Monday Patriots Notebook 6/24: News and Notes
Follow us
Follow Us
🕑 Read Time: 7 minutes
Posted Under: Patriots News
HOME > Patriots Blog > Patriots News
Some Patriots and NFL News and Notes on this Monday:
Former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady took part in his first on-air appearance during the UFL’s Championship Game recently, and last week he spoke with Colin Cowherd on the most recent The Herd with Colin Cowherd podcast on his experience.
During the interview, Brady spoke about how his approach is similar to how he felt on the field, where he was never satisfied with himself and was always looking for improvement.
“I also think there’s still so much more room for improvement,” said Brady if when asked if he felt there was a difference from his most recent appearance to his previous work behind the scenes. “It’s almost like when I was a player, I never felt like I did things the right way. There were games where I’d go in afterward and think, ‘God, I’m the worst quarterback in the NFL. Why would they even want me to play quarterback for this team?’ I’m sure I’m going to feel that way here at Fox, where I finish a game and I go, ‘God, I didn’t even give them what they wanted.’ It’s a very challenging thing in your own mind.”
“I’ve asked a few people, ‘How do you know that you did a good job?’ I think for me, so much of this is going to come down to the preparation. Did I feel like I was prepared? Did I feel like our crew was prepared? Did I give them the best over the course of the week so that we could give ourselves the best opportunity to be successful for the fans? Because really, the game is the show. We’re there to add our take on it and our analysis. But it’s also, did we feel like we added to the broadcast?”
“From my standpoint, I’m going to work as hard as I can in the process of it to make sure that I do deliver because I don’t want to let anyