Week 7 Pod - FIRST EVER INTERVIEW

The speaker expresses their experience of being on a different team and the motivation they felt from anger. They discuss the Patriots' current injuries and speculate on whether the team is intentionally tanking. They mention specific players who may be traded and discuss the possibility of a rebuild. The speaker expresses pessimism about the Patriots' upcoming game against the Bills and highlights the talent of Buffalo's players. They believe that Mac Jones' performance should not be judged harshly given the team's overall deficiencies. They mention Julian Edelman's comments on sticking with Jones and question whether Jones has the mental toughness needed for the situation. It's very different, like, I didn't have any friends on the other teams. I mean, I was, my friends were the guys that were in the battle with me. This group here is going to be why we win right here. For me, anger was good. Anger was good because it was motivating. The more I could create an enemy, the more I wanted to go out and kill those guys. But man, if I could just, what did they say? What did they look like? Did they disrespect me at all? Skinny, that's a really strong ass. Those are the little, little, little things that can get me right in the emotional frame of mind that when I ran on the field and I said, let's kick some ass. It was really, let's go kick some ass. That's what we were doing. I don't know how that doesn't make you want to run through a wall, but I don't think we're going to look back on anyone that's currently on this Patriots team in 10 years and anyone's going to be putting out any videos like that. Yeah. Play levels. All right. Welcome to a podcast about a one in five team. Yeah, that's just a little bit depressing. And you know, this week we got even more depressing news. The Patriots have 20 people on their injury report. 20 out of 53. 20 people are hurt. Some big names include Trent Brown, Hunter Henry, Jonathan Jones, Josh Uche, Keyon White. All did not practice, therefore not looking likely to play in this Bills game. Yeah, I mean you can look at this one of two ways, right? Is this a tanking method where you're listing people on the injury report so maybe you don't have to play? All the veterans this weekend. That's what I hope we're doing. I don't know that that's necessarily true because I saw Juju Smith-Schuster's back at practice and if he's back that doesn't make me think that the Patriots are thinking in their best interest as far as tanking. Now Josh Uche. I can't help but feel like his days with the team are probably numbered. I don't see them signing him to any sort of large contract next year. And, you know, he's still a good player. He's young. Some team will definitely want to go at him as a piece as they kind of go for a Super Bowl run. And that's kind of where the Patriots are going here. It's, you know, are these guys going to be traded? Trent Brown's name's been thrown around a little bit for offensive line needy teams. Obviously they haven't watched much of the Patriots this year. At least I don't know that they'd be barking up that tree. But, you know, the sad one on the list obviously would be Hunter Henry. I think Hunter's had a great year. Obviously he's one of the few guys that's ever developed chemistry with Mack. But, again, generally if, you know, a guy didn't seem hurt and then suddenly he's lifted his hurt a few weeks away from the trade deadline, sometimes that's a sign that things are coming. Yeah, Kendrick Bourne obviously has been in trade discussions as well. He's been fully practicing, so my hope is that Bourne at least is still in their plans for the future. But, you know, a lot of names on this list definitely, you know, look like guys that could be on the move here in the next few weeks as the Patriots look towards 2024. And there's actually some comments, you know, Robert Kraft has actually begun to kind of think this way. That he's starting to say, hey, you know what, this year's kind of a wash. How do we put ourselves in the best position to be good next year? And obviously that's to lose. That's what the Patriots want to do at this point. You really don't want to win much more than two games this year, so. I don't know. Interesting decisions coming up. Obviously this has been something we've been talking about. It's going to continue to be a thing. I mean, the Patriots are going to go to 1-7. It's kind of sad for me because I'm going to both these games the next two weeks. And what I'll tell you is they are significantly cheaper than when I originally bought my tickets, which is a little sad to see. Generally that has the opposite effect when the Patriots have been good historically when that guy that we played at the beginning was quarterback. But, hey, you know, that's the reality. You never know when you buy those tickets. And, yeah, I'm excited to go see the team play