- 5 days ago
On Friday's edition of Zolak and Bertrand, the guys were joined by the voice of the New England Patriots, Bob Socci. While discussing the performance of the coaching staff so far, Socci explained how the new group of coaches have hit the ground running, and have a plan on what they want the team to accomplish.
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00:00In the guest chair is Bob Soce.
00:03Great to see you, friend.
00:05It is great to be here.
00:06I don't know how I can follow that last segment.
00:09It simply tells me where I stand in the pecking order of Zone Bertrand.
00:16It's a Marconi segment.
00:17It's a Marconi segment.
00:19Award winning.
00:20Absolutely, always.
00:21Good to see you, partner.
00:21Good to see you again.
00:22Hey, year 13 coming up, right?
00:24Year 14.
00:2514.
00:26How do I always mess that up every camp?
00:27Season 14.
00:28Season 14.
00:29Which means you guys are getting old.
00:31We're getting old.
00:32Boy, we were lucky.
00:32I was thinking about that.
00:34I saw you earlier.
00:35We were lucky enough to start during the sweet spot of the Brady Belichick era
00:39and sort of just get right into Super Bowls.
00:42Boy, these last two years have been nothing to really write about or think about.
00:47Hey, Bob, imagine if the Pats had kept Brady.
00:50Yes, I have, Beatle.
00:51I have imagined that.
00:55More than once.
00:56But to talk about where this goes from here.
00:58I was mentioning Dizal earlier today.
01:00There is a feeling here.
01:02I don't know how to quantify it.
01:03But there's a feeling here and in this building and with this team this year that maybe finally
01:09there's some light at the end of the dark tunnel that has been the last two seasons.
01:12That things are, in fact, heading in a positive direction with this team.
01:18And we're going to see a lot better football this year, even if it's not a Super Bowl contender
01:23or a team that is definitely in the playoffs.
01:26But you're going to see a football team that has it together.
01:30Yeah, I would agree.
01:31And it tells you how good we've had it when you say the dark tunnel of the last two seasons.
01:36Yes.
01:36When there are franchises that their entire history has been a dark tunnel.
01:40But I think absolutely, and it's the thing that stood out to me in the spring coming here for OTAs,
01:46just the vibe of watching the team and the coaching staff, the feeling of competence and confidence
01:52that you got in things that you heard and the way the fans reacted to the draft, to the free agency period.
01:58And it's continued into this training camp only three days in.
02:02They're going to have rough spots ahead.
02:04There will be certainly days when they don't look good or Drake may throw his interceptions
02:09or there are off-the-field issues.
02:11There always are.
02:11It's the NFL.
02:13But I can't imagine, like, a start for this organization, where it has been these last couple of years,
02:18that realistically could be better than the one they've enjoyed now.
02:22Since Mike Vrabel's hiring, the reaction to that, free agency, the draft,
02:27out of the way people who covered the spring practices, the OTAs and minicamps felt about the team,
02:32and now what we've seen out here.
02:34And really the last couple of days, today being an exception with a smaller crowd,
02:38but I thought two days ago for day one, 5,000 plus,
02:42that was an indication of fans being excited about what they've heard about and read about with this team.
02:47Yeah, sort of that buy-in, too.
02:49And, yeah, we felt it coming undone at the end of last year.
02:52I remember I still tell the story, you and I, sitting there trying to look at the roster,
02:55like, can you even come up with 53 guys that are NFL-type players?
02:59And we had a tough time getting into the 40s as you would go through it.
03:02But it feels like they've sort of replenished some things here, even though there are a lot of new faces.
03:07There's a lot of guys that I don't know that I'm looking forward to get to knowing this
03:10as we get ready to call some games here coming up.
03:11Well, so think about it.
03:12There were starting lineups that didn't have 22 NFL-caliber players,
03:18guys that last year saw significant playing time.
03:21I think, you know, when you look at some of the offensive linemen,
03:24right now they're not even in the picture of making this team.
03:27And I'm thinking of Leighton Robinson, for example, a rookie last year.
03:30When you think about the draft class last year, high picks, not number one pick, of course,
03:34but second-rounder pick, third-round pick, fourth-round pick.
03:38Those are guys that in the past you would count them by year or two to be real contributors.
