Patriots Dynasty Podcast - 2005 Week 1: Patriots vs Raiders
Episode Date: April 4, 2023We're back! With the Brown brothers off to Europe (and not wanting to do the 2005 season anyway) Andy is joined by a special guest to talk about the crazy 2005 offseason (who knew Putin was a bad dude...!?) and the season opener vs the Oakland Raiders.Here's the link to the banner ceremony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhv_ZSORL-c10 minute highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ6LXm2piS0Full game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZnnd2e46uMSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/patriots-dynasty-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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This is Christine Brown, and while I have to listen to this podcast, as my motherly
duty, you have the choice not to.
My sons sometimes say some naughty things when they're trying to be funny.
But really, they're just being stupid.
You still want to listen?
Go right ahead.
I am not your mother.
Welcome back to the Patience Diancy podcast.
It has been a while.
We finished 2004 season, and then I'm guessing that nobody thought we would do the 2005 season.
But here we are.
And that is the royal week, because royally, my brothers are both headed to England for
a wedding.
My passport is still in the mail, so I am not going.
So I've decided to do the podcast instead.
So they, in full disclosure, both of the brothers wanted to skip 2005 and 2006 and go straight
to 2007, but I said no.
So I decided that I would need some help because I have done this before on my own in the past,
and Greg has ripped that to shreds.
So I've decided to call in our, you've heard us talk about him before in the past, but
our intern Tim, he is going to be joining us today.
So Tim, nice to have you on, bud.
Pleasure to be on.
Nice.
All right.
And I have to say, I love my brothers.
I enjoy doing this with them.
It's a breath of fresh air to have somebody else who actually prepares for a podcast other
than me.
We've been chatting back and forth, and you've actually like done some of the work to do the
prep, and that is a very new idea for me.
I'm not used to this.
Well, I'm, I'm just glad to be able to be the next man up and, you know, work my way
up the rankings.
You're going to do your job.
I like that.
Yeah.
I hope that I've done that up to this point.
So yeah, we're going to have to ask Greg if he knows who Wally Pipp is when he gets
back.
Yeah.
Fucking Greg.
All right.
So we, like I said, we are starting 2005.
We're actually going to do it.
We've done this 2002 where it didn't end in a Super Bowl.
And that was tough.
I'm not going to lie.
So Tim, you're getting yourself into something here, but I think we just jump right into
it.
2005 week one opening night of the 2005 season.
This was the first, you know, the opening game that the Patriots so often play in because
they are the Super Bowl winners.
Although I believe they didn't do it the last time on the Super Bowl, right?
They weren't the opening night game after the most recent Rams Super Bowl.
I think the season after they didn't open the season.
Well, I didn't, I found it weird that for this one, I didn't know that every season
started off on a Thursday.
I didn't know that it kicked off on Thursday.
It didn't always used to, but I think right around this time is when that started.
Like it was that Thursday night game.
Yeah, but it used to just be like opening weekend, but then they started that one special
game to kick off the season.
Yeah.
Because I hadn't noticed that before and I don't know, I don't know how closely I followed
last year as far as like trying to keep up because I'm not exactly sure when I jumped
in.
Yeah.
I have listened to every episode.
You are.
I think you're one of two.
I believe Mama Brown is probably listening.
No, she didn't listen to the Cam Newton, erotica one.
So if you listen to that one, then you've got her beat.
Yeah.
All right.
Yeah. So this was opening night and part of the whole, and we'll talk about the pregame
first and the banner and everything, but a lot of the like coming back from commercial
intro things.
They kept talking about how the Sunday night game was a double header because of Hurricane
Katrina, which had just happened, which I completely actually forgotten about.
Yeah.
This that definitely takes up like a huge part of the season and even is a big reason
why Troy Brown, Troy Brown was happy with this decision to come back because he was
like, yeah, it was a blessing.
I got to do so many good things.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But also, I mean, to your point, Troy Brown beginning in the off season was released that
by the Patriots and was offered like a bigger contract by the Saints, but decided to come
back for the vet minimum.
And he was guaranteed, he was going to be the number three receiver and he had really
no voting.
No.
Yeah.
He was, he was way down the depth track because they had obviously branch and patent and
givens.
But they also brought in, well, givens last, I mean, not givens patent left to go to Redskins.
Right.
Right.
And that worked out well as, you know, going to the Redskins often does.
Yeah.
Sure got paid though.
But yeah, he was made to be the number one.
Oh, that's right.
Yeah.
He was, yeah, he got like big time money.
Yeah.
And I was, I was reading, I was reading a bunch of stuff on the global like I've always had
a soft spot for like, for obviously Troy Brown, but David Patton too, because he's so crucial.
And I was reading that he was like, like, just so appreciative to be part of the Patriots
and all that stuff.
And he was really going to like, he was hoping to turn the Redskins around.
So, and didn't get to do that, but.
One man cannot turn around the, the Redskins, it's not, not happen all they might be selling
soon.
So that would be interesting.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, actually, let's, let's talk about the offseason before we get into any of the kind
of other stuff.
Okay.
Cause this was kind of a tumultuous offseason.
I mean, you know, the Patriots, they win a Super Bowl and you have a lot of turnover
because, you know, you're the best and people try to poach your players and coach and everything.
But this offseason, there was a lot of coaching drain specifically because both the offensive
and defensive coordinators left.
Charlie Weiss went to coach Notre Dame, did not work out well, I don't believe.
And Romeo Cornell went to coach Cleveland and he poached somebody too, didn't he?
Joe Andrews, he signed over there because he ended up being paid.
Yeah.
I think he poached some coaching staff too.
Yeah.
But there was someone that he wanted specifically, was it Manjini?
I think he wanted Manjini and then Belichick ended up like outfitting him.
I read something about that in the Globe, yeah, because I guess Romeo was, yeah, I know
that it's, if you reeked around this number, like we won't be able to get him.
So yeah, so he worked to keep him.
All right.
Yeah.
So they, those two left and like you said, they promoted Manjini as a defensive coordinator
and technically didn't name anybody the offensive coordinator, which everybody was up in arms
with lately about the pages doing that, but this obviously isn't the first time they've
done it.
And actually they made a comment in the broadcast that there was another team that didn't do
that this year in 2005 and that was the Dallas Cowboys with Bill Parcells, did not name an
offensive coordinator.
I see.
Right.
Right.
So it's obviously something that runs in that tree.
But it was for all intents and purposes, Josh McDaniels running the offense, calling
the plays.
They actually like cut to him and you could see him calling in the plays to Tom Brady.
But I found something in, this is nice because I don't have to defend the fact that I can
read to my brothers who can't, but I was reading some of the books that I have and in War Room
by Michael Hawley, he talked about this specifically and actually the receivers coach at the time
was Brian Dabel, who, right?
Year older than Josh McDaniels and was the one that recommended McDaniels to the Patriots
when they were looking for an entry level employee in 2001.
So McDaniels got in the team and then was promoted to offensive coordinator ahead of him
would eventually kind of lead to Brian Dabel leaving the team because of like that rift.
So kind of some foreshadowing there, which is interesting.
So yeah, so we have your offensive and defensive coordinator leaving kind of a lot.
Ty Law also left your lockdown corner, which is something that Belichick
does very well with when he has a lockdown corner.
Those defenses are usually pretty historic, which we saw in 2003 and 2004.
But even after the 2003 Super Bowl, Ty Law actually wanted out because he saw what happened
to Laurie Malloy and he also saw everybody getting a ton of money.
So like in free agency, so he basically just came out and said,
the quote is, I no longer want to be a patriot.
He said, I can't even see myself putting on that uniform again.
That's how bad I feel about playing here.
That was 2003 and after 2003, so he did play 2004 but then got released because
basically the Patriots couldn't pay him enough and he was just done with them.
So he decided to leave, went to the Jets, another great decision by a former Patriot,
went for the money, got paid a shit ton and the Jets I think finished with four wins on the season
in 2005.
Yeah, they ended your hot.
Not so great.
We'll get to them later though.
Let's see what else.
Oh, the big news, we'll get to that at the end actually.
A couple of other small things.
The draft, this draft was I think a wild one.
The 2005 draft was most notable for the 24th pick which was Aaron Rodgers and he fell.
I remember watching that.
