- 2 days ago
Andrew Callahan joined Toucher & Hardy to react to Mike Vrabel’s bloody dive into a training camp pile, calling it a classic example of his gutsy but risky style. He broke down the Patriots’ joint practice with Washington, pointing out defensive issues but noting the team looks faster and more competitive than last year. Callahan discussed the offensive line’s struggles, rookie Will Campbell’s potential, and the defense’s improvement throughout practice. He also said this is the most confident and stable the team has felt in years, especially with a clear starting quarterback.
Image courtesy of USA TODAY NETWORK
Image courtesy of USA TODAY NETWORK
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00:00What did you make of Vrabel launching himself into the pile and coming out
00:03bloodied yesterday?
00:05I liked it almost as much as that sound you played heading into the segment
00:11that we can't let our emotions get the better of us as we practice the way we
00:14want to play.
00:15Look, I think it was a great reminder that very often Mike Vrabel is a meathead
00:22genius and that applies to just football as a whole and that there's still that
00:26old player that we watched 20 years ago very much inside him.
00:30But then also he'll have times where he is a genius meathead.
00:32And this was more of the latter in that he dives in to try to save something
00:36without thinking, oh, if I'm at the bottom of the pile and I come out with a
00:40fractured forearm, how does that look to a bunch of guys who I just told be safe,
00:45we want to stay healthy, the season is still a month away, and I'm not even
00:48wearing pads.
00:49So I enjoyed it.
00:50I just think we're overlooking the fact that that could have gone very poorly for
00:54the new head coach of the Patriots.
00:56How premeditated was that, do you think?
00:58I don't think at all.
01:01You think it was just a gut instinct that I got to protect my guys?
01:06The thing about Vrabel is that he has been the same guy since high school.
01:11And Michael Holley can tell you this as someone who actually covered him in high
01:14school out in Ohio and that he's sarcastic and he's a smart ass and he's tough
01:18and he's brilliant when it comes to football.
01:21And that also he'll jump in there without second thought.
01:24And by the way, this is not the first time he's done this.
01:26This happened down in Tennessee a few years ago.
01:29So yeah, I think this was just pure Vrabel instinct.
01:32How much of this has to do with the fact that Joe Mazzullo was at camp last week?
01:36Oh yeah, push hands.
01:38And has he influenced Mike Vrabel to go down this route?
01:44Yeah, I think it's undeniable, Hardy.
01:45I mean, look, anything that happens a week ago has to influence the next week.
01:51And this is the clearest and most obvious example in life.
01:53I mean, Joe Mazzullo has nothing else to do for the next 12 months but to hang out with
01:57Mike Vrabel and try to convert him because we know the Celtics season is not looking great
02:01with Chris Boucher as the new starting center.
02:03Come on down.
02:04But, you know, look, I think it was funny in retrospect that Mike made a comment about
02:09we've got very different personalities, but he likes to learn.
02:12So I appreciate that about him.
02:14And in this moment, of course, he looks no more like Joe Mazzullo than he ever has before.
02:19Okay.
02:21Not that they were giving accounts and descriptions beyond the scope of what is allowed by the NFL,
02:26but Zolak and Bertrand yesterday, I heard mention of the fact that when Washington was
02:31out there and on offense, a lot of positive plays, a lot of positive plays against the
02:36Patriots defense yesterday during the joint practice.
02:39And for a team whose defense is supposed to be their calling card and the, you know, the
02:43superior component of this team, did you see that yesterday?
02:47And what else did you see defensively before we get into the offensive stuff?
02:52Yeah, I'll start at the end, which was probably their best period where the commanders like
02:58Drake May did the series later had 45 seconds, started the 25 yard line.
03:02And the last play of that series was Alex Austin, your new number three corner, batting a ball
03:06in the way in the end zone from Jaden Daniels to force the turnover on down.
03:09So the defense had its moments.
03:11The areas that they brought up, because I was watching the defense virtually all of practice,
03:15were two problems.
03:17Number one is the perimeter run defense was atrocious.
03:20Like anytime Washington ran a zone read and handed the ball off or had a pitch or a toss
03:25or whatever it was, they got basically an explosive play.
03:28Like the guys on the edge, Keon White, Harold Landry once or twice, not good.
03:32The other part is they had real trouble covering Dak Ertz.
03:34And this speaks to something in the safeties room where, you know, we know Kyle Duggar and
03:38Jabril Peppers and Jalen Hawkins.
03:39There's a lot of talent in there, but there's also a lot of overlap and the skills that they're
03:43missing, specifically covering man to man or just one-on-one in some of these zone coverages
03:48that convert to man as the routes develop, is missing.
03:51And that showed through.
03:52Part of that is going to be adjustment to the new scheme.
03:55But, you know, Jaden Daniels started 4-4, and a lot of those throws were 15 yards downfield.
03:59They cooled late, but those are the two big issues that I think those guys are hinting at.
04:03But taking a look at it from a macro point of view, I read you and Mike and Phil, and it
04:08seemed to me that the Patriots were better than this overall.
04:12It seemed to me that all of you came away with the theory that maybe the Patriots got
04:17the better of things by a slim margin at the end of the day.
04:20Yeah, I do think so.
04:21I think they were faster and more athletic, which is drawing, you know, considering how
04:26many times we've not said that for like, what, the last five, six, maybe seven years,
04:30even the end of the Brady era.
04:32And accounting for Jaden Daniels as the other quarterback of the other team.
04:35But, you know, after that first period or two for the starting defense where they were
04:39getting carved up, you had a stack from Harold Landry, Marcus Jones, Christian Barmore got
04:43through with a couple of pressures.
04:44You know, Milton Williams is more or less a non-factor, which is not great for a guy
04:47getting his paychecks.
04:49But the point is, once the defense evened out and you're watching the offense start to
04:53finish, the offense had the better performance start to finish.
04:56So that, to me, is what gave them the slight upper hand.
05:00Okay.
05:02Let's talk a little bit more about the offensive line, because it's been 45 seconds since it
05:08was mentioned.
05:09By anybody, anywhere.
05:10Will Campbell, obviously still the, I guess, the main topic of conversation there.
05:16But as a unit, there was some shuffling going on last week and trying to different positions.
05:21Is it coming together with any consistency yet?
05:24Not yet, Hardy.
05:26And it's due to a couple of things.
05:27Number one is that Cole Strange entered as their starting left guard and they got demoted
05:31after a week.
05:32And that has not changed.
05:33Jared Wilson, their third-round rookie, who they're really, really happy with, and I think
05:37for good reason, is now that starting left guard.
05:39So you've got to line up change on one side.
05:40The opposite side, Morgan Moses is on this largely load management plan, though he sounds
05:46a little bit nicked up.
05:47And he didn't perform at all yesterday, which leaves a revolving door of old pal Demetri
05:51Jacobs, who we watched for most of last season and didn't have many good things to say at
05:55our televisions while we were doing so, as well as a seventh-round rookie in Marcus
05:59Bryant.
05:59And so, you know, Mike Unwenu really has been the lone pillar there of consistency in terms
06:05of availability and of performance.
06:07The one person I've not mentioned, of course, yet is Will Campbell.
06:10And Will Campbell continues to be a mixed bag at left tackle, which I don't think should
06:13shock anyone.
06:14And that, number one, rookie offensive tackles, even those drafted in the top five and top
06:18ten, historically are not very good as rookies.
06:22Number two, when I say mixed bag, there are some flashes of you see the athleticism that
06:26even when he might lose the initial part of a rep, he's still holding on because of
06:30how flexible and how strong he is from a position that doesn't look good, but he's keeping
06:34the guy in front of him.
06:35So, Zach Cox and Doug Cuyter-Herald did a great job.
06:37They watched every single rep of the offense and came away with him getting a win, a tie
06:41and a loss, an individual pass rush, and giving up probably a couple of pressures in what
06:45was, you know, 30 to 40 snaps to the starting offense.
06:49Okay.
06:49What, you saw all of this action yesterday, but the two teams still have a game to play
06:54tomorrow night.
06:54I mean, how much are we going to see the starters tomorrow evening based on what you saw yesterday?
06:59So, my sense would be, Wallach, that it's probably a series or two, maybe three, and
07:06this will depend on the player.
07:08Like, the Patriots, this training camp, more than any time in the Belichick era last year
07:12with Gerard Mayo, are really treating players on an individual basis when it comes to their
07:17health and, again, their load management.
07:18So, for example, sometimes Harold Landry just got an off day last week on a Wednesday.
07:23Morgan Moses, I've told you, has been in and out of the lineup.
07:24Carlton Davis gets to apparently take off every practice except for walkthroughs because that's
07:28the only time we've seen him.
07:30So, history would tell us, and Mike Rabel did yesterday, okay, the guys will probably
07:33start, and then they'll exit because all of the starters got a lot of run yesterday, and
07:37ultimately, if anyone got hurt, you know, August 8th or whatever it's going to be, yeah,
07:42August 8th tomorrow, there's no good way to explain that, of why we had those guys out
07:47there.
07:47So, I think it'll be quick.
07:49Okay.
07:49And how much different is it than last year?
07:51You mentioned that, you know, they're treating players individually.
07:55I remember after the first joint practice last year, people were flipping out about how
08:00crappy everything was.
08:02Is there a considerable sense of more professional?
08:07It's a more professional operation.
08:09Did the players seem more talented?
08:11Like, what's your overall read compared to last year?