live. I'm hoping I can see maybe some Pop Douglas. You know, maybe see a couple of young guys that haven't really gotten the opportunities. Maybe show out a little bit. But really, I mean, we're looking at 2024 here, and that's kind of what the team is at this point, which, again, sad. But, you know, if there was a year to be bad with all these quarterbacks, maybe this is the right year to do it. And, obviously, to me the Patriots have been putting Band-Aids on top of Band-Aids since Brady left, trying to stay relevant. Yeah, I think it would be awesome to kind of get a fresh rebuild with this team. And, again, over the next few weeks we'll find out, is that something that Belichick's going to be a part of? You know, who's kind of going to be the visionary leading that ship forward? You know, I think around the trade deadline you're going to start to learn a lot of that stuff. But, you know, this week it's going to be a rough one. We got Buffalo coming. We got Buffalo coming. I remember when we used to have fun like that. Yeah, the Patriots got Buffalo coming to town. It's going to be a bloodbath. I don't see any world in which the Patriots are even competitive in this game. I mean, when you can't hang with the likes of the Raiders, I can't see how you're going to beat one of the hottest teams in football. I mean, Buffalo's been not just beating people recently, they've been winning pretty handily. And they even beat the Dolphins very handily, a team that you also have no chance against. So, I don't see a world, really, where this game's going to be very fun to watch. And, again, I'll be there in person. Yeah, this is, I guess, maybe why Kraft was inventing Patriots' place around the stadium, so that fans had somewhere to go when the team was getting killed. Because, whew, it's going to be rough. Yeah, it's going to be rough. But, you know, some exciting things. It'll be really cool to see Josh Allen in person. I mean, he's a monster. It'll be cool to watch him run the ball a couple times in trucks and small corners. That'll be cool. I mean, Stephon Diggs is unbelievable, so he'll be cool to see in person. You know, I mean, I don't honestly know what the plan is for the Patriots and how they could even remotely deal with these guys that Buffalo has. I mean, realistically, you're going to put J.C. on, Diggs, probably the whole game. I don't know what that means. He's probably going to get burned a few times. Because, honestly, historically, against Diggs, I don't think he's fared very well. But we got nobody to stop Josh Allen this week. I mean, we're missing Matt Judon. Uche's probably not going to be there. Keon White's not going to be there. I mean, we're going to have zero pressure on the guy. He is going to be able to do whatever he wants. Now, again, historically, honestly, Judon hasn't really been, I don't think, great against Josh Allen because he has a tendency to get upfield a little too much and Josh Allen then gets his little creases where he can run. But, I mean, I don't see any world where they have any shot to stop Josh Allen. And then, you know, unfortunately, Damian Harris went down with that scary injury the other day. I was kind of actually excited to see Damian back, just knowing that he's got a lot of good buddies on the Patriots. You know, it kind of would have been like a Jacobi Meyers, not quite as a spirited ending with the team, let's call it. But, you know, unfortunately, he won't be there. So, yeah, and then, I mean, obviously, on the offensive side of the ball. I mean, let's call it what it is. We're watching Mac Jones' last stand here. I don't know. It's, like, hard. Do you judge him harshly off of what happens this week? I don't know how you even could. I mean, the Patriots are so overmatched at every single level against the Bills. I don't know how you can blame this one on Mac. Even if he goes out and throws, like, three picks, I'm like, no one on this roster is going to go out there and do better. Again, like, it's the argument Malik Cunningham's athletic, at least, so he could go run around and try to make a play. Sure, but, again, I mean, we're watching the end of Mac Jones here. Yeah, kind of like the slow ending, kind of, Mac Jones' time with the Patriots, which is, you know, sad. But, yeah, Edelman again. I don't know why Edelman seems to be the guy that I always somehow get a clip of, but Edelman was talking on Vaughn Miller's podcast about what he sees for Mac Jones for the rest of this year. Do you like the idea of Kurt for Mac, or do you stick it out? I would stick it out. Stick it out? Yeah. They're not going to pay Kurt next year. You know, they're not renting. You'd rent Kurt Cousins if you had a shot, you know, because unless you want to pay him for the next few years, I think you've got to stick with Mac, and this is where you see his mental toughness, and, you know, when things are not at its best, a lot of