It was like one of the first drafts I actually watched and watching Aaron Rodgers sitting there
just kind of pouting at the table because he thought he was going to be like a top 10 pick
and dropping and dropping and dropping is a face that I'll always remember.
And I think I'm wondering if that has dictated a lot of like how he's run his career over the
past decade or however long it's been.
Longer than a decade.
Yeah, whatever it is.
Closer than I'm talking.
Yeah, other notable draft picks in that were, let's see.
Alex Smith, you want them all?
A bunch of solid running back.
I'd say Ronnie Brown was in there.
Braylon Edwards, Adam Jones, Pac-Man Jones was up there.
Entrail Roll, Carlos Rodgers, DeMarcus Ware, Sean Merriman.
Like this is kind of a pretty top end heavy draft.
Funny because something I was reading in those Globe articles,
because of the trades that Elatec made, people were asking him questions and he said,
it wasn't one of the best drafts out there.
He wasn't thoroughly impressed, but there were some pretty decent guys around.
Yeah, at the top.
I mean, the Patriots draft themselves, obviously picking 30 seconds in each round will kind of get
you less than what you would expect to get higher up that you see, which I think is one
of those things where everybody tries to bash Belichick for the way he drafts.
But I mean, if you're picking last every round, you're not going to be getting these top 10 guys
because they go in the top 10 and you're never picking there.
But in typical New England sports talk, in sports media fashion,
Kevin Manix from the Herald had a review of the first day pick, the first round pick,
which happened to be, well, I'll just read the quote.
Quote, the Pat's decision to take offensive linemen Logan Mankins and pass on a much higher
rate of players like safety broadney pool and linebacker Barrett Rudd seemed even voice a day
later, wrote Kevin Manix in the Herald. He used an analogy of the boxer Jake Lamotta being
bloodied even worse than he imagined. Quote, nobody was expecting the Pat to walk away with
best in show hardware. Not many Super Bowl champs get that honor. Picking at the end of each round
without the benefit of multiple picks in the early rounds can't pretty much eliminate that chance.
But even when you factor in the position of the picks, the Pages came away looking barely
average because they blew the chance to get a playmaker with that first pick.
That's not familiar. It sounds like basically Twitter during every draft the Pages have ever
had. Yeah, pretty much. Like, oh, this was a failure of a draft because they didn't get weapons for
Tom Rooney. I mean, you know, I don't know about you, but I've heard of Logan Mankins before.
Do you recognize that name? Yeah. I think he did okay, right? Yeah, he did all right.
Yeah, he was pretty much a stalwart. Let's see in that other terrible draft that they had.
Ellis Hobbs, starting quarterback they had for a while. Also, I believe holds the record for
the longest kick return in Patriots history, like 107 or 109 yards. Yeah, I feel like that was
that was like the Vikings or something. I believe opening day against the Jets in 2007.
Yeah, that game. Nick Casher in the third. Not bad. James Sanders, the safety who played for a
while and then picked 230 in the seventh round. Quarterback out of Southern California, Matt
Castle. I mean, you know, it's not maybe some of the other drafts they've had where they're getting
guys like Will Fork and all these defensive, you know, Hall of Famers. But a solid draft, I would
say. Yeah, well, especially with the linemen because they started much right away. And
yeah, I mean, that's if Belichick can pick somebody, it's a lineman for sure.
And also a backup quarterback. Yeah, very good at that. Yeah.
And we'll hang around. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Let's see. Who else? Oh, Ted Johnson left.
He retired after basically being diagnosed before it was a thing with CTE.
Back in 2005, basically his, you wonder was doctor, could you have like headaches and all
sorts of like weird shit going on? And his doctor's like, yeah, this is from like all your
concussions. You should stop playing football. So he basically hung it up like, I think pretty
close to the beginning of the season. Yeah, it was the day before training camp. Yeah.
I'm like, because I thought he was trying to stick it to Bill. I was trying to throw on that if he
was just trying to be like, I can fuck you. But I didn't find anything on that. And he didn't have
any like to Belichick and having a disparaging mark for marks. No, I haven't here because
from the Dynasty book by Jeff Benedict, a pretty recent book actually,
talked about it actually, like Ted Johnson called up Robert Kraft and was like, called him about it.
And so Kraft paid Johnson his $400,000 roster bonus that he would have been entitled to if he
had played and then went and drank beers in craft living room that night.
Best thing if you're having like symptoms from pink. Oh, yeah. Right. What's a beer?
And then so and then Belichick put his own public statement out,
said, Ted informed me of his decision today and we had a good discussion. Although his retirement
is unexpected, we thoroughly respect his decision, support him as he moves on. It goes without saying
but Ted Johnson is a class act. He was a solid contributor to this defense and the New England
Page's organization his entire career. Ted's signature work or Ted's signature was a work
ethic and toughness that was second to none. He retires a champion. It does kind of touch on
their relationship says Belichick's relationship with Johnson has been contentious. Back in 2002,
things got so bad between them that Johnson had cleaned out his locker, stormed out of the facility
and threatened to quit. We went from I wanted out of there. I hated the man. I resented him.
I was angry, hurt, disgusted to being captain in the next year, Johnson said of that time period.
And honestly, we put it behind us. But as Johnson stepped away from Patriots, his view toward Belichick
would harden. Don't know why. But if you listen to him on the radio now, it is not softened.
He hates Bill Belichick. So the point where he's on base, he takes potshots at him now.
Hey, I mean, I don't mind it. I'm not one to not criticize.
I am. In Bill, in Bill, I trust. Yeah, I'm a little like between them. Yeah, y'all can go for
yourself. I decide we'll be other brown brothers. He's given you the best 20 years of your life.
And this is how you're going to repay him by questioning everything he does.
It's not questioning everything he does, but you have to be adaptable and you have to be open.
And he has definitely won it. But I just think I don't know. I feel like the way he's approaching,
as far as bringing players on, like his approach to that, I think is dated. He doesn't want to pay
people. And with the success that he hasn't had in the draft the last, you know,
so many odd years, it just reflects that way. Like you have to have good people like willing
to have to prove it, to do good and then that work out. He's not a good gambler anymore. That's
all I'm going to say. I don't know. We'll see. Sorry. Everybody got their opinion. I just disagree.
I think your opinion sucks. Hey, I've been wrong so many times before. So
I owe Grant and Jersey this past season. Oh, yeah. I was going to bring that up.
But he owes me one the season before. So. Oh, so it's a wash. Yeah. I think we're going to trade
baby jerseys. There you go. That'll be perfect. Yeah, that'll be good. So I gotta figure out what
to get my son for Jersey. I don't know. What do you do?
I think you go with a classic so that you bring him up. I mean, he's going to get that by default
because his dad runs a fucking Patriots Dynasty podcast. Yeah. So I'm not quite sure if I get
like, I don't know, I get like a Mac Jones one now and hope Mac Jones, like who's going to be
that longevity now? Like the guy you like. Yeah, that's the Jersey you get. Maybe Jude on into it.
That right. That's that's close thing I can think of. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, you don't,
you don't want to get a running backs one because I mean, and backs don't last in this league or
on this team. I mean, sucks. Damian Harris is gone. Yeah.
So that's more of you in the bills. That's brutal. Speaking of sucks though,
some more off season talk involving our best bud, Vladimir Putin, believe it or not.
And this, I don't know if you remember this, but I don't know why I remember this, but I did.
But basically, Kraft was over in Russia, like with some like business leaders trying to like get
some, you know, business started with the Russians and like ease those tensions and such.
And so they were doing like a photo, like a group photo with Putin and like some other guys.
And Kraft pulled out his soup ball ring that he just got to show it to
show it to Putin. Putin puts it on and then keeps it. And Kraft's like, you know, what the fuck?
And so Kraft's like, I don't know what to do because like, you know, we're supposed to be
making a good impression with fucking Vladimir Putin, the leader of Russia. He just stole my ring.
And then it turns to like this whole fucking thing. It was like this huge like political,
like not a scandal, but just like a big fucking deal because like Putin's like, well, you know,
he gave it to me and Kraft is like, dude, it has my name inscribed on it. Like, why would I give you that?
And so he basically just like, like the Bush administration, who was president at the time,
basically decided that he would honor their request and let President Putin keep the ring.
Here's the quote. At that point, I decided to give him the ring as a symbol of the respect
and admiration that I have for the Russian people and the leadership of President Putin,
Kraft said, which that quote also aged like milk, but you know,
perhaps not the best leadership being shown at the moment.