08:14Absolutely more talented, and I'll put it this way.
08:16You know, when the Eagles did come in last year and kick the Patriots' ass, there was a
08:21big talent gap.
08:22There was a big coaching gap.
08:23Everything was evident, okay?
08:24The Eagles, of course, go on to play the Commanders in the NFC Championship game, and we all know
08:28the Eagles are much better than the Commanders, but the Commanders come in here yesterday at
08:31the same place and face the same team with the same logo in the Patriots, and they were
08:36not the better football team, the team that was in the NFC title last year.
08:40So, what does that mean?
08:41It means all the talent the Patriots brought in via the draft and for agency and flipping
08:44over 48% of the roster has shown some improvements.
08:48As far as the coaching goes and the energy, it is the most competitive training camp we've
08:53seen, I think, in the last five, six years, really since the end of the Brady years, and
08:59it's not just to do with the talent, it's the tempo.
09:02So, that has been balanced with, again, the load management piece, which Belichick never
09:05really did anything with.
09:07Mike Vrabel going, hey, we're going to have three walkthroughs in the first 12 days of
09:10practice.
09:11And it shocked me.
09:12But the only one I really quibbled with was day three, because I just think everyone
09:14probably had more to give on day three of training camp, knowing day five was going to be an
09:18off day.
09:19But the point is, they're working smarter, and then when they are working hard, it's
09:23as competitive and fierce as any camp that I've seen.
09:25So, it's so far so good.
09:27Well, I have one question about the wide receivers.
09:29Terry McLaurin wasn't there yesterday for Washington.
09:32I'm curious, from your point of view, did yesterday push the Commanders to trade McLaurin to the Patriots
09:37or to keep him?
09:37No, I think it pushed the price up for his agent, who just had to be smiling at all of
09:42the tweets coming in about how James Daniels started well, but they couldn't complete a
09:46single pass to a receiver, because their receiver stunk, and probably do stink without him.
09:51So, that's something new in Washington.
09:53I think he's going to stay.
09:54I know Diana Rossini said in your airwaves yesterday that he's just going to stay, and
09:58there's no chance he gets traded.
09:59And I think she's right.
10:01I didn't even think about, until you mentioned the fact that the starters might be in there for
10:05a series or two, because it's, you know, Drake May, it's Will Campbell, it's Stephon Diggs.
10:11It's going to be a lot of Josh Dobbs tomorrow night.
10:14This is the first Patriots camp in a long time where the quarterback situation is, I would say,
10:22clear cut from the start, and also not much else to talk about other than the starter.
10:28I mean, this probably hasn't happened going back to the first post-Brady year.
10:32Yeah, or how about this?
10:34You just feel good about it, right?
10:36Like, there is certainty here, and you go, okay, I know the guy, and I know he's talented.
10:41And, yeah, there's been no kind of calm about this since 2019, because 2020, of course,
10:46we didn't get any preseason or training camp.
10:47You didn't know how much Cam Newton, who signed in June of that year, had left, and
10:51then he's battling a rookie after throwing more picks and touchdowns the year before.
10:54So, yeah, you're absolutely right.
10:55I will say, though, because of the amount of work that Josh Dobbs got in yesterday, Doug Hyde had
11:00them 18 or 22 for us at the Herald, I think Ben Woldridge is also probably going to get
11:04a lot of run, because this is what happens in the joint practices.
11:08You get a ton of snaps there and reps.
11:09That's what the coaching staff counts as, kind of your work for the week.
11:12And then the other guys who didn't play a whole lot, well, now you have to see them
11:14in the game.
11:15Yeah.
11:15Yeah.
11:16And I'll tell you what, it's exciting.
11:18Oh.
11:19I mean, you get three series into that thing.
11:21Okay.
11:21So, yeah, Josh Dobbs, exciting enough.
11:25Woodridge?
11:26Woodridge?
11:27Who is it?
11:27Woldridge?
11:28Is that right?
11:29Woldridge.
11:29Woldridge.
11:30Woldridge.
11:30Yeah.
11:30Sorry.
11:31That's who I'm excited about.
11:32Yeah.
11:32The possibility of seeing him for, like, maybe an entire half.
11:36That's the first time I've heard that name in my entire life.
11:39And I'm on this station.
11:41Joe Milton's replacement is the third stringer.
11:43Oh, Joey Milt.
11:44I mean, you've heard the rumors about his career going up, up, up, up, up, up, up.
11:49Oh, yeah.
11:50He's got a cannon.
11:50If you can picture a quarterback who's just the complete diametric opposite of Joe Milton,
11:55that's Ben Woldridge.
11:56I'll put that.
11:56So he's smart.
11:57That's it.
11:57For all the latest from the Sports Hub, download the app at 98.5thesportshub.com.
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