shows you've been to and these are videos that you've taken are these
11:54taken from the internet these are videos i've taken shows that i've been to since call it early may
12:01oh wow and and that song we just heard coming in was miles smith which was not part of the game but
12:07we just put it in as the lead-in that was at house of blues in may and i just put it in there because
12:12i wanted you to know even though my favorite shows are the ones that take me back to the 80s
12:17like that that's a younger guy so i can mix it up interesting i'm gonna do uh a little final
12:24jeopardy trick right now sometimes they'll just announce the cat you will every time they announce
12:28the category and then go to break i try and come up with the answer not knowing the question
12:32i'm writing down right now level 42 something about you
12:36and they love it even though that's one of the great song pop songs ever written
12:43it that band live now i mean the guy was not pleasant to look at back in the day
12:4875 i'm putting that down as a preemptive answer but let's see let's see if i'm right here we go
12:54here is the first concert that our man michael reese uh went to
12:58oh come on that's easy
13:03we all got it yeah it just it sounds so good
13:08how many surviving members mike if you had was that kelly keegee that was kelly keegee wow nailed it
13:18and um and jack blades lead singer and what what i loved about so that was down at foxwood's great
13:24oh by the way we should probably tell people what the song was for those sister christian
13:28night ranger yes um that was fun i was next to someone front row had the night ranger tattoo
13:35right on the arm did they also have something around their ankle to make sure
13:40one point each well done gentlemen here we go all right we move on
13:46oh yeah okay yeah okay we all got it we all got it it's hard hard barracuda well done um again
14:00a serena in boston tough part about that show and wilson playing through pain
14:04left elbow injury slipped on some ice was singing in a wheelchair um but oh you gotta gotta gotta
14:11gotta respect the effort how did the wilson sisters look uh nancy was was uh on the guitar was
14:18like moving around it was hard to be healthy john robust yeah yes what yes two points well done
14:25wait so the injured one good start i tried was the injured one the bigger one or the or the smaller
14:32one which one which one which one was injured the the bigger one was injured yes oh so it was a lot
14:37like seeing him 20 years ago that's what that was what i was was she's emerged in water like she was in
14:42the entire dreams video for no reason that was the meanest video and i mean that sincerely like i that was
14:49mean in the video for dreams there's there's uh nancy wilson's like is it nancy's the the guitar player
14:55right she's running around like dancing mary and cameron crowe and then there's ann wilson just
15:00submerged right up to her eyes to her eyes yeah they filled up that tub and then the one of the
15:06pas came in said whoa whoa whoa we got to take some of the water out yes now that's a science joke
15:12uh by the way was the uh the the drummer singing in the night ranger concert kelly keegee okay so he's
15:20still still does he's still behind the kit and singing okay because eventually phil collins
15:26came out from behind the kit phil collins i saw him it was very sad he had to sit at a table out
15:31the front it was similar to the heart yeah degenerative thing happening yeah okay all right we're all doing
15:36oh i got it
15:42okay uh okay i think i know um i've got it okay so the song is you know and i know do you know the
15:57song no i do not okay so you're out you've been gone away yeah yeah i've been missing you okay is that
16:05tom nope that's the first thing i thought of but that's wrong it's john wait
16:11one point for hardy uh fred you were close uh on my list of most underrated 80s singers right up at
16:19the top gotta see him city winery in boston great intimate show i think that goes hand in hand like
16:26coldplay at gillette very intimate yeah i don't think you needed to say intimate in that show i think
16:30you were over explaining they wait to start time till you showed up no they well no they waited until
16:36his basement uh cooled off all right here we go uh here's another uh show mike reese went to
16:42all right we all know the song and and so i take it it's starship it's a it's a we built this city
16:58they're actually in concert at the loon later this summer oh yeah we're supposed to promote that yeah
17:03um go ahead so um actually that's dip there's two jefferson starships this was up at the cabot
17:10in beverly i wanted to see the theater that's part of the reason i went i had never been there
17:14um one of the originals david freiberg he's 86 years old like just tip your cap
17:20this game is so fun valley thing where he's kind of talking he looks animatronic i mean he's
17:26he i no i mean he was i couldn't believe it is there is that promiscuous woman still in it no
17:33grace slick no grace slick katherine richardson it has been 17 years i mean but and i will say
17:39fred sold out wait grace is dead sold out yeah well yeah i mean listen you can get 12 people into
17:46anything i can't wait for you to hear this next one all right here we go mike reese has been to all
17:50these concerts here we go oh how about that you saw this guy wow
17:59now there were chairs or are you standing during this this was td first of all