But yeah, yeah, so it's been a wild offseason. Yeah, a lot going on. Yeah. And that's that's
only the small stuff because the big thing that we've been kind of screwing around is Teddy Bruceki,
where like a week after maybe a month. Yeah. Oh, it was it was like a few days after,
I think it was the Pro Bowl because he and Brady were at the Pro Bowl together. And Brady was like
talking about how, yeah, we're gonna do the three P because no team has ever in the NFL has ever
done it. And so that was the conversation they had 36 hours before. And then
in true Teddy Bruceki fashion, he was asleep at night. He was having a dream that he was tackling
Jerome Bettis. And he kind of like in the dream, he like braced for collision. But like,
he did it physically. And when you woke up, he was like all like his body was all tight.
Um, like as I say, his fists were clenched, his arms extended, his muscles contracted,
he felt pins and needles sensation his left arm and leg. This is at 4am. And so
he's like, Oh, shit, you know, I mean, you know, this sort of stuff like happens to football
players, like they get banged up all the time, like their bodies don't work and all this shit.
So he's like, I'm just going to go, you know, walk it off and go go to the bathroom,
take a whiz. And he stood up and like almost fell over.
And he couldn't like, he couldn't see out of his left eye. And so basically he had a stroke
in the middle of the night. And it turns out was because he had a small hole in his heart.
And you know, there was a blood clot that somehow affected that and didn't get to his brain, but
like he had a stroke. And I don't know if you remember the video of like him returning home
from the hospital. He's in a wheelchair, right? He could like barely walk. Yeah. And he was like,
having to be held up. And it was like real rough. It's like watching your hero and finding out
that he's human. Yeah, exactly. Because it's it's Teddy Bruce. The guy just like throws his body
at people. Like his whole move is like, he comes in on the blitz and the running back tries to go
low. So he just like jumps over them. Yeah. And just like, yeah, just like kamikaze is into the
into the quarterback for the set. Like that's what he does. He just goes like head first into
everything. And now you're seeing him being like, carried by his wife into his house. You're like,
well, I mean, he's never playing again. Yeah. Turns out that was wasn't the case. And so
he actually recovered really well. To the point where right before the season, like they weren't
like he had actually come out and said, you know, I'm not playing again.
And I think the commentators in the game actually talked about how
I think I have a quote here. Because yeah, they're obviously going to talk about them. And they said,
where is it? Oh, yeah, Al Michaels. It was Al Michaels and John Madden. Oh, I was so good too.
Fucking fantastic. So good. Love John Madden. Oh, I did not appreciate him at the time.
We didn't. Yeah. I feel like he will eventually kind of like start to fade down the stretch.
Because I just remember like everybody, he was the butt of all the jokes. Yeah. Like John Madden
be like, oh, well, you know, the team to score the most points is going to win the game, you know?
But like at this point, this is his like his peak or whatever, but he is phenomenal.
Super like approachable stuff. He's breaking everything down and like
pointing out like great blocks and things like that on running plays, like just like on the fly.
He has him queuing it up and he's like, it's amazing. The one that got me giggling.
Uh, Kerry Collins first throw is a throw to Jerry Porter. And he says, that looks like the first
throw on the road against the defending world champs. Because it was not. I was like, he was so
right. It was like, it was not like everything just looked unnatural. Like the route didn't look
quite right. And Kerry Collins rolling out and throwing it and it's just like, that looks stiff.
Yeah. But yeah, Al Michaels made a comment. They showed Bruce on the sidelines as Bruce,
hopes to play again this season, but the chance of that are infinitesimal because, you know,
it's not Michaels. He was big words. Yeah. But what he didn't know is right before the beginning
of the season, Bruce, he went and met with Belichick and just told him that he wanted to main
on the Pup List. And Belichick's like, why would you want to do that? Like the only reason I would
keep you on the Pup List, if you want to return to the Act of Rostrum 2005, like that's, that's
what we use that for. Um, and again, Belichick's like, let me get this straight. There's still
no way of you playing this year at all, right? And Bruce, he was like, pause and say anything.
And then eventually Bruce is like, I'm going to play this year. And the Belichick's like, well,
I want to make sure we're on the same page here. Are you telling me that going out there and picking
up another lineback at this year would be the wrong move? And Bruce is like, yeah, that'd be the
wrong move. So they basically just said, okay, we're not going to pick up another linebacker.
We've got Monty Beasle in Chad Brown. That'll do.
Didn't know what he was getting himself into. Yeah, I thought he'd be backing up some, some
world class linebackers learning from them, but that did not happen.
Um, yeah. So, uh, so that is the off season. Um, just a bit of a dumpster fire really,
all the way around. I'm actually remember coming into the 2005 season, not being as confident
as I normally was, um, because of all the crap that had happened. Absolutely. I mean, you know,
you lose guys every year, but just the amount of guys you lost, the type of guys you lost
in terms of like leadership and stuff like that. You lose Roman fight for two.
Yeah, exactly. Who was, um, top quality linebacker. Like one of those just like older dudes who
knows what he's doing, uh, is that leader in the locker room was a big part of like a lot of
those Super Bowl runs, even though not like, not necessarily like in playing time, but just like,
you know, you read all these stories about this defense and they're just like, um,
um, you know, we had all these calls and checks and, uh, like the, the call would come in from
the sideline and Bruce, he would like relay the call, but it didn't matter because we all knew
what we had to do already. Anyway, we're just, we're just like calling response. It wasn't like,
oh, this is what we need to do. And then like apparently, uh, in the 2004 Super Bowl, uh,
they implemented a whole new like scheme just to fuck with the, the Eagles and their offense,
because, and then, you know, like unquestionably like, yeah, of course we're going to implement
something brand new on the eve of the Super Bowl because, you know, they were just like that,
tighten it and like everybody knew what everybody else was doing. Like Seymour would just turn around
and be like, Hey, I'm going to like fucking do a little bit different on this stunt. And then
like all the liners, like, yeah, got it. And they would just know exactly how to shift to maximize
like what they need to do and everything. Um, but you've lost a lot of those guys.
Yep. So this, and that's probably what Chad Brown's coming in for to replace Roman Pfeiffer.
I would think so. Yeah. Um, but even in this game, you saw, um, the Patriots,
I think at times they, uh, again, John Madden pointed this out. They started playing a 3-4,
um, but they were giving up some long runs, which is what apparently a Norb Turner
offense is known for is the running game, which I wasn't aware of. I always saw him as like a passing
guru, but they went through the list of all his running backs, uh, when he was like offensive
coordinator or coach, and they're all had like the best season of their lives, like Ricky
Williams running for almost 2000 yards, you know, like that sort of shit. Um, was that when he was
with the Saints? Uh, no, the Dolphins, I believe. Oh, wow. Yeah. Um, so yeah. Yeah. So he's just,
you know, this is a, what should have been on paper, a pretty good offense. Um, but yeah,
so Balacic is swapping out, they started 3-4, then they moved to a 4-3. On some plays, they only had
two defensive linemen on the field. I mean, they're still doing their Patriot thing. Um,
but you're trying to deal with new guys, which is tougher. And I think we'll see that as the
season goes on when the page start giving up a bit more points than you're used to seeing.
Especially coming from 2003-2004, right?
That's a sad look you just gave me. Oh, it's just not, it's just not great, especially that first
drive where they give up a touchdown in like less than four minutes, like that's a culture shock,
like, okay, you know, because in the, there was a step that they put up, there was a first opening
drive touchdown, they give it up in 31 games. Yeah. Almost two full seasons.
Like this is, that's an adjustment to, you know, it's a foreshadow for what's to come later on.
Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, it was tough. But I mean, also, let's talk about this
Oakland Raiders team. I haven't really touched on that much. Have we mentioned that it was the
Raiders they're playing? I'm all over it. They played the Raiders. Oh, we also forgot to talk
about the, oh yeah, the banter celebration. Yeah. I have some notes.
Because I got, I need to know what you thought of that. Did you see the, you saw the video, right?
I saw the video. Okay. So I, for one, I, I like heavy metal. It's a genre of music I listen to.
I listened to Ozzy Osbourne in the past. I have actually learned how to play crazy
train on the guitar because I love it so much. This was not a good rendition, first of all.
