AAFN Week 5

The speaker discusses the recent Patriots game against the Cowboys. They highlight some positive aspects, such as the defense's performance and Trent Brown's improvement. However, they heavily criticize Mac Jones' performance as the quarterback, stating that he made bad decisions and had a really bad game. Julian Edelman also expresses concern about Mac Jones' development. The speaker also mentions the Patriots' struggles with their receiving core and the lack of a standout wide receiver. They express disappointment in the running game and discuss injuries to key defensive players. Overall, they hope for a bounce back from Mac Jones and improvements in various areas for the upcoming game against the Saints. Andrew, are you excited for pre-kindergarten? Yes. Why? I don't know. Are you going to miss your mom? No. No? Oh, don't cry, are you? Oh, shit. My bad. I didn't mean to include audio of me after the Cowboys game. Uh... Play levels. Welcome to the first AndyIsAFuckingNerd podcast. This will become a weekly show where we talk about the previous Patriots game, upcoming game, and then we will go through the fantasy scores of last week and do a standings update to see who is on track to not have to do the punishment this year. Alright, so let's touch on the Cowboys game here. The Patriots lost 38 to 3. 38 to 3 feels like a really bad thing to read, but that is what the score was. I'm going to try to start with some good things. So, some good red zone defense. I thought our defense actually played fairly well in this game. I believe they only let up 19 of the points that the Cowboys ended up scoring. So, pretty solid game from the defense. You know, once the Cowboys got in the red area, they really weren't able to do much. I thought Trent Brown looked a lot better. This was kind of the first game. I think it looked like Trent Brown was feeling totally healthy, which I think was a big help to the offensive line. Felt like Mac actually had a decent amount of time in this game. But Mac had a tendency to try to get out of the pocket a lot, which, again, we'll touch on when I get to the bad, because trust me, there's a lot of bad. But the other upside I thought we had in this game was Mario Pop Douglas. That one catch he had in that spin move on that first drive was unbelievable, but for some reason we felt like we didn't need to see that the rest of the game. All right, so let's just dive right into the bad here, and let's start with the most important position on the field, the quarterback. So, Mac Jones may have had his worst game as a pro in this game. Just made bad decisions, threw back across the field, got super lucky on a ball to Kendrick Bourne that somehow he bobbled and caught in between two defenders, and then Mac said, hey, let me just try that one again, and then he throws a pick-six to Jerome Bland. So, really bad game for Mac Jones. I thought actually a former Super Bowl MVP had some interesting words on what he thought of the performance by Mac Jones. Ultimately, it comes down to Mac Jones. You can't go out and do what he did. That was bad football. You can't throw late across the field twice in four plays the first time he got away with it. I know, that's why I was like, is that why he went back to it? Because he was like, hey, this is working. He's very out of sync right now, and it was bad. You've got to take care of the football. Bill's going to preach that. Guys, we need to take care of the football, because once you start doing that, that team's not designed, the Patriots aren't designed to play from behind. You want to say what you want to say. This is a quarterback league. You have to have a quarterback that fits your system to win games. Right now, Mac hasn't been developing at the rate that they want. That audio came out of the Ryan Russillo podcast. Yeah, really concerning words from Julian Edelman there, that he doesn't believe that Mac Jones is developing at the rate that the Patriots are looking for. Yeah, Mac's a third-year quarterback. Again, we're seeing the same thing with Justin Fields, right? But we're looking for these guys to kind of take that step to show, hey, I'm a franchise quarterback. This is going to be my team for the next ten years. So far this season, I thought Mac, early in the year, looked like he was kind of starting to get on the right track. I thought getting back in an offense that he's comfortable in was working pretty well. But to Edelman's point, you can't have games like that Cowboys game. You just can't. You can't go out and do that. That's what Mac's most recent performance is. And as we know, being Patriots fans, that's going to be the one that we think about. And we'll continue to send Caleb Williams pictures to each other. So, again, really bad game for Mac. You know, I'm really hoping to see a bounce back. Again, we just saw it with Justin Fields, right, with his Bears team. Now, is that DJ Moore or is that Justin Fields? I think that's up for debate. But, you know, we need to see that kind of game for Mac Jones here and the Saints are a team that he could do that against. So, let's hope that we can see some really good bounce back out of Mac Jones. I think the next big area that the Patriots continue to struggle with is, you know, our receiving core is just not up to par. You know, I think you see a lot of these young quarterbacks now, they get that wide receiver that kind of puts them over the