18:12barry manilow barry manilow okay yeah td garden sold out sold out took my dad for his 81st birthday
18:20this was unbelievable it was unexpectedly the best show out of all these people i would guess
18:27with apologies to the uh criminally underrated john wait according to mike reese yes uh that
18:34barry manilow is the one most likely to be able to still go out there and play and sound and sing
18:40like he did 40 years ago unbelievable had had people laughing crying singing uh great atmosphere
18:48right especially for the uh he wrote he was 81 years old for those curious didn't he write a lot
18:53of uh commercial jingles too he did the american bandstand and i think he wrote the like a good
18:58neighbor steak farm that's right well he was all what he always was was a diy kind of guy he was
19:04always anti-corporate the entire time all right here is uh mike reese
19:08yeah that is tesla yes and that is signs yes well done i how about that turn barry manilow to
19:23tesla who does that all right mike reese does that hampton beach hampton beach general admission
19:29ticket fifty dollars wait in line a couple hours before you're right a couple of hours i was with
19:34i i didn't know anyone i was by myself made friends great night and security up there was
19:40fantastic we needed them yeah we needed them great night good job these are all like in the last few
19:45months yeah since may this is phenomenal best off season mike we have time for one more so you pick
19:51which clip you want fred to play seven eight nine or ten was eddie trunk at the show i kind of want to
19:55do them all yeah let's do them all let's just do okay let's rip through them let's do them all right
20:00mike put the effort in let's i'm enjoying this all right here we go here's mike reese
20:04and he sounds just like uh steve perry right this is this is so journey isn't touring this was a
20:17tribute band voyage actually has some boston roots and even the replacement singer and this is a
20:24replacement band well and and went with my 13 year old son we sing it all the time it was great great
20:30family and my father-in-law that was in worcester and he wanted to go he want my son wanted to go
20:35it was great we were his family uh with my father-in-law so let's drive out to worcester to
20:40see a cover band a cover band i they're great okay you like journey go see him all right so i won't be
20:47going all right so here we go
20:50james taylor yes wow yes that's i would have said that i'll keep this one tight i mean this was
21:00i wanted to do the tanglewood experience you know he plays out there july 3rd 4th we were vacationing
21:05out there me and my wife went to see james taylor at how's the voice um 77 years old starting to feel
21:11it when you're um doing the slower song i run into him from time to time james taylor he's around
21:16sold out 18 000 there jesus oh yeah oh yeah oh believe me in the summer james taylor oh yeah
21:22that's believe me everyone goes i i that that sells out he could play to whoever he wanted to out there
21:28he'd play to a million if he wanted to all right here we go
21:31oh my god no way where were these guys so wang chung everybody have fun tonight where did you see
21:47these guys great job john um this was we all knew i want i want your 80s i want your 80s tour this is
21:53the rick springfield thing that he does every summer of course we had paul young wang chung
21:59john wait saw him on the double um and then rick springfield i put that one in there um that was in
22:05uh connecticut i have a friend of mine who loves rick springfield we're like yeah let's go
22:09all right big soap opera guy now is uh what did wang chung do that song twice or did they
22:15what did they do they've got a couple they've got a couple other ones but they're like where there's
22:19four acts they only played like call it five six songs okay so that's actually tolerable
22:24yeah well you guys are crushing this great job all right here we go
22:28oh god i know this song
22:34tell the guy next to you knock it off
22:43did so go to this with you oh all right i got it oh i know now i finally got it took me that long
22:53yeah it's rio speed wagon and uh okay that was this past weekend it's it's believe it or not they
23:01can't use the name it's the kevin cronin band but it's rio speed wagon without the name they've
23:05like a lot of those 80s bands they have a little dispute you know so they they can't use the name but
23:10that was at uh mansfield he was uh opening for sticks have you ever heard our crash clark interview
23:17with ken and kevin cronin no oh you wouldn't like it oh no he would like it uh because because crash
23:24was a huge fan of the band and then felt slighted by them backstage one time so he confronted kevin
23:30cronin we can play that for you the next time you're in please someone make a note hardy with the win
23:35by one oh certainly great job guys well deserved win by hardy i couldn't i knew it was weights of
23:42some sort i didn't know the first name all right uh mike look forward to talking to you all season
23:47you're the best thank you for coming in with the game awesome if you like that clip and how could
23:51you not check out more videos from toucher and hardy here point slightly up and to the left for
23:57more patriots analysis and opinion hit this playlist point slightly down and to the left
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