I agree. Ozzy, I hate to say it. I was going to say I hate to talk ill of the dead, but he will
never actually die. So that's fine. But he did not have it anymore in 2005. I don't know if he's
still touring or not. He probably is because it's Ozzy Osbourne. I'm not sure he knew where he was.
He didn't seem there with everyone because when he started saying, come on, clap.
Yeah. And he seemed like he was like out of tune and not quite on beat. It was tough to,
like the audio wasn't great anyways. It was like, he was all you could hear and he was singing his
own song out of tune. That was tough. But I will say the way it started, they just had like this
massive, you know, the, the Patriot head, like the helmet that they come up, the team runs out of.
Right. They had that, but the top opened up and the band was inside that and like, all right,
all right, this is good. And then the band started playing. I'm like, oh, well, never mind.
And then it was like cut to Bob Kraft. You're like, oh, welcome to the new season and you're
world champion doing on Patriots. Also not looking as svelte as we're used to seeing
Bob Kraft there. You look like he was putting on a couple of LBs there.
Yeah, he didn't look that man.
Great. Like, I think, you know, but you have to think in the context, he has just won two straight
Super Bowls. So his off seasons, maybe, yeah, you know, he's been eating well, celebrating a lot.
I don't think he's drunk when he gives these speeches, but he just kind of has that like
real slight slur when he is like speaking in front of the crowd. And usually it's like after,
you know, an AFC championship game, you're like, oh, great, he sees hammered. That's awesome. But
this is like before the season kicked off. You're like, maybe that's just how he talks and these
things. It was just like ever so slightly like, oh, maybe you drank. I'm not sure.
But then like that was, I don't think they plan it further than that because, you know,
and that like the Patriots, the song is playing and the Patriots come out to like fireworks and
they all run out of. Yeah, so they all run out because then they all just like stand on the field.
But like crazy train still playing the lights are still going and everything. But I'll just like,
now what do we do? So I was like, pan up to Freddie Prince, Jr. Right. Who's like,
thinking this is MTV like, we'll be right back with the next act. And we're like,
the next act is football homie. I don't know what, what is happening here. And like the team just
kind of like meandering around the field like talk to each other like what? So I'm like,
my first thought was like, Brady didn't seem all that impressed. And usually like walking around,
you know, trying to loosen up a one up in the middle of a fucking crazy train.
Yeah, it was, it was a mess. So I'm like, I need to know what Belichick thought of this,
like what is Belichick doing? And they didn't show anything in the video.
I'm like, man, that would have been great to see. But then during the broadcast,
Alan John Madden actually like played a clip of Belichick and his assistant coaches sitting on
the bench going through that game plan. While all of this is happening, like oblivious to the
fact that anything is going on. I'm like, that is fucking perfect. That's exactly how I want my
coach to be. Yeah, he was very like not impressed at all. Could not care less. Yeah, it was amazing.
So the one thing that I did see on this that I thought was really funny. So I guess people that
were there, they had like something in Detroit, because that's what the Super Bowl was going to
be. So the Rolling Stones stayed there. And then Kanye West performed. But this was right after
he did the George Bush doesn't care about. Yeah, yeah. So I guess people in the stands were all
going through that. Oh my goodness. So everyone was like, the whole vibe was just completely off.
Ozzy comes out after that. So it's just like, what are you guys doing? And they just and then they
had Trisha Yearwood, who I've never even heard of, Rune 5, Santana. Yeah, it's just like a
brain day to just yeah, just random math collection. Yeah. Yeah, it's just trying to
everybody and bring everyone in all at once. Yeah, because I mean, Crazy Train makes sense and Ozzy
makes sense because they play that, you know, after like, you know, that that's what the team
runs out to every game. So to have him perform alive. Like, yeah, that makes sense. But the rest of
it's like, what is this? But I'm wondering if like you were kind of talking about is
was this kind of one of the first, you know, opening nights where it's on the Thursday night
and this is the only game in town. It's a big fucking deal. And, you know, maybe
still working the kinks out on like how to make that a presentation.
Yeah. So I think the only other kind of pregame thing is that this the Raiders that I
I don't I don't know if this is why they were picked
to be the opener, but this is the Raiders first time back in New England since the snowball
and the tucker roll. And we talked about it. I think it was 2002 when they had their rematch in
Oakland. And the intro of that game was Al Davis being super pissy about the tucker roll.
And he was like so bitter and so just like awful about it. So I was wondering if he was still being
a bitch about it in 2005, my guess is probably I mean, it's out famous. Yeah, he doesn't seem like a
guy who forgives and forgets doesn't doesn't seem like his style. At least just in general,
like he doesn't seem like a forgiving type of guy. He's sued the NFL before. So I mean,
I think I think he's probably he's probably still angry, even though he's not alive.
So I'm sure he's got some middle fingers pointed in the general direction of doing
the word. He's buried. So that's fun because spoiler alert, the Patriots would win this game,
which is great because they don't win all of them like who are used to or they don't I mean,
they win most of them because you know, it is the early 2000 Patriots. But I think this is kind of,
you know, kind of that 2002 sort of feel where they just never really get in sync,
um, suffer a handful of injury, like a bunch of injuries actually in this this game,
but not this game this season, I believe. Yeah, right off the bat, we have some injuries.
Yeah, Scott Tyrone pool. Yeah, I think there's going to be a lot of them because
where I read it. Here we go. Overall injuries cause the pages start 45 different players at
one point or another during the season, an NFL record for division champion breaking the record
of 42 step by the Patriots in 2003. So they've done it before, but like very easy 45. I mean,
in 2003, that's a historic defense too. Right. And yeah, and they're starting.
Uh, oh no, 2003 was not the year that they started.
Troy Brown at cornerback, but it was just, you know, it's one of those, and I feel like that
happens too. Like when the pages don't go far in the playoffs, it's usually because of injuries
and nothing else. I mean, just think about some of those like mid 2010 teams, like before they
actually won in 2014, you know, like they, they had a whole bunch of, even the Super Bowl in 2012,
where, you know, Gronk got injured right down the stretch and they weren't quite the same team
in the playoffs and limped into the Super Bowl. And then he tried to go and he couldn't. And like
they, they lost because of it. Same with that season where Dion Lewis got hurt and they limped
into Denver and couldn't win that one. And we limped into Denver a few times.
2014, I remember. Yeah. So yeah, we, I feel like whenever Denver beats the Patriots,
it's because the Patriots limp there. And we go to Denver. Right. Yeah. Yeah.
Let's talk about these, these Raiders because on paper, they looked much improved in theory.
Um, they had a bad draft. I will say that. But they did make a big splash by trading
linebacker Napoleon Harris and their first round pick, which was number seven overall
and a 2005 seventh round pick to Minnesota for wide receiver, Randy Moss.
Um, and I saw that you posted a globe snippet of how people were talking about the Vikings
getting better by subtraction. And there was some super, super snarky. I don't know who wrote it,
but some super snarky thing about, yeah, let's see how that works out. I don't think he did.
Yeah. Madden was like big on that. He, he said that in the broadcast too. He's like,
I don't know how anyone can think you can take 90 touchdowns off your team and you get better.
Exactly. Yeah. I mean, this is, this is really much still a world-class athlete,
world-class wide receiver, just a bit disgruntled has had some, you know,
had some run-ins with teammates and coaches and whatnot. But, um,
this would not be the best ready. And watching this game,
like I remember watching, I think I actually saw Randy Moss on the Vikings either last year,
the year before in 03 or 04. And it looked right. You know, Randy Moss wearing number 81,
wherever it was on the Vikings looked right. You know, he's, uh, we're in that purple, him and Chris,
Chris Carter, uh, it looked good. And then in the Patriots, it made sense just because of,
you know, all the, the records they set with him and Brady. Um, but seeing him on the Raiders just
looks off. You know what I mean? It doesn't, it doesn't look right. Like it's,
it's just, I think it's so, it reminds you of like Randy and his like,
Randy being Randy as much as he can. And it was like,
it was about the worst out of him having that Raiders jersey.
I think so. Yeah. And he's number 18 as well, which doesn't look right. And he's just like,
him in the silver and black, it's kind of like watching Jerry Rice there too. Like it just
doesn't feel right. Um, because the Raiders is, I think like the Raiders are such an icon of like,
this is who the Raiders are. They're bad. Yeah. And the, but those like, and they have this like aura,
but these other like big name players like Iranian Moss or Jerry Rice, they already have that.