03:41And I think of three guys in those categories on this team,
03:46they're going to have a tough time making this roster,
03:48just based on the players they've brought in and also, I think, the expectations here now.
03:53Yeah, that pick number 37, it just stands out with Jalen Polk.
03:56You look at the guys that went after him, you know, the Ladd McHulkies you could have had.
04:02You know, the corner that started for the Eagles ends up almost being a Super Bowl MVP-type kid.
04:07But this misses, the misses in the draft to where, you know,
04:11build in draft well towards the end of his career.
04:13Right here.
04:14Or his tenure here, not career.
04:16But just that's the spot we're in right now.
04:18But it feels like we're getting back a little bit.
04:19Well, it seems to me, too, there's continuity in the way Mike Vrabel thinks,
04:24in the way some of the people who are now in the front office think.
04:27You know, when you look at maybe some of the people that he's brought in with him
04:30and on the coaching staff.
04:31And I just see it, too, in terms of the efficiency of practice drills.
04:36There are a lot of coaches on this staff that weren't with Mike Vrabel in the past,
04:40but there aren't enough of them.
04:41Like, they hit the ground running, it seems to me.
04:44And there's a sense that they know what they want to accomplish every day.
04:47And I think you hear that from the players, too.
04:49Yeah, they're not figuring it out.
04:51No.
04:51Right?
04:52There's no trial and error going on.
04:54They know what they're going to do here.
04:56And I know that that's kind of an overplayed.
04:59I mean, we're focusing on it simply because, well, last year was a mess.
05:04But it counts, man.
05:06It counts for something.
05:07If you want to maximize what talent they do have, that needs to be the thing that goes on.
05:11You know, and I think also it goes even past last year,
05:15rewinding to the previous couple of seasons,
05:18the lack of continuity on the coaching staff for Bill,
05:21the changes offensively, the ill-advised,
05:25the ill-conceived idea that you could have Matt Patricia, Joe Judge run the offense.
05:30So I don't want to make it all about last year and Gerard Mayo and his coaching staff.
05:33I think over the last few years we've seen, you know,
05:36a staff that was less with it in that respect
05:41than I think most of the years we've covered, you know, Bill's teams as well.
05:45Not to mention, I know that this sounds ageist,
05:49but having a coach that's young and feeling rejuvenated
05:54with another chance to be a head coach in this league
05:56and being a guy that's still young enough to strap on that pad on his chest
06:00and be out there on day one at camp hitting guys, I'm sorry,
06:03but that level of energy from your head coach is different from,
06:07far different from what you had with Bill at the end.
06:10Well, I think there's also that right mix, too,
06:12where, you know, Vrabel has players stand up in meetings and talk about themselves
06:16and the level of personal interaction that, according to players,
06:22exists between him and them and their families.
06:24So there is part of that, but you know that Mike Vrabel is also going to be
06:29a hard coach and a demanding coach to play for.
06:32And if you don't meet the daily expectations of him and his staff,
06:36which we presume, based on what we've seen and said, are going to be in line,
06:40then you're not going to be around here for long.
06:42And I think they've already indicated that.
06:44Yeah, and I think that's going to be the exciting thing moving forward, too,
06:46that, you know, he's not just going to play guys to play guys.
06:49I think, you know, he's going to have his guys.
06:51I'm anxious to see what they're going to do defensively.
06:53I think the secondary, we had Marcus Jones on today,
06:56say he's going to be predominantly a nickel guy.
06:58And this offensive coordinator knows that he can play some offensive plays.
07:01That was said.
07:03You said Josh definitely knows who he is.
07:04They're going to be manning up.
07:05They've got some hitters in the secondary.
07:07I think the defense is going to be fun to watch this year.
07:09They're going to get after people.
07:10I did, too, and I think, you know, we saw Marcus,
07:12although he played it down in his session with us on the field
07:15in terms of possibly playing offense,
07:17he's been working out in some of the individual drills,
07:20at least on day one, where, you know, there's that sign,
07:24obviously, what he said to you guys today.
07:25But I think, you know, the defense, the level of violence they say,
07:32you know, the way they want to play,
07:33I think it's also reflected by what guys they kept around here.
07:37Maybe Jabril Peppers.