characteristics come out of people, and that's kind of when you want to evaluate them, because that's when you know you've got a dog or not. Yeah, I mean, I love Jules, but I don't think any of us are thinking that Mac Jones might have that dog in him. If anything, that's probably what's held Mac Jones back. If anything, that's probably what's held Mac Jones back the most, is the fact that just mentally I don't think that he can really deal with this kind of a situation, and I think so far this year he's kind of proven that. I do find it interesting that Edelman thinks, hey, you know what, you've got to stick it out with Mac Jones for this year to see what you have. I don't know if I agree with that. I think at this point, if you get some Mac Jones performances like we've been getting, I don't know how you don't just kind of go see what something else looks like. Again, Mac Jones isn't the only QB on this roster that needs to be evaluated. We've got to figure out if any of these QBs are going to be back next year. I think at this point it seems pretty clear Bailey Zappi probably will not be back next year. Mac Jones? Got him under contract, so it's a question mark. And then I don't even know what a Will Greer is, but he's technically someone you've got to figure out. And then you've really got to make a call. Is Malik going to be your kind of, I don't really know, Taysom Hill hybrid player? Or is he a guy you'd actually really consider starting in the NFL? Those are kind of the questions you need to answer. I just think if you start Mac Jones all year, you're just going to end up in a situation where you have a ton more questions. Still not know anything about Malik Cunningham, won't know Will Greer. And I mean, again, I think at this point they've kind of decided they already cut Zappi once, so he's kind of gone anyway. But to me there's too much on this team to figure out to be thinking, oh, they can just stick it out with Mac. I just, I don't see how that makes any sense. But yeah, I mean, as far as predictions go for this game, I mean, I feel like I was relatively accurate with the way the Raiders one went, or it was kind of just a gross game. And, you know, just two teams that probably aren't very good battling it out. This one, very lopsided affair. I mean, oh man. All right, let's start with this. Do I think Mac Jones plays the whole game? Oddly, I'm going to say yes. I don't know why, but I just don't see. I don't see the Bills being a good place to put in a new QB. To me, like, I don't even think there's going to be a new QB until after, you know, the Miami game. So yay for me, I get to see Mac Jones play. Yeah. Yeah, that's going to be one couple weeks for me. But regardless, you know, I think this is very one-sided. I'm going to say the Patriots probably get a touchdown late. I really don't see them scoring much other than that, though. Let's go with, oh boy, 37 to 10. Whatever the Bills spread is, I would take them with the points. Go for it. I can't imagine. I mean, the spread on this game is only eight and a half points. That's crazy. The Bills are going to win this game by at least, like, 15. I actually really don't even understand that line. That almost makes me think Vegas for some reason thinks that there's a chance the Patriots actually stay in this game, which I will tell you, watching the Patriots the past few weeks, there is no chance. Now again, the Patriots, I think, you know, you built back a little momentum in that Vegas game, but it's just like you're not going to continue to build momentum in these next two games. You can't go into these games in the position that they're in and expect to be competitive at all. So, again, I think the Bills are going to absolutely stomp the Patriots. So, yeah, I like the kind of like 38-10 prediction. So, yeah, if you can get the Bills with, like, plus odds on, like, a 20-point spread, I think that would probably be a good one to go after. But, all right, so let's transition. I think, you know, I'm sure. I don't know if there'll be a, you know, reaction to the game podcast considering the fact that I won't be home till late. Maybe I'll do one once I get home, if I'm still feeling, you know, my feelings. But, all right, I think it's time. Let's hop into Fantasy Talk. And this week, our focus is D&D and Lord of the Rings. D&D and Lord of the Rings. I was very proud of myself when I remembered that that song was a thing. I actually, I don't even remember when that came out. I think that was when we were all in high school or something. But when I remember that, I was like, yes, that's exactly. Because I did, like, pull some weird Lord of the Rings, like, clip. But it just seemed like it would be very weird in this. And then when I remembered this song, I was like, yes, I need to play. They're taking the Hobbits to Isengard. But, all right, welcome to, let's do our quick recap here on what happened