And so to like try to mesh the two, which just doesn't fit in my head for some reason. I can't,
I can't figure out why. Jamarcus Russell. Yeah, it fits. You know, like I will always see Jamarcus
Russell as, as a Raider. Like that, that makes sense. Yeah. But yeah, Randy Moss, um, I won't say
it didn't work out. Um, he had a thousand yards and eight touchdowns. Um, and it also, I think,
helps Jerry Porter, who's the other writers here on this team go for nine, 42 and five touchdowns.
That's pretty damn good. Yeah, I was when you have Kerry Collins throwing you the ball. Yeah.
Who, um, the broadcast was not hugely, um,
I don't say they were critical of them, but they weren't exactly like supportive of him.
And they kept talking about like how he was like turning over new leaf after quitting on the Panthers.
And I didn't remember anything about that, did you? No. Yeah. Um, so I, I looked it up because
like the fuck he quit on the Panthers. Like, because he was there like the Panthers first
ever draft pick, right? Um, like yeah, expansion draft. Um, so it turns out, um, he was drafted
in 95. They went to the playoffs in 96. And he was like, you know, he was the reason why he threw
for a bunch of yards and touchdowns. Um, and it was like, you know, the Panthers, I think the Panthers,
the Jaguars both made the playoffs in their second year. Um, and it was like this bananas thing.
And then 97, he didn't do so great when they finished seven or nine. And then apparently,
uh, according to Wikipedia anyway, Carolina started the 98 season with Collins as it started
quarterback after an own four start. Collins walked into head coach Dom Capers office. And as Collins
later put it, told coach Capers, my heart's not in it. I'm not happy. And I don't feel like I can
play right now. What? He asked to be traded, but was instead placed on waivers by Carolina during
the 98 season and subsequently signed with the Saints to finish season. Uh, Collins would say
that he did not intend to quit the Panthers only to sit out for a few weeks. However,
Capers interpreted his request as quitting on the team and he was released. He later admitted that
much of his erratic behavior was due to his struggles with alcoholism after being arrested
for drunk driving later that year. He was ordered by the NFL to seek treatment for alcohol abuse.
So the rock bottom, apparently no idea. I had no idea that happened. Um, so this is kind of like,
cause I remember, I just remember him like being on the giants freely. I don't remember the years
before that. Right. Exactly. Yeah. So I mean, and this is kind of the lost time too for him.
Um, so this, but I guess this is part of his redemption tour of
these coming to the Raiders. He's got Rainey Moss and he's got some big guys.
They traded for Curtis Martin's backup in, uh, the Jets, uh, Lamont Jordan.
And, uh, like this on paper looks like a pretty good offense. Um,
Definitely look good on that first drive. Yeah. Uh, and that was about it, uh, for the season
for them because they finished four and 12, um, and finished the season 23rds in points,
four and 21st in your offensive yards. Not great. Um, they also upgraded their defense. Um,
they picked it up again on paper. It feels very, um,
um, uh, Washingtonian, let's say, um, where they, they swiped a couple of, um,
familiar faces in Bobby Hamilton and Ted Washington, Mount Washington. Um, and also picked up Warren
Sapp from, uh, I believe it's in the Buccaneers before. Uh, and so they like, they stocked that
offensive line, uh, defensive line rather with big time names because
they said, uh, they're leading Sacker last year. I don't even remember what it was because it was
like not a huge name. Tommy Kelly. Yes. Um, he led the team with four sacks the season before.
Uh, so they had issues getting crushed on the quarterback, spent a bunch of money on defensive
linemen and he got a whole zero sacks in this game. So good for them.
And they got, uh, they had a future Patriot and, uh, Derek Burgess, right? We, we had him at the
end of his career, right? Yeah, I believe so. Yeah. Um, who was, uh, I believe led the team in sacks
was 16 this year. Um, so he paid off. Yeah. Um, 16 sacks, three, fours, fumbles, two,
foam recoveries made the Pro Bowl because of it. Um, yeah. So him and Tommy Kelly had four and a
half sacks. So they got some pressure. Um, the one thing they couldn't get was interceptions.
They forced five on the season. Not so good. So turn, turn over was a problem. Um, or lack thereof,
I should say it was a problem. Um, but the Patriots never really had a lot of issue with
North Turner led teams in general. Um, this was one of six games they would play against them.
And, uh, the Patriots were five and one versus North Turner led teams. Only loss was in 2008
versus chargers, which 2008 was one of those weird years too. So that doesn't really surprise me.
But also like, I don't know if you can give that to North Turner, if we're being honest.
Uh, we had, oh, that's another notable name that has left. Um, that they're seeing again is, uh,
the defensive coordinator for the Oakland Raiders in Rob Ryan, who was the linebacker's coach for
four years with the Patriots. Um, also some names you might recognize. Uh, the secondary coach is
Chuck Pagano, um, noted failed, um, Colts head coach, uh, who took over for, was he the one
that took over for, um, he's the one that ruined Andrew Luck, right? Chuck Pagano.
Believe so. Yeah. Yeah. Cause he took over in 2012,
went 11 and five, three years in a row, then eight and eight, eight and eight, four and 12,
and then he was fired. Uh, so downward trend there. And Wink Martindale, who I believe is the
giants defensive coordinator now was the inside linebacker's coach, which seems like, uh,
that seems like you're just giving him a title. Um, like, oh, no, you get to coach
the linebackers, not all of them. Just the inside linebackers. Congratulations.
You have dominion over two players. Yeah, exactly. Uh, neither of which seemed to have done very well.
So I can see why he's moving on it. Um, but yeah, Warren Sapp, what came over, uh,
Namdi Asamuga came over, as some, as some logs, some logs. I don't know. Um,
who had 14 passes, defended 60 tackles and zero other stats. So good for him.
Cause I thought this was like his peak too, but apparently not.
I don't know how early in this career this is. I don't either. Um, because I remember him and,
I thought him and champ Bailey was supposed to be like the lockdown corners of the
BNFL and then like they just, I don't know, they fell off for some reason.
Uh, Warren Sapp was second on the team with five sacks, which is pretty impressive,
considering he was playing defensive tackle. Um, and that's kind of like all she wrote,
uh, for the, the Oakland Raiders. Like they, they look better on paper than they actually
performed. Um, I think a lot of that had to do with not just turnovers because Carrie Collins,
at least in this game, seems like his whole, um, his whole thing was just to
chuck it up and, you know, fuck it, Randy Moss is down there somewhere sort of thing.
Yep. Which kind of worked in this game. Not gonna lie. Randy Moss finished with like
two catchers for over a hundred yards or something ridiculous. Uh, but Carrie Collins was
trucking into like triple coverage. Like, yeah, Randy Moss down there, you know,
little doors is going to have him being complete or any muscle, you know, pat my stats. Um,
so Carrie Collins had a bunch of turnovers and, uh, he just, I don't know, he, he wasn't,
he didn't feel like a leader of an offense. Um, I don't know what the fuck I was talking about.
Well, I, I think not by the end of it, he didn't look that way at first drive. I definitely was
like, I was, I was scared because I'm, I've been focusing on those linebackers and, uh,
Madden was, was the one to say it. He just said they really sold out for the run on that
to the action fake. And it was both, you know, uh, Monty Visaland head around that did that. But
the new guy, you know, they, they're stepping into big shoes and maybe head around says that too. So
yeah, you know, the only other note that I had for that was, uh, Lamont Jordan should have,
should have been the first fat head poster because his head is massive. It's a really big head.
He's the bobblehead.
He was running down that field. He was rumbling, bumbling, stumbling.
It was. Yeah. I mean, at the beginning of the game too, it looked like I wrote down like,
you know, he was running well or in the game. I thought he was average like eight yards a carry,
but by the end of it, like the Patriots kind of like sort of themselves out.
Yeah. And he, by the end of the game was averaging less than four yards a carry.
Um, which sounds like not great, but, um, I think we can talk about Corey Dillon
speaking of not great. Yeah. Did not have a good game. Um, especially early,
you started off four carries for negative three yards. Um, early in the game, I think, uh,
even the commentators made a point to call out that where it was. Oh yeah. Um,
Pat, the Patriots drove down the field the first two times, um, scored a field goal and a touchdown.
And after the second drive, the Patriots had 132 passing yards and one rushing yard.
And I don't know if that one rushing yard was even Corey Dillon. I think it was, um,
Kevin Fox. So he had a tough day and he actually, they showed after that second touchdown,
well, after the first touchdown rather, um, Brady was on the sidelines kind of like trying
to fire up Corey Dillon was like getting his face and was like trying to pump him up.
And Corey Dillon looked a little like pissy about something. Um, so I don't know if like
this is kind of the beginning of the end for him too, because I don't, obviously he doesn't
recreate what he had in 2004, but, uh, he didn't quite look the same. Um, wasn't breaking tackles,
wasn't getting around the corner like he used to. And it's like, you know, when
a running back falls off, they fall off fast, but he finished 23 carries, 63 yards for
2.7 yards of carry, which not great. Um, but you didn't have two touchdowns, so fuck it, right?
Yeah, we'll take it. That's a decent fantasy stats, some, uh, Jerome Betis stats right there.
For sure. Um, yeah. Uh, are there any other new guys on the Patriots that we should talk about,
do you think? Um, well, Ben Watson, I mean, he's, this is, it's not a lot of like additions that
we had, right? Cause no, we mostly stayed the same, but it was a lot of like returning guys that
either, either didn't know about or we're starting to question. So like Troy Brown coming back and
Ben Watson, it was weird, like soft offense for this game. Like it was like everyone had their
drive and it was like, all right, you go off, then you go off, then you go off. So the first,
that first drive, uh, Ben Watson just looked like a man amongst boys. Like he was just
over it. Yeah, running over appeal. Yeah, it was great. Um, and I actually forgotten that he
was drafted the year before like first round, right? And then was, um, like got injured out for
the season, the first game. Yeah. I was so disappointed. I was so looking forward to him that
and then they almost, I kind of had to settle for Daniel Graham, who was their draft pick the
year before that in the first round. Um, who monster of a man, same sort of thing, looks like
Ben Coates, but can't catch like Ben Coates, unfortunately. Um, but yeah, Ben Watson looked
like, like he said, a man among boys. Um, and I think he, I think they, they said he had like
two catches on the first drive and that was like more than he had all last season. I'm like, well,
yeah, of course, um, that makes a ton of sense. But so he's, he's kind of like already got his,
his total for the, uh, for, for his career, he's doubled his, his catch total. Um, but then you
kind of like, like you say, you didn't really see him much after that. Um, and then, uh, I mean,
there was your patented Daniel Graham either running the wrong route or Brady overthrowing him, um,
and having a couple of drops, which is, you know, par for the course. Um,
and also, uh, I didn't realize Christian Fourier was still on this team, but I found,
I don't even remember where I found this. Um, but it was, they were talking about, uh, the whole
like, uh, turmoil in the off season and Fourier was kind of part of that. Um, because it says
on offense, tight end Christian Fourier had been told in a candy conversation with tight ends coach
Jeff Davidson that this was likely his last year in Fox bro. Young tight ends, Daniel Graham and
Ben Watson needed more time to play for a sulked when he heard the news and then he says, quote,
I told myself, you're such a baby. I was pissed at myself for acting that way. In that instance,
I decided to change my attitude. I don't know if he did because I mean, if you hear him on
talk radio, he still sounds like a bit of a whiny baby, but, uh, yeah. So I mean, he's technically
still on the team, but I don't, I don't like, I saw him in this game. Yeah. I don't, I don't remember
seeing him. Um, I do, uh, I do remember reading some things about him, like in the off season,
nothing, nothing like that though. I didn't, I never heard that close. That was, that was
definitely an interesting one to hear. Yeah. But I mean, they have a lot of good tight ends this
year. So they're going to plug them in when they need them. Yeah. I'm curious, like,
you know, obviously we have this shitty little podcast that nobody listens to, but if it does
ever get to the point where like we can get somebody like Bill Belichick on, the question I
want to ask him is like, what is it about having two premier tight ends that like gets you hard
because he has been chasing that for the entire time. Yeah. With the, you could see Ben Watson
and, uh, Daniel Graham, um, even that before they had it with, um, Fourier and, um, Wiggy,
and then it was Hernandez and Gronk. And now it's like, they're just like,
I mean, they just signed Kaseki, right? Mike Kaseki from, um,
right. And they still have Hunter. Exactly. Yeah. So he, he, I don't know if he sees it as some sort
of like matchup key where if you have those two tight ends, you can be more flexible because
you can run and pass out of the same group of like players or like what exactly you're,
you're doing, but, uh, he just has always seemed and nobody like really talks about it.
Like, uh, Belichick loves his tight ends because Mark Bravaro is his, you know, favorite son.
But like, it's always two tight ends. He always seems to want those two.
And when it works, it, it works. I mean, just think of 2012, right?
Yeah. Like that, that team was borderline unstoppable until, um, Hernandez stopped it.
Yeah. Um,
All right. So let's bring that mood down. That was cool.
Uh,
Oops.
Let's just bring it to that.
All right. Yeah. Speaking of things that didn't work out as well. Um, here's somebody that I was
fucking pumped about, uh, the page of signing. And that is five foot eight, 180 pound Tim Dwight.
Oh, yeah.
I thought he was going to be the next Troy Brown, that like OG white slot receiver, the, the OG
Welker Edelman mold. Um, and he kind of looked at tonight, uh, at least on punt returns.
He looked good.
He had shifty as fuck. Um, he broke pretty much all of them. Um, and even if he didn't,
he ran for 40 yards, uh, horizontally before getting tackled, which is awesome. Um, and he's
just like, he's that, it was definitely that same mold, right?
Yeah.
The, the tiny white slot receiver quick and shifty and has no regard for his or anybody else's safety.
Nope. And he's just electric on special teams.
Yeah. Yeah. Um, and again, that kind of goes back to Troy Brown as well, who,
you know, no longer, he, he's doing punts, but he's like the hands guy, right?
He's only receiving punts if it's, if he's standing inside his own 20, because he's got the hands
for it. Um, but he's not being asked to even return punts anymore. Yeah. Um, but he still came back
and he, um, I think you found a quote, let me see if I can pull it up long if you have it,
about Troy Brown and a lot of Troy Brown things on there. Yeah, there.
That's awesome. Um, I just, I just love for you about Troy Brown, but, uh, basically just talking
about how like, like he, he just like came in and did his job and he didn't bitch about it.
He didn't like, you know, he could have gone to New Orleans, he could have made more money.
He was like, I'm at the end of my career. My kids basically came to me and like, we don't want to
move right in the Patriots. He's like, fuck it. So he took the vet minimum and like everybody
there is like, like everybody on the team, like everybody, uh, that got quotes from like, here's
one from Rodney Harrison. Um, I was elated. Harrison said a guy like that deserves everything he can
get. He's just a great player and just a great example for the young guys, how to handle yourself
and how to do things consistently day in and day out. Troy has a lot to this team and a lot of
different ways to coach Bill Belichick, both on the field as a receiver and as a return in his
kicking game and also just his presence and the competitiveness that he brings as an athlete and
as a football player to the team. Those are all big positives. Like, I mean, it's what he does.
But his biggest positive was the fact that he didn't have to play cornerback anymore.
Wayne Starks and Tyrone Poole should be in healthy.
But yeah, I mean, he's like, he's, well, as long as we're a healthy football team and we've got
guys in place that can play, I'm happy, he said. Fuck it, Troy Brown. Like he is,
the, I mean, obviously we're a Brown focused podcast because, you know, he's our brother
and we share a name with him. Right. He grew up at that time, but he is also just like the
prototypical New England Patriot. I have two quotes here that are pretty good from him.
I still approach it the same way. I want to go out there and play well and see where I'm at
personally. I feel like I'm there ready to go and make some plays and hopefully impact the outcome
of the game. Another one, I approached the situation that I was fighting for a job like
everyone else. He said, it was one of those deals where just because your situation or your status
or longevity on the team doesn't always work out. It's one of those feelings where you know
you made the right decision. Like he's going into his 13th year and he's still fighting for a
position. Like, yeah, he's the definition of the Patriot. Why? Yeah. And he's cool with it. He's
like, yeah, I mean, that's just how it is. Like I fight for my position every year. Like this, you
know, go hard a few times. That's cool. Right. He gets it. And then I would say, I don't know, play
the game. But I think kind of the score that put this game away, because the Colts, the Colts,
Jesus Christ, the Raiders kind of hung around. Thanks to Randy Moss, basically, who set up
two Raiders touchdowns. Well, back in the special teams kept them in it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But
it's 23-14 Patriots, because Vinitary had missed an extra point, finally.