top. Patriots just don't have that guy. I mean, the closest thing I think we have is Demario Douglas. But definitely a criticism I would have is we don't see him on the field, I think his snap share is like 20% right now to these other guys, like a Devontae Parker who's getting like 80%. So, it's like, you know, what are we trying to do there? You know, Devontae Parker is a jump ball specialist. That's really all he is. Juju Smith-Schuster looks slow. And KB, I think, now is starting to draw the attention of the defense because they know he's the only viable receiver that we have. So, you know, no separation. And, again, that's not going to help Mac. You know, Mac's a quarterback that needs guys to be in the spot that he needs them to be, but he needs them to have some level of separation, and we just don't have that. Our best receiving target right now is Hunter Henry. Yeah, and I think, like, maybe you've got to get Mike Gesicki more involved. I don't know, but that's something they definitely need to address. There's been some rumors about Jerry Judy. That would be awesome. But also I heard about Larry Fitzgerald for about eight years. That never happened. So, not holding my breath for that. I kind of feel like, you know, the receivers we have is what we have. But, you know, maybe get Tyquan Thornton back. Again, we've also said this for two years, and that hasn't really done anything. So I'm hopeful we can start to see maybe Demaro Douglas do a little more. I'm assuming he probably just is still picking up some of the playbook. And, you know, knowing Bill Belichick, if you don't know the playbook to the tee, then, you know, you're not going to play. So, you know, I'm hoping we get a little more Pop Douglas in this game, and, you know, he can kind of show that he's the guy that maybe can get some of that separation we're looking to see. My other major disappointment in this game was I was hoping this would be a game where you start to see the running game start to really take over a game. You know, I feel like that's kind of been a missing piece. You know, I think Mack's first year, a lot of times, you know, you'd see the run game set up the pass. I think for a quarterback like Mack Jones, that's kind of what he needs. He needs to kind of be able to go into play action, and that's going to allow, you know, our receivers to get one-on-ones that he can take advantage of. And, you know, the other thing I was really hoping was that, you know, you'd see Ezekiel Elliott get in the end zone in Dallas. Again, when you score three points, that's certainly not going to happen. And, you know, we didn't really even get to see a whole lot of Zeke, which I was honestly disappointed by. You know, generally I feel like when Belichick has a guy go back home, he almost lets him. He almost wants to score with him just to kind of screw with the other team. And, you know, to not really have a lot of Ezekiel Elliott in that game was kind of a bummer. Romandre, I still think there might be some little injury there that's kind of slowing him down. But, again, when your offensive line can't block anyway, like who could run the ball? I mean, that's kind of where we're at with that. But, you know, I think those running backs, they've got to get them more involved in, like, you know, the screen game, the passing game, because, I mean, let's be honest, you are probably two of your most talented offensive players right now, with your wide receivers where they are. So, you know, I hope to see the running backs get a lot more involved in this Saints game. The final thing out of this Dallas game, you know, we had two absolutely crushing injuries to the defense. Matudon, Christian Gonzalez, both going down in this game. Christian Gonzalez is out for the season. A guy that was probably on pace to have a defensive rookie of the year campaign. Now he's out. Huge loss for the defense, especially in a position we're already very short at. You know, I mean, we had Myles Bryant getting burned by C.D. Lamb for a touchdown last game, which you never want to see. But, you know, and then Matudon, you know, it sounds like he has a shot to maybe come back this year. They definitely haven't closed the door. He actually said this on Instagram. Just got out of surgery. I will be back. Now I think the question with that, right, is do we want him to come back? Are we going to be competitive enough to be back? And, you know, I think a big thing, which we'll get into when we talk about the Saints game, is, you know, what does this game mean for the season and what, you know, do you want to rush Matudon back? Because you know Matudon is going to be Matudon, you know. Even if he misses the year, he's going to come back, be good. The bummer with Christian Gonzalez obviously being a rookie, you want him to get those reps. He's not going to get those now the rest of the year. Again, very confident that Christian Gonzalez is going to come back and be the player he was. But, you know, it's just a bummer. You know, both those injuries are huge. You know, we're going to see a lot more Keon White, who had a pretty hilarious quote basically saying, you know, he's not Matudon, he's not a loud guy, he just goes out there and does his job. I'm sure Bill Belichick posted that on his wall or something. But, you know, we're going to see a lot more of the younger guys, which again, maybe long term is a good thing. You know, Patriots aren't competing for a Super Bowl this year anyway. So, you know, might as well get the young guys going, a.k.a. play Demario Douglas. But, you know, that's kind of all I wanted to say about that Cowboys game. Overall, you lose 38-3. There's no real good in that. You know, that's the kind of game where, you know, you take the football from it, you take it out back and bury the football, right? You got to just kind of move past that thing and look forward to this Saints game. Now, generally at this point in the season, you know, you don't see a whole lot of trades happening. And actually this week there's been, I think, three pretty significant ones. And the Patriots being involved in one, they actually are bringing back an old friend. I did a double take when I first learned the news as well. A reunion for the New England Patriots. J.C. Jackson, wearing the nickname Mr. I.N.T. when he was in New England collecting all those interceptions, then got paid by the Chargers. It did not work out. He has been traded back to the Patriots. It is a late round pick swap. The hope, of course, is that J.C. Jackson come in, fit in his old stomping ground, Simulously, obviously, Chargers move on from a signing that did not work. Yes, that's right. Jamie Collin, oh wait, Kyle Vannoy, wait, Trey Flowers, yeah, you get it. J.C. Jackson is back with the Patriots. He basically, Belichick, I mean, really an unbelievable trade for the Patriots. Basically they're paying a million dollars to get J.C. Jackson back on the field. Now again, what does that mean, right? The Chargers wanted to get him off their roster. He was a healthy scratch, I think, two weeks ago. Honestly, I don't think he played last week either. It's a guy that they saw in their future when they signed him. He has a huge deal. Obviously, things went pretty bad towards MCL, I think, last year. Got back on the field this year, but really didn't look the part for them. Now they move on from him. In a very Belichick way, he gets J.C. Jackson basically back for free. I think they're paying him a million bucks. Then the crazy thing is none of J.C. Jackson's money past this year is guaranteed. At the end of the year, if J.C. Jackson balls out for the Pats, you either let him walk to another team that's going to pay him a ton of money, or you could restructure that deal probably to keep J.C. Jackson around, which again, if you have Christian Gonzalez and J.C. Jackson on the field at the same time, that feels pretty good. I'm hoping we see J.C. Jackson come back and play pretty well. Again, I think a common theme here, we're looking for good pieces for next year. I think trading for these guys is good. Again, I hope the Patriots remain active in the trade market. The Dolphins went and got Chase Claypool. The 49ers went and got Randy Gregory. Teams are making more moves now in the NFL than they used to. It's kind of like that NBA effect that some people have talked about. I think J.C. is good. I like the move. I think Belichick as a GM is good at defense, absolutely horrendous at offense. You can just kind of see it in the way this team is built. We're really good at defense. We're really bad at offense. Let's now move on to the Saints game. What I find interesting about this game is these are kind of two teams that are in those high 20s if you look at where people rank teams. Teams that aren't good, but they're not so terrible that you'd rank them super low. Now, I think if the Patriots somehow get stopped by the Saints, we're going to dip right on down there, which we'll talk about in a second. I think these are two very evenly matched teams. I think for the Patriots this week, your mindset has got to be that you can go beat the Saints. The Saints are in a bad division. They really haven't come out the gates as hot as I thought they would. Honestly, I thought they were going to win that division fairly easily at the beginning of this year. Now, they just got Alvin Kamara back. You're going to have to deal with him. Generally, I think in the past, though, the Patriots have done a pretty good job on him. You've got Michael Thomas, who looks kind of back to himself. He's definitely playing a little bit better. Chris Olave, who they really haven't gotten going yet. That's annoying for me because I have him on a fantasy team. I think for the Patriots, we've got to bounce back. You've got to have that game like the Bears just had to instill some confidence in this fan base. I haven't felt that beaten down by a football game like that Cowboys game in quite a long time. Probably since that Bills playoff game. It was never competitive. The Cowboys game was never competitive. Yeah, we just need that game that just instills the hope, I guess, that Matt Jones can still be a guy. That we have receivers that can play. That our running game can get going. That our line can block. Honestly, defense is probably going to be fine. But I just think the key this week is just offense, offense, offense. It has to look good. I hope that they look to use DeMario Douglas a lot more. I think everyone's saying that. It's interesting that they don't do it. I don't even care if he only knows 25% of the plays. Just call those plays and get him on the field, please. That's all I'm asking for. We need some sort of a spark on this team right now. It feels like he's kind of the only guy that can give us that. As far as kind of a prediction for this game, I mean, it's