the prior week. So, we had Sean beating me in, well, not exactly a high scoring affair. Sean beat me 102.93. I actually think, yeah, that's true. I was the lowest scoring team this week. Sad stuff. Sad stuff. And continuing on that sad stuff line, Jarn, once again, getting another win, 127.99 over Dan. Utah Watch continues. We had Sabati getting the win over Pat, 118 to 103. Ben Gordon, which we'll talk a little bit about some things going on with Pat and Ben a little later. But, 131 to 121 over Bo. Bo gets his first loss of the season. Ben actually is on a little bit of a streak here, I think winning a couple games in a row. And then, very high scoring game here. Tom was able to take down James, 143 to 122. So, big week for Tom's team. I always feel like Tom scores a lot of points generally. But for some reason, his record never reflects that. That just seems to be like a standard thing with the way his fantasy games go. And then, taking a quick look at the standings here. So, Bo remains in first place. Jarn, I mean, he's right there. He's very close to taking first place. But, right there in second place is James Arnold, who, God knows if he's ever even heard this podcast. And then, Sean O'Sullivan coming into the third spot. And then, you know, we've got a host of 3-3 teams here. Actually, most, honestly, like half the league is pretty much 3-3. And then, coming down in kind of the last place. Love you Dan, but you're down there this week. We'll need to find a way to rally the troops here for Dan, I think. Because, well, let's get into it. Well, let's get into it. There was a trade this week. I would call it slightly questionable. Ben and Pat made a trade where Pat got Austin Eckler. And, you know, Alexander Mattson and DK Metcalf went to Ben. We were actually fortunate enough to get an interview with kind of some of the parties involved here. So, I'm sure as we all saw in the group chat, you know, Bo and I had a lot of opinions on this trade. So, I was able to set up some time with Bo, Ben, Pat, and I to kind of just, you know, talk through the trade. You know, how they got there, what was kind of the thinking behind it. So, you know, without further ado, here comes the interview. All right. Here we go with an exclusive interview from Pat and Ben. Fellas, how are you doing? Good, Kyle. Happy to be on the pod. Yep. We had no technical difficulties setting this up. This is the first time I've spoken to you. First time. They're going to have the same passion. Kyle, let me just say, it is a pleasure to hear your voice and see your faces, both of you. It has been too long, my friend. Nice to see you as always, Ben Gordon. You're the best. All right. So, we had these two on because there's a big trade in our Fantasy League this week. Austin Eckler on the move to Pat's team. And Alexander Mattinson and DK Metcalf going to Ben. So, Pat, maybe take us through how we got this trade in gear. Yeah, absolutely. So, what spurred the trade on is I lost the garbage bowl with the body. We were talking about it last weekend. Whoever lost that game would have to blow up their teams because one in five is just a horrible place to be. Like, listen, nobody wants to be as bad as Dan Allen. So, this is what I need to do. And one immediate need that I had, I thought, was running back. Bijan Robinson, while he was good, was not performing at the level that I wanted him to. And I thought, okay, let's find a running back that can. I took a look around the league. Ben had a full stable of running backs, so much so that Austin Eckler was on his bench. So, I shot Ben a text. Hey, Ben, looks like you need wide receivers. I need a running back. Let's make a trade. DK Metcalf for Austin Eckler. And I'll throw in Madison as well, who performs very well and consistently gets double digits. Actually, both of them have consistently got double digits week in, week out this year. And that's why I decided to make this overwhelmingly fair, just, and nice trade. And again, for the record, how many iterations were there? This is the only one. Okay, just this one. Hey, Ben, how did you feel about the trade? What was that? I said, how did you feel about the trade? Oh, you know, when my good friend Tat reached out, you know, I couldn't help but, you know, it was a lovely weekend for me. I slayed the juggernaut that is Bo. And, you know, I just felt on top of the world. And then my friend Tat reaches out, and he offers me DK Metcalf. I don't know if you've seen him run, but, ah, he's a majestic gazelle. Just those calves. It was just, I needed those calves on my team. Very attractive guy. So I'm assembling a team of all-calf superstars. Nice. See, Ben agrees this is a very fair trade. So I don't know what else we're doing here, you know. Well, you know what, maybe we'll bring in another person. So, oh, Bo, you're on the call. Oh, hey, guys. What are we doing here? Oh, hey, Bo. Thoughts on the trade in the group chat. I thought maybe you'd want the chance to elaborate on those. Which trade are we talking about here? The Austin Echler and then Mattinson and Metcalf trade. Ah, there's nothing like waking up on a Wednesday morning to Kyle just going, trade. Why? He only woke me up with it once. No, I think my first reaction was just, really? Austin Echler for DK Metcalf? Like, Mattinson is a throw-in in there, as Pat said. So, yeah. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. First off. I'm using your own words. I did not say I would throw in Mattinson. I said I would also give you Mattinson. Listen, I didn't want to give Mattinson up. So I watched some football this weekend with Mr. Barrett over here. And this man hated every person on his team. I, DK, Mattinson, they've done nothing for him. But consistently low double digits all season, which is fine. But that's not a wide receiver one. So, yeah, it's just, it's tear shock. And, you know, given, I think for me, it was more about just the context. The past week, this group chat had been gassing up bets. The past week, this group chat had been gassing up Ben to no other. It started with the podcast last week, Kyle. Kyle, technically, you actually hold the most responsibility here. Oh, yeah, that's my fault. You have pivoted. You, you instigated all of this by, you know, putting everything against my favor and leading Ben to victory over my team last week. Ruining my undefeated season, as we all know. I've never said one nice thing about Ben. So if you're saying that I somehow gassed him up to bring him down, which I didn't. Very fair trade. Very nice trade by me. I never said a nice thing about him. Why does he sound like Trump right now? I don't know what you're talking about. But, you know, you could tell that Ben was elated. You know, he insults my spelling. He wins the group chat for the week based off that one comment, which is absurd considering the volume and the amount of likes I got, James. I'm, I'm, I'm very, I'm not suspicious, but I'm spicious about this. And now you're trying to white kite for him after all he's done to you. For who, James? Ben. What has Ben done for me? Exactly. Not trying to white kite. I will get to Mr. Gordon, but I just have a lot of grievances. And I, I don't know what's going on here. But, you know, you can tell Ben was elated. He was on a high. And I think that Pat might have taken advantage of him in that state of mind. No. False. Incorrect. Incorrect. I got an injury ridden running back and I gave up two starters for my team for it. An injury ridden running back? An injury ridden running back when healthy is easily a top five fantasy player. It's a big F, man. It's a big F. My team was dog shit. I had to take some swings. This is a big swing. Hey, I did not fault you at all for doing this. I just think if it was anyone else, there would have been more of a conversation and it would have led to an even larger trade. As someone that has made a trade in the group chat and gotten a lot of retribution from it for fucking Kyle Pitts, who I lost that trade, let's be real here. I only felt it was fair to, you know, you know, bring attention to it and make sure that it was properly vetted by the community. Yeah. And Bo, how do you feel about the fact that Ben has both DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett? The more you look into it, what the hell is Ben thinking? Yeah, I would just like to point out DK Metcalf is a 36 rated receiver and Tyler Lockett is number 44, so there's not a huge gap there. There's not, but he literally, he already has one Seahawks wide receiver. You don't need two receivers on the same actual team on your fantasy team. And you gave up... The amount of volume he could have gotten for Ecklair is way above what Pat sent. Way better, way better. DK Metcalf is a wide receiver one and a half right now. So wide receiver one? And a half. He's not a full one. No, no, no, wide receiver one. That's exactly my point. I traded a wide receiver one for a run RB one. He had no wide receivers. We're talking about wins above replacement here. So who's replacing him on this? Calvin Ridley? How'd he do yesterday? Dog shit. So here's my other question. So is his plan to start one of Lockett and Metcalf? It's like, why not just start both? Currently he's starting Lockett and not Metcalf. He's starting neither of them. Listen, what he does with the traded players, I don't give a shit. He's starting neither of them right now. But I gave him tools. You know? And what is he doing with those tools? Listen, that's not on me. You gotta ask Ben. Ben? Ben's here. Yeah, I was going to say Ben's here. Ben, what do you have to say about these things? The Cavs. The Cavs, I love Cavs. Jesus Christ. He's the worst. All right, Bo, now going back. Do you feel like there's any updates that we need to make to our fantasy policies to avoid situations like this in the future? No, I'm all for the drama. And I don't think vetoes. I encourage trades. I'm all for trades because it leads to great discussions like these. I don't believe in a veto system. I think that would basically veto pretty much any trade that were to occur. Because someone is always going to have problems. That's true. Agreed. Agreed. The Jeff Wilson Powell pitch trade last year would have gotten vetoed so hard, specifically by you, Kyle. Oh, yeah, yeah. But as commissioner, I pledge to never allow vetoes to happen in this league. That's a pledge right here, right now on the Kyle file. On the Kyle Freeman podcast. That's breaking. Yeah, you're welcome. You're welcome. And then, Bo. Yes, go ahead. Bo, what's your general feel on your trust level with the commissioner right now? It's been better. It's been better. You know, he's always scheming. And, you know, I think he was in a really rough place. And, you know, for him to take advantage of one of the members that does not actively watch football, I feel is, you know, a little predatory. Come on. That's not really behavior that I can support. But I would have absolutely done the same thing. I'd like to quote a text from Ben Gordon. I've never actually seen Austin Eckler play a snap of football. So that's who we're dealing with here. I will say, I do think that we should. Well, I don't believe we should institute league wide vetoes. I think Kyle should get any yay or nay on any transactions that Ben gets to make with his team. No, no. No, no. Let him do his thing, Bo. If Ben wants to ask one of the several Sabati cousins that assisted him in the draft if he should do it, I'll allow that. But no. Final question here, Pat. Is the team going to turn around thanks to this trade? Thanks to this trade. And thanks to the other very fair trade that I made with Tom. Yeah, that actually was fair. Yeah. No, I'm a fan of that trade. I think it makes sense for both sides. That was a good trade. So Tom and his other league is a Dijon fan. So he's all in on Dijon, which is risky. It's risky. But at the same time, Dijon consistently puts up high teens, low 20s. So, like, that's a solid running back. It's not an outstanding RB1. You're not going to get that crazy, like, 40-point game. But, yeah, I don't know. That team is ass. In every way, he should. He should put an RB1. That team is fucking awful. We were watching them last week, and that was a lot of me just screaming at the TV. Goddamn, I hate Desmond Ritter so much. Oh, and, you know, Amanra is my guy, so you take good care of him for me. Well, Beau, I'm willing to trade him if you got some pieces. No, I don't need more wide receivers. Okay, you said he's your guy, and I guess he's not. I'll have to let him know that. Was that great? No. Yeah, Brewer just came in the room, so I'm sure he'll hear the jingles. But, all right, I think this is a good trade. I don't think we need to hear you guys discuss trades live on the pod. So, thanks, guys. Hey, happy to be here. It's a pleasure. All right, so that concludes our first-ever interview on the pod. So, big thanks to Pat and Beau, and especially Ben Gordon. Thank you so much, Ben. I know you don't have an iPhone, so it was a little tricky there at the beginning. We had some issues with the technology. But, Ben Gordon, thank you so much for making the effort to be on the podcast. Yeah, I mean, you heard both sides there. It didn't seem like Pat had much of a defense for when I asked how many iterations of a trade happened. When I asked that question, I thought that answered a lot of some of the stuff. And, you know, Ben on that podcast, he had no answers. All he was doing was talking about calves and stuff. It was super weird. But, anyway. Yeah, I mean, I think Pat won that trade. And, again, I think the trade between Tom and Pat was a great trade for both sides. So, exciting week in our group. You know, I definitely am looking forward to more trades. I would love to have more people kind of come on to talk out what the thought process was between a lot of these different things. You know, how much communication there was. Just, you know, a lot of different things. You know, how much communication there was. Definitely thought that was a pretty fun little thing we were able to put together there. And, obviously, big shout out to the guys for joining me on that one. A little rough with the technology. But the team and I, we're working to get that more solidified in the future. But, yeah. That'll about do it for the pod this week, guys. Looking forward to another exciting fantasy week. Again, if we could do more trades, I think that would be fun. Because I thought that came out really well. It was really funny. So, keep trading, guys. Let's send us out, I guess, because James also said this is like D&D week or something. So, I just Googled D&D music. So, I'm going to send us out with some D&D music. Bye. Bye. Bye.