It got blocked. It did get blocked. Yeah, you're right. Yeah.
And so, you know, it's still a little too close for comfort. When the Patriots finally put a drive
together, they hadn't been able to finish drives kind of the second half of this game. The Raiders
had kind of figured some things out. But then Troy Brown, the Wiley Vett, managed to get a
pass and a clearance call, like a defensive pass and a clearance calls in the end zone,
which set them up first and go on the one, which then Corey Dillon converted the next play
to put them up 30-14. And even though the Raiders would manage to score another touchdown to make
a 20-13, it was never really in doubt because of Troy Brown coming in here and using his smarts,
which is kind of like what got him through the NFL career all the way through. He was just a super
smart player, too. He always knew exactly what to do and when to do it. So, Troy Brown, my game ball.
No surprise there. Yeah, I did have a couple of football or not footballs.
Okay, all right. So, this was a quote by Madden.
Of course it was.
Zach Crockett is a load.
Just a load. Is that football or not football?
I don't think that's football. I mean, that was John Madden and John Madden is football.
But calling somebody a load, I think that's, I think that's derogatory.
Okay. So, a little later in the game, he's talking about Fred Blitnikov.
Madden again. He said, you're talking about a guy who has moves and hands. That's Fred Blitnikov.
Moves and hands? Ooh, girl. That may also be illegal. Especially in 2023,
you can't have moves and hands. I think it's one or the other, to be honest.
And you have to have consent. That's what I've learned.
Fair enough.
Geez. All right. I like it.
Another, yeah, there's another Madden.
No kidding.
They're going to come up on him and they get right in right behind him.
Oh boy.
Yeah. For context, this is Randy Moss. He's talking about Randy Moss.
No, he's not. Actually, I, this one definitely, I think you made up, that's definitely not football.
I remember Greg Brown, that was one of the boys, used to work at Blockbuster.
And they would recite, they'd actually memorize all the names of the dirty movies,
like in the adult section, Shaving Ryan's Privates, I believe, was my favorite.
And I'm pretty sure what you just read was on the back of one of those boxes, those VHS
types. So I'm going to say that is not football.
Okay. So we're four for four on not football.
So far, so good.
We've got a couple more here.
Um, see the crowd underneath that he draws, and then they can come right in behind where
Randy Moss is short and hit the pass on that next level.
That's not even grammatically correct.
I think it's John Madden having a tiny brusky-ass stroke.
Okay. So that's, we'll just put that in a, it's all in third category.
Yeah. Oh yeah.
He leads and boom, right there, he gets his guy, and Corey Dillon comes in right behind.
Wait, was this John Madden?
Yes, also John Madden.
That one could be football. That's because he's in Corey Dillon.
Yeah. Unless, unless he's somewhere else with Corey Dillon, but never.
That's true. Yeah. Yeah.
Um, I don't think Corey Dillon leaves the house.
So I think we got two more.
The big old nose tackle plugging up the middle all night, playing a four-man line when you
thought it was going to be a three-man line.
Is that football or not football?
That's not football. I've seen that movie.
Mom, don't listen to this part.
And the last one is, these guys don't have great ball skills, but when you grow that big,
you're not going to have great ball skills, but he showed some pretty good ball skills.
Also, John Madden.
Yeah.
Jonathan, there are children washing. That is a lot of ball skills.
My goodness.
Yeah. He said ball skills three times in a matter of five seconds.
Yeah. Good, good Lord.
Yeah.
Oh my goodness.
I mean, you said he was on his game and in his like prime.
And I think he absolutely showed it there.
I think you're right.
Oh God. All right. Well, I'm going to jump off of that because I have something that is
it's not football, not football. It's just
it's, it's, I don't even know how to explain it. I'm just going to play it. I don't know how to
explain this.
The 33 new feature called inside out. Here's Tom Brady inside out.
In high school, I was voted Mr. Studious.
Joe Montana was my idol growing up.
The strangest request I received from a fan is being a best man in somebody's wedding I've
never met. If I could have dinner with one famous celebrity is Ivano.
When I hang up this fight, I'm going to sleep till noon every day.
I play this game for the ring.
Yeah.
What a loser.
What an absolute fucking loser.
Tom Brady was in 2005 because also, I mean, this is a podcast is an audio medium.
So I should point out that he was like, he had the number one clipper done,
probably a super cuts for that promo.
Looking like a 12 year old and talking about how when I hang up the cleats,
I'm going to sleep till noon.
Like, no, you're going to run a fucking scam NFT is what you're going to do.
But like, Jesus Christ.
Well, no, he's got to be getting up early because he said,
anyone who thought that I'd become back from retirement hasn't gotten their daughter a kid.
So he's got sleepless nights now.
He's a kid and dad.
But like, all of those answers are like, I feel like I'm reading one of those like
teen bop magazines around the fuck they were called.
And the way that he just talks when he's like,
someone invited me to the wedding that I don't even know.
No, no, oh my God.
Coming up next on Nickelodeon.
Fuck, dude.
That's bad.
Yeah.
So, but that's who he was back into that.
And I forget about that.
Like, you know, you see him like screaming at Corey Dillon on the sidelines like,
oh yeah, that's not right.
We know.
But then like, you see him in like these like public appearances and it's like,
oh, what a fucking cornball.
Yeah.
And then there was a story about like,
and we was in like sixth grade or something.
He had to like, he had to do 25 push-ups, 25 sit-ups,
and then like jump rope 100 times every morning.
And then he had to call his dad's personal trainer and tell him that he did it.
Or else his dad would find him a dollar.
But if he did it, he would get 25 cents.
I'm like, what the fuck kind of.
Got to earn a wage.
Like, what kind of kid is that though?
Just think about when you were in sixth grade, we were like, oh yeah,
I got to do my jump ropes like at the corner.
No.
Holy crap, no.
I really think like, you know, growing up, we all wanted to be a professional athlete.
We wanted to be famous.
We wanted to be like known for being Tom Brady.
But the more I think about it as like a fucking grown adult.
No.
You actually, I think have to have something wrong with you.
Absolutely.
To actually get there.
Because there's this like drive that normal people don't have.
And I don't think it's a healthy one.
Like it's, it's probably.
Like it's like mental illness that makes you like have to be the best.
Tom Brady is mentally ill.
I think there might be something there.
I mean, the man divorced Giselle so he could play one more year for mediocre
Buccaneers team.
They look it on paper.
Did it?
I don't know.
It was the same team.
They look like the Serraters team.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Very deceptive.
And he, are you telling me Carrie Collins doesn't have a,
I mean, would Carrie Collins an alcoholic?
I mean, I think there's like, there's something there that's like, yeah, I don't know.
You got to be, you got to have a, no, what's the, sorry, 2023 was the correct term.
It is neurodivergent.
Right.
I know this because I am neurodivergent.
Yeah.
I've been diagnosed with ADHD, believe it or not.
Congratulations.
Same here.
Well, ADD, I'm ADD.
It's all the same.
That's why my mother will go now.
Apparently they're the same.
Yeah.
I am not hyperactive.
I am inattentive of the two different minds.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, so my notes are much better after taking Adderall, which is impressive.
As you can tell tonight is worn off, we have been all over the fucking place.
Then we haven't really talked a ton about the game.
So, as a way to do that, let's do, let's do best and worse.
Can you do it for that?
Yeah.
All right.
You go first.
You are the, you are the guest.
You get to go first.
All right.
Um, I had a best question somewhere.
Where did, oh, my best was, um, John Madden's Belichick impression.
Did you hear that?
No, I think I missed that.
Um, it was somewhere, I think in the third call frame.
Oh, it's, no, it's when he's doing that, um, it's when they go over the, uh, the pregame.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Suddenly at the end, he goes, oh yeah, this is a bunch of baloney.
And I was like, yeah, again, just to not to keep harping on it, but you're just saying that,
you know, Madden's in his prime here and he's just executing on every level.
He's like just hitting peak after peak after peak for me.
So, um, my best was definitely John Madden.
That's fantastic.
So my worst, um, so I think my worst was the, the pregame.
It was just, it was that video for, if anyone is listening.
We'll play the show notes.
Yeah.