07:38I know that, you know, he's a guy that they had signed a deal,
07:41but just the way he plays, the physicality he brings.
07:43I mean, I think Duggar, his mentality back there at safety,
07:47it's going to blend well with what they've done up front with that front seven.
07:51You think about the way Spillane is reputed to play
07:54and the way they want to get after it up front with a different style,
07:58going more vertical on the defensive line than in the past the two-gap style.
08:01They had his swagger down in Tennessee.
08:03Like, we got our ass kicked defensively by those teams.
08:06That trip down there where Brady hurt the knee in 2018.
08:09Up here, obviously, in the playoffs, they got after our ass pretty good.
08:13That was a violent defense he had.
08:15If he could bring that type of defense here, it's going to give them a chance.
08:18So, very first play of that game in 2018 in Nashville,
08:22I think there was a pass to James White and Kenny Vaccaro laid him out in the backfield.
08:26It might have been the first or second.
08:28The tone was set right then, and I think that's the way this team wants to play.
08:32You got anything to come for him?
08:36What player stuck out to you so far?
08:37Number one player.
08:39Well, the quarterback is comfortable and confident.
08:42He's the number one guy.
08:43I think he's definitely been the most eye-catching to me.
08:47I think that Stephon Diggs, I mean, everybody's talked about how good he looks
08:51and how remarkable it is for him to be coming off torn ACL surgery
08:56halfway through last season, how good he's moved around.
08:59What's most interesting to me is the idea of some of these young guys,
09:04like Jared Wilson, who we didn't see in the spring, but drafted in the third round.
09:08This is a guy who I think is in competition, like a lot of other people do,
09:12for a starting job at guard or perhaps center,
09:15even though they've made a short-term commitment to Garrett Bradbury,
09:19a guy with experience as a highly drafted player in Minnesota.
09:23That's the difference.
09:24Here's the guy, third-round pick.
09:25As I mentioned in comparison to last year, you've got a guy who was an offensive lineman
09:29drafted in the third round to be a tackle who's now going to try to make this team,
09:33it appears, as an interior guy.
09:36And so he's got his work cut out.
09:37It just underscores the difference between one draft class and the other
09:42and where these guys are headed.
09:43Is offensive line still the biggest question on this team heading into the year?
09:46I think so.
09:46The same way it's been for several years.
09:48I think so, yeah.
09:49Yeah.
09:50I mean, we'll find out more, obviously, next week when they put the pads on.
09:52But I don't know how you cannot consider it to be the biggest question.
09:57You know, I think that's assuming Diggs is healthy at wide receiver.
10:01That's assuming that, you know, Kendrick Bourne can approximate what he did for Josh McDaniels
10:05a couple years ago, that DeMarco Douglas continues to get this offense the way he has.
10:10I had some questions about that going back to the spring after the last couple of seasons.
10:15But it looks like he's, you know, not only is this offense made for him,
10:17but it looks like he's made for it, too.
10:20The spacing's going to be interesting here.
10:21And that's why I keep bringing pop-up as, like, something to watch here,
10:24whether it's going to be a good year or a bad year.
10:26Because if he can't understand the spacing, like if you look at past years where
10:30Edelman Walker knew the spots to get to, read zone versus man coverage,
10:34that's going to be a big thing for him.
10:39And if he can do that, he can be a big player in this offense.
10:42He has speed.
10:43Yeah.
10:43I'm going to introduce one other position group that probably doesn't get a lot of air time.
10:48It never does.
10:48But you look back the last couple of seasons, the inconsistencies of the kicking game.
10:56You guys don't want to hear it?
10:57No, I do.
10:57Not the show for it.
10:58No, no, no.
10:59Bart asked me about it.
11:01Bart asked me about it.
11:01I definitely know the next show is not the show to talk about it.
11:05I want kickers out of the sport.
11:07I want to eliminate them.
11:08I'm all done.
11:08But what do you see out of the young kid?
11:10Well, I'm just saying, look, how many games over the last couple of years could have gone into a completely different story?
11:15The right story of the NFL, the games are so much closer now, how many games hinge on a made or missed field game?
11:20Right.
11:20I wish they had missed that kick in Denver a couple of years ago.
11:23Yeah, you weren't on that flight.
11:24Yeah.