kind of a crapshoot. But I'm going to say that the Patriots do pull this out. This feels like a game that is going to be kind of gross. That's kind of my feel for it. It feels like a 17-13 kind of game. Maybe the Patriots get a defensive touchdown. Mack hits Hunter Henry for one and then we get a field goal. And that feels like that might be about it. The Saints defense is also really good. They got Marshawn Lattimore. They got a couple of Cam Jordans on that line. He's been unbelievable for years. I think we're talking low scoring here. That's kind of my anticipation for it. Now I will say, if there's a team that could go and score a lot of points in this game, it's definitely the Saints and not the Patriots. But for the Patriots, we just got to get out in front early. We can't keep doing this thing where we go down 14 points immediately in the first quarter and then try to claw back. Mack Jones has proven he can't do it. Our offense isn't designed to do it. And then our defense is just playing with their back against the wall, as they have all year. I think a fast start is key. And I do think that they come out, get a touchdown pretty quick, whether that's defensively, offensively. And then I think that the defense does a good job against the Saints holding them. I think they'll get JC right back in there and he'll do fine against them. Sounds like we might get Marcus Jones back in this game, which would be a huge add for the Patriots. But, I don't know, this just feels like a Belichick's going to figure it out because, you know, people, whenever people are talking really bad about the Patriots, it's generally the best time to pick them. So, yeah, I feel like the Patriots get it done this week. But, you know, what does that mean for the rest of the year? I don't know. You know, I think I looked at, you know, my thing is be 500 by week 8. That's kind of what I want to see. So, this gets you to 2 and 3, gets you on the path there. And then you've got a big game against the Raiders coming up that you've got to win. So, these next two are pivotal. You know, if you lose either of these, I kind of think the season's pretty much awash at that point. You're going to have to basically somehow beat the Dolphins and then somehow beat the Bills. That just doesn't feel good right now. So, yeah, that's kind of, you know, I think this is a turning point. You know, if you lose badly to the Saints, I mean, then we're really starting to talk about tanking for Caleb. And it's not actually just a joke in the group chat anymore. But, anyway, let's hop into some fantasy football talk. Welcome to Tom Cruise Week. I'm going to kill him. Relax, Hosman, who is this? This is Flaming Blackwood. Okay, Flaming Dragon, fuckface. First, take a big step back and literally fuck your own face! Now, I don't know what kind of pan-Pacific bullshit power play you're trying to pull here, but Asia Jack is my territory. So, whatever you're thinking, you better think again. Otherwise, I'm going to have to head down there, and I will rain down on a godly fucking firestorm upon you. You're going to have to call the fucking United Nations and get a fucking binding resolution to keep me from fucking destroying you. I am talking scorched earth, motherfucker! I will massacre you! I will fuck you up! Les Grossman is such a good character. I just think that's just, like, the funniest scene. Honestly, one of the funniest scenes in a movie. Just Tom Cruise's ability to scream like that is just so funny. But, taking a look at last week's performances, I was able to take down Sabati. Looks like Jarn continues to be terrifying. I was able to beat Ben in a pretty low-scoring affair. We had Tom Driscoll taking down Dan in a very high-scoring affair. Tom putting up the most points in the league last week at almost 151. And then we had Jimmy D taking down Pat's team, and Bo, continuing his undefeated season, taking down Sean. So, as we go and take a look at the standings here, yeah, we got Bo in first place. And what I wanted to talk about, I'm so afraid. I'm so afraid of Jarn. This team's 3-1. This team's actually pretty good. I mean, it's kind of weird because he has three tight ends, which is a pretty bold strategy. I mean, God knows if this guy even looks at the waiver wire, and it's kind of sad that he's kind of wrecking everybody. But, yeah, 3-1. Utah's a real possibility, which is scary, and I don't like it. But, you know, we got James D also at 3-1, I will say, after DJ Moore for my team. I'm not confident he's going to stay at a 4-1 there. But, you know, 3-1, and then we have kind of a host of 2-2 teams, and then actually everyone in the league has a win. So, once again, if you're tracking to who is potentially going to come in last this year, I'm thinking like Ben Gordon. Yeah, Ben. Sorry, buddy. But, you know, I think his team name is the right name at Woefully Ignorant. I'm pretty sure I gave Ben some advice that got him his one win. So, you know, keep going though, Ben. We all believe in you. But that'll do it, guys. So, I think the only appropriate thing to do is to go out with a little Tom Cruise in risky business. I like that old time rock and roll Don't try to take me to a disco You'll never even get me out on the floor It gives me the cramp and leave overdose I like that old time rock and roll Yeah, I like that old time rock and roll That kind of music just soothes the soul I like that old time rock and roll