You'll be able to see it.
Like if you watch it, be careful because it is literally just like an acid trip.
It is unbelievable the visuals that are going on and then just panning.
And it was just, that was absolutely the worst.
Yeah.
My, I, uh, I watched it at lunchtime today.
And my wife made me lunch and there was mushrooms in the, in the lunch.
I'm like, I, are these regular mushrooms?
I don't, yeah, apparently they were.
Um, I asked her, they were fine.
Uh, but yeah, it was just, it was just a weird fucking video.
Yeah.
So yeah, uh, it, because especially now like everything is so polished with this,
like that sort of stuff the NFL does or the Patriots do, like they're all just like,
it's, it's so smooth.
So polish everything is like super rehearsed.
And this is just like, ah, we'll wing it.
It's fine.
What could possibly go wrong?
Yeah.
We'll make it feel like MTV.
Yeah.
We'll get everyone involved.
Yeah.
And everyone was someone called Freddie Prince Jr.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
We can't get Carson Daly get Freddie Prince Jr.
She's good.
Uh, all right.
Um, I, I think I could put both my best and worst being, uh, both Josh Miller.
Cause he had two puns that were fucking phenomenal, like in the third quarter,
where he bombed a punt that both of them bounced inside the one yard line and then
came straight back up and landed on the three without being like touched down.
I think that's just where it stopped.
Fuck.
And then in the fourth quarter with the Patriots up 30 to 14, he has his punt blocked
and the Raiders score touchdown like a minute later.
And so now it's like an actual game.
Like a fuck.
Um, it's not that kind of stuff.
But those, uh, it was like just seeing Josh Miller out there.
Um, did not make me, uh, miss fuck was his name.
Ken Walther.
Yes.
Thank you.
Ken Walther and his nose in his face.
Yeah.
That thing was a snossage.
And his face bar was like so low too that like it accentuated it.
Like just probably like put visor on or something.
Just tone it down a bit.
But I will say honorable mention goes to Rodney Harrison this game.
I'm just going to give it to him because, uh, the spoiler alert, we won't see him much this season.
But he had an amazing tackle on the kickoff, which John Madden pointed out too that, you know,
the Patriots, one of the few teams that actually use, um, the starting players like, you know,
the high end players on, uh, special teams and Rodney Harrison.
And it looked like a blatant face mask, like blatant face mask.
He like ran by the guy and just kind of like threw his arm out and caught the guy
and just chucked him, like four on him down to the ground.
Like that had to be a face mask.
Turns out it wasn't, um, but it was so close.
Like he basically grabbed him by the, um,
What's called?
Yeah.
Like, like, like the front of his jersey and just threw him to the ground.
Yeah.
Well, he was behind him and he's like got the front of the jersey.
He picked him up and just like tossed him down.
But it looked so much like a face mask that one of the other Raiders players came over and tried
to fight him, but the, the referee's must have been in perfect position because he didn't get
called for it.
Um, and then towards the end of the game, I might be in the third quarter, um,
Kerry Collins and his patented chuck it up and hope, uh, Randy Moss in the end zone on like
third and 40, whatever the fuck it was.
Yeah.
Um, and, uh, it was double covered.
And one of the people covered him was Ronnie Harrison and Harrison got up livid trying to
complain to the referee that, uh, it was passing interference on Randy Moss.
Oh yeah.
And then, um, it actually paid off because at the end of the game, when the Raiders scored
that touchdown off the block punt, they went for two and tried to do a lob to Randy Moss,
which was broken up by, I think it was funny.
They said it all.
Yep.
And the referees threw a flag for offensive pass interference on that.
So even if you caught it, it would have been overturned.
I did have a no on that too, because Al Michaels was like, so confused and like pissed off.
And I'm like, dude, how can you think that that is on a Sunday Samuel?
He's about to get an in like, he's about to intercept the ball and Randy Moss throws him
down to the ground.
Rasmus and Shucks one of the guys.
They call rag call.
Just beats him down.
Yeah.
That was amazing.
Um, and then one last, uh, worst, uh, for Kerry Collins, because we're going to pile on on him
now that I know that he was a quitter.
Um, John Madden was talking about how in this new offense, uh, you know,
North Turner likes to throw the ball down the field, um, sets it up with the run, whatever.
Um, but John Madden's quote was North Turner was saying that they put a camera in practice
just on Kerry Collins eyes to make sure he's always looking upfield.
And I thought, yeah, yeah, that's probably not a sign of good things to come for Kerry Collins.
If your fucking coach is like, we're going to record your eyes and make sure you're looking
in the right spot.
I feel like that should be kind of figured out by the time you're halfway through your NFL career.
Yeah.
Cause he got drafted, what, 95, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So by that, please.
10 years and you're telegraphing where you're going to throw the ball still not great.
Oh, well, uh, can't imagine why it didn't work out.
But yeah, uh, but to add to your like best and worst for Josh Miller, um, I was reading after
that, uh, that the reason why that happened in, it was like, so they were asking Josh Miller
about it.
He's like, yeah, I don't really want to talk about it, but he ended up, you know, talking
about it.
And, uh, if I remember correctly, he was like, yeah, it was kind of Ben Watson's fault on the
left side.
It was on the left side.
Oh, so the left side got blown up.
And then because a lot of people were talking big about, um, uh, Ben Watson.
So I do have a quote here from a globe.
So it says, um, he says, so I'll be a rookie until, and then, uh, I don't have who wrote
it, but, um, it says until, uh, Brady says, you're not a rookie.
Well, that may not be the case, but pretty hinted that maybe fans and media should curb
their enthusiasm for the Patriots hot weapon for now.
That's been one game Brady said, and Ben has higher expectations than anyone on the field.
And a lot of what he's been trying to understand is position and find a role.
Um, uh, I don't know what Ben can do of only sitting and play one game and, and Graham
won two Super Bowls and Christian won two.
Uh, I know that position is pretty good and hopefully Ben adds to it.
So, I mean, as he did good, she also, you know, he's actually one of my also, uh,
best and worst.
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, the best was the first quarter and the worst was the other three.
Yeah.
So fair enough.
My worst is Vladimir Putin.
Stealing the ring and then also if we're trying to start World War three.
Yeah, yeah.
Also, uh, tack on to that.
All right.
So, uh, what do we have next week?
We have Carolina Panthers.
Oh, right.
This was, um, the game where the Patriots are almost kind of looking ahead to the Panthers,
right?
Yeah.
Where that's a very unpatriot like, um, but the, yeah, they, they might be kind of,
you know, overlooking these Raiders, which makes sense now, but we will see what happens
as a rematch of the 2003 Super Bowl.
I don't know anything about the Panthers at this point in 2005, because I think I have
blocked 2005 out of my memory.
Yeah.
I don't actually remember this game, even this Oakland Raiders game.
I don't know about you, but I don't, I remember bits and pieces as the game kind of went on,
but I definitely had, and I don't really remember the 2005 season.
The only thing I remember is just that uncertainty I felt coming into the season.
I remember how it ended, and I think that's about it.
But yeah, so a lot of this is kind of like watching these games for the first time again,
which is interesting.
So we will see.
Yeah, it doesn't make me feel good though.
Not particularly.
Feel queasy.
Yeah, we will see what happens when the Patriots travel to Carolina to face the Panthers,
which I think they've had decent luck with over the years, but we'll see what 2005 brings.
Next week on the Patriots Dynasty podcast.
Motherfucker, that's the wrong sound.
It reset.
Oh, I've lost my Greg noise.
Have I turned in next week to see how much of a blubbering little bitch Greggy
on the Patriots Dynasty podcast.
Yeah, still got it.
Oh, that's.
Just like the Oakland Raiders going to Gillette Stadium to take on the Patriots.
I also have to knock a little rest off as we get back into the podcasting game.
But Tim, this was lovely.
Thank you for joining me.
Thank you for having me.
Absolutely.
And hopefully we'll be doing this on a more regular basis.
We're trying to do it weekly.
But having said that, we will not be here next week.
So two weeks and then we'll be back for your weekly dose to get you through the off season.
Because right now there is nothing going on football wise, even for the most die hard.
Like I am so done with mock drafts already.
I just can't do it.
So hopefully that means we will be bringing you some 2005 goodness games that
none of us remember because we blocked out our heads.
So we will give you the good bad and the ugly and we will see you then.
See you later.