11:26You got to put your kids to bed.
11:28You got to put his kids to bed.
11:29Right?
11:30But I think it really bears watching.
11:33You know, the assumption is, draft the kid, he's going to be the guy.
11:37We've also drafted a long snapper, and it's an entire operation.
11:40And I'm not shilling for the Navy guy, but you knew what you had, a long guy in that position, and it is an operation.
11:47I think, you know, we'll see how it plays out.
11:49Do you see any hiccups in it yet?
11:51Well, we saw yesterday, you know, a missed, granted, a bit of a tricky win, but we'll find out more, again, as they put more pressure on them in practice situations.
11:59But even if a guy makes them in preseason, you don't really know until you get into the real pressure of a regular season.
12:05But that's a big turnover, two out of those three specialists, and that has been an area, whether you want to talk about it or not,
12:12that has adversely affected the outcome of games for this team in a considerable way.
12:16When you look at all the games decided by a single score or less, I mean, I go back to the Giants game, for example, a couple years ago,
12:22the game they lost to DeVito.
12:24Chad Ryland makes a kick early in that game even later.
12:26It's a different game.
12:27Right. And the Patriots are a team that will be playing on the margins.
12:30That's absolutely right.
12:31And so that, for them, will be important.
12:33As much as I don't like kickers, that will be important.
12:36So you're spending a week in Minnesota, you're going out there.
12:38You don't like kickers, you've got a revolution cap.
12:40Well, yeah, but that's their sport.
12:42And that's what people go there to see.
12:43They buy a ticket to go there and see kicks.
12:46All kinds of kicks.
12:48You know, all over the place.
12:50That's the sport.
12:51This sport, no one's buying a ticket to come see a kick.
12:53Would we be here right now in this stadium, everything ongoing, new facility?
12:57If not for a kicker, in 2002, January 2002?
13:00I was into kicking back then.
13:02I'm not anymore.
13:02I'm over it.
13:03You know what it is?
13:04I grew up.
13:04It's funny you bring that up.
13:05I became an adult and I realized this isn't really necessary.
13:08We could do without this.
13:09It's funny you bring that up.
13:10I was holding for him and there was a hell of a competition going on between him and
13:16who the hell was the other kicker?
13:17Dawson.
13:18Phil Dawson.
13:18Phil Dawson.
13:18Yeah.
13:19And I didn't think anything of it.
13:20I was thinking, yeah, I was going to be the greatest kicker in NFL history.
13:23Or this Phil Dawson guy could go on elsewhere and have a 16-year career.
13:26But, like, we had two pretty damn freaking good kickers.
13:28You thought Vinatieri was just a guy who didn't know what FUBU clothing had.
13:31He used to wear FUBU clothing.
13:32He had no clue what it stood for.
13:34And he was like.
13:35He liked what he looked at.
13:36You didn't like what you liked.
13:37He was a different cat.
13:38It was either him or Matt Barr.
13:39Matt Barr read a book on an upside-down gallon bucket over there.
13:41You know, it was just.
13:42He was a weird dude.
13:43Single bar face mask.
13:44Kickers were weird guys.
13:44I said, Barr, if I'm going to hold for you, I'm going to either punch you in the face
13:47with that single bar face mask.
13:48You made him get rid of it.
13:49You're going to change it.
13:49Get a quarterback face mask.
13:50He did.
13:51I told him he was going to punch him in the face.
13:52He didn't get rid of that thing.
13:53I said, I can't look at you.
13:54I can't look at you and take you seriously.
13:56I can't.
13:57Like, you're asking for it.
13:59You know, you're asking.
14:00Like, hit me here.
14:01I remember what quarterbacks used to wear.
14:03Joe Theismann.
14:04Yeah.
14:04It's crazy.
14:05Absolutely insane.
14:07Dumb.
14:07Len Dawson.
14:08Yeah.
14:08A single bar and a smoke at half-time.
14:12And a beer.
14:12Bye.
14:14All right.
14:16Crack.
14:16Bob, good stuff, man.
14:17Hey, guys.
14:18Great to see you.
14:18All right.
14:19All right, Bob.
14:19We'll see you again soon.
14:20See you next week.
14:20Bob Soce, voice of the Patriots, with us here at Patriots Training Camp.
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