Bedard on radio talking Pats right now

[Don_the_patfan]

Great insight touching on everything pats started at 11. Non-stop pats talk, loving it. Thought I'd let you all know:

Meter Radio - Boston, MA - Listen Online

 

[Uncle Rico]

Great insight touching on everything pats started at 11. Non-stop pats talk, loving it. Thought I'd let you all know:

Meter Radio - Boston, MA - Listen Online

Thanks for the tip! Just checked because I thought I missed it and looks like it's repeating all day, for those who missed it.

 

[DarrylS]

What is meter radio?? John Meterperrell??

Upon closer inspection it is....

 

[chevss454]

Greg Bedard spoke candidly with Jon Meterperel on "MeterRadio" today.

Paraphrasing...all according to Bedard

Bedard said Gronk just wasn't the same player last year that he was the year before. He dealt with numerous injuries throughout the yr plus the ankle was never back to full strength. Bedard thinks Pats would be smart to PUP Gronk and let him rebuild his strength or at least bring him along slowly.

AHern wasn't the same either but with AHern it was b/c of off field distractions. A new baby & family issues kept his attention throughout the year. His shoulder Sx is a complete non issue. Overblown. He expects AHern's play to get back to where it was the year before.

Amendola will benefit from having Brady throw to him away from contact. Amendola's injuries have been freak and his injury history is way overblown. He expects Amendola to be on the outside with Dobson more than people have been saying to help open the middle for AHern and Gronk. He doesn't think Michael Jenkins has a chance to make the team.

Bedard believes the IQ of the Pats new WRs will go a long way to help them be productive by being where TB expects them to be. Dobson, 19 and Boyce, 23, scored well on the Wonderlic and Pats stressed football IQ more than usual. He mentioned Taylor Price who hadn't been diagnosed with ADHD previously and Pats didn't realize it until after a year. Jaguars identified the issue quickly and got him on some meds. The Jags are very happy with his performance so far.

Mallett isn't getting traded this year. If he were, he would already have been traded. It's too late for teams to bring in a QB and expect much from him.

The book on Brady is to pressure and hit him early. Every team plays him this way now but only the good teams are effective with pressure. LeBeau had success w/ the Steelers last yr b/c LeBeau switched up their defense and confused Brady and McDaniels.

Miami will be good NEXT year if the FA signings work out. He respects Philbin a lot since he knew him from GB but at GB Philbin didn't bring in a single offensive FA. That part is new for Philbin but he'll figure it out.

The Jets have a brutal early schedule and if their QB situation doesn't straighten out early he thinks Rex could be fired.

Bedard says Brandon Spikes is a perfect MLB for the NFL...15 years ago. The Pats have been disappointed in Spikes' play & for not becoming a stronger leader in the locker room. Bedard thinks the locker room got away from BB a little last year and Spikes, Deaderick, Love and Lloyd were all a part of the locker room issues. Letting Deaderick, Love and Lloyd go was BB cracking the whip. Love was better as a backup to VW than Kelly will be but Love's personality wasn't right for the Pats. Kelly can be as good or better but he has real motor and inconsistency issues.

Within the NFL the Pats and BB are admired for keeping the winning going for so many years. It's the sustained success of the Pats that NFL front offices have so much respect for. Bedard says this respect is very real.

The Pats want Tavon Wilson to be the starter next to McCourty. Harmon was drafted for his skills in the money role specifically which is why BB drafted him so highly. Time will tell if BB was right to over ride his scouts and draft Harmon.

On Brandon Lloyd, Bedard says he knows what his psych issue is thought to be but he hasn't spoken to the Drs so he's uncomfortable saying what he knows about it on the radio. Meterperel brought up bipolar and Bedard didn't disagree. Bedard said Lloyd was also very impulsive (ADHD) and his behavior was at times extremely rude to players and coaches. Lloyd's eccentric behavior wasn't conducive to building rapport w/ TB. 7th team in 8 years...Lloyd's rep is well known around the league wh/ is why Lloyd remains unsigned.

Bedard says the Pats have as good a chance to win the SB as anyone this year but injuries and good fortune will be key. The Pats have good backups at key positions this year, especially DL, TE and OL, which other teams don't have and that the Pats didn't have last year. He mentioned Seattle as a team without good depth on the OL.

He said he felt the Pats could have beaten the Broncos in Denver but he didn't like the Ravens matchup in the playoffs.

Adrian Wilson will play a much bigger role in the locker room than on the field. He's an outspoken leader. Having the entire defensive backfield coming back is huge for the Pats and will help immensely to improve the pass D.

 

[RobAllan]

Thanks for hitting the highlights- can't listen right now so is nice to have an idea of what was said.

 

[Brady2Gronk]

Yep thanks for the summary!

 

[Uncle Rico]

Greg Bedard spoke candidly with Jon Meterperel on "MeterRadio" today.

Paraphrasing...all according to Bedard

...
Taylor Price who hadn't been diagnosed with ADHD previously and Pats didn't realize it until after a year. Jaguars identified the issue quickly and got him on some meds. The Jags are very happy with his performance so far.

...Bedard thinks the locker room got away from BB a little last year and Spikes, Deaderick, Love and Lloyd were all a part of the locker room issues. Letting Deaderick, Love and Lloyd go was BB cracking the whip.

Thanks for the summary, very well done and appreciated. I'm interested in the two bits quoted here.

On Price: Hadn't realized Jags were high on him. Only time will tell if that speaks well for him, or badly for them. Certainly has the physical tools.

Love et al: First I'm hearing of that sort of issue; maybe not having to be with the Pats every day freed Bedard up to reveal such things? I can only guess that BB learned a lot with the '08-'09 teams when he maybe saw the beginnings of that sort of thing the first year then a full blown problem in '09, with AD et al. I remember BB made a big push to get leadership back in the locker room, drafting all those captain types in '10; having made those types of gains it should be no surprise he'd move quickly to protect that environment.

 

[nabwong]

Thanks for the summary, very well done and appreciated. I'm interested in the two bits quoted here.

On Price: Hadn't realized Jags were high on him. Only time will tell if that speaks well for him, or badly for them. Certainly has the physical tools.

Love et al: First I'm hearing of that sort of issue; maybe not having to be with the Pats every day freed Bedard up to reveal such things? I can only guess that BB learned a lot with the '08-'09 teams when he maybe saw the beginnings of that sort of thing the first year then a full blown problem in '09, with AD et al. I remember BB made a big push to get leadership back in the locker room, drafting all those captain types in '10; having made those types of gains it should be no surprise he'd move quickly to protect that environment.

I agree. That's why players like Mayo, McCourty, Slater etc are so valued by BB and that's why Tom Brady is the perfect QB for him. Aside from Brady's football side, Brady's ego and leadership serves as an example to everyone else. Although Peyton is a top 10 all time QB for sure, I don't think BB and Peyton would have established quite a symbiotic relationship.

 

[RobAllan]

I agree. That's why players like Mayo, McCourty, Slater etc are so valued by BB and that's why Tom Brady is the perfect QB for him. Aside from Brady's football side, Brady's ego and leadership serves as an example to everyone else. Although Peyton is a top 10 all time QB for sure, I don't think BB and Peyton would have established quite a symbiotic relationship.

Can you imagine TB throwing the OL under the bus or rocking the "idiot kicker" take?

 

[Fencer]

Can you imagine TB throwing the OL under the bus or rocking the "idiot kicker" take?

In a vacuum, there's nothing wrong with Manning throwing a verbal jab at the kicker. What the kicker said -- not that I now remember it -- was sufficiently bad. It just illustrates that he shouldn't have thrown his teammates under the bus OTHERWISE.

Interesting reporting by Bedard re the locker room. I appreciate it from him.

 

[patriot lifer]

A lot of interesting thoughts there.

Company culture, like in any organization, is critical to the team functioning well. I remember the Dallas Cowboys heading into the 2008 season. There was a ton of hype surrounding that team, but they ended up being crummy despite the talent they had.

Hopefully Gronk can go back to being at 100%. We seemed to have had our playoff chances stymied without him on the field in the past two years. I'd rather him rest and recover than push him to playing.

 

[mgteich]

What happened to all the talk about Gronkoski being at 100% to start Training Camp or certainly the preseason?

I agree that there is every reason to keeping him out until he is 100%.

 

[Salva135]

Lots of great info there, really interesting to hear talk of locker room malcontents. Even if they existed, I don't think they were nearly as profound as in 2009, but Lloyd's behavior did have its history, so not totally shocking.

I totally disagree about the Peyton comments, though - Peyton is a football savant who would have been just as much of a wet dream for BB as Brady is... their styles are different but if Belichick had drafted Peyton there's no question they would have had a tremendously successful relationship.

 

[shmessy]

The book on Brady is to pressure and hit him early. Every team plays him this way now but only the good teams are effective with pressure. LeBeau had success w/ the Steelers last yr b/c LeBeau switched up their defense and confused Brady and McDaniels.

Great stuff on the whole, but the Patriots never played the Steelers last year.

 

[shmessy]

.....btw the last time Lebeau faced a Pats team with Brady and McDaniels (2007), the Pats absolutely lit up the Steeler defense.

Brady that day was 32-46 for 399 yds 4 TD 0 INT.

 

[chevss454]

Great stuff on the whole, but the Patriots never played the Steelers last year.

Reading it again you're right. Typing feverishly to catch up after some dead space - it should have said the year before. I should have caught the error on proof reading, though. Btw, that was a 2 hour program with a lot of good less restricted information from Bedard. I believe he was still holding back to a degree since his current job with Peter King and SI will have him covering the Pats at some point.

 

[Rob0729]

What happened to all the talk about Gronkoski being at 100% to start Training Camp or certainly the preseason?

I agree that there is every reason to keeping him out until he is 100%.

That was before the back issues came to light. If it was just his arm, there is about a 99.9999999999999999% certainty he would be ready for at least the preseason. His back the great unknown at this point.

 

[Rob0729]

Great stuff on the whole, but the Patriots never played the Steelers last year.

I think he meant the year before. And it was Bill O'Brien and Brady who were stymied by the fact the Steelers abandoned their zone defense for man to man.

I look at that game like the Jets playoff game. The Pats were caught off guard by a team that doesn't run a gameplan specific defense and they did on that day to play Pats more so than the team figuring out a weakness in the Pats' offense.

If it was a Jets' type of situation, Brady and McDaniels will adjust and do just fine. Since that Jets' playoff game, Brady has thrown 9 TDs and only 1 INT in four games vs. the Jets. My guess is LeBeau and the Steelers won't sneak up on the Pats this time around.

 

[RobAllan]

In a vacuum, there's nothing wrong with Manning throwing a verbal jab at the kicker. What the kicker said -- not that I now remember it -- was sufficiently bad. It just illustrates that he shouldn't have thrown his teammates under the bus OTHERWISE.

Interesting reporting by Bedard re the locker room. I appreciate it from him.

I don't disagree at all that Vanderjagt deserved to get blasted. That said, I just listened to this again, and I still think if Brady wanted to send a message publicly, he would have done so in a way that had a little more class.
Peyton Manning rips into his "idiot kicker." - YouTube

Some people might prefer the "idiot kicker" blasts from the QB, but I kinda like the 'keep it in house' attitude our team usually has. And I certainly don't see him commenting about whether a player is going to still be with the team or not.

 

[Gumby]

Greg Bedard spoke candidly with Jon Meterperel on "MeterRadio" today.

Paraphrasing...all according to Bedard

.....

Bedard says Brandon Spikes is a perfect MLB for the NFL...15 years ago. The Pats have been disappointed in Spikes' play & for not becoming a stronger leader in the locker room. Bedard thinks the locker room got away from BB a little last year and Spikes, Deaderick, Love and Lloyd were all a part of the locker room issues. Letting Deaderick, Love and Lloyd go was BB cracking the whip. Love was better as a backup to VW than Kelly will be but Love's personality wasn't right for the Pats. Kelly can be as good or better but he has real motor and inconsistency issues.
....

I had thought he was decent quality backup so was surprised at release...but - well, that gives a better explanation for the love release, but still not sure what his 'personality ' issue is that is harder to deal with than a guy who has a problem having a 'motor consistently'.

but if true, the 'release reason' was a disguise that was as much (if not more so) for the player's benefit. and Love then isnt too bright for mouthing off recently about the Pats organization letting him go if they disguised that he was a locker-room cancer (letting him catch on easier once someone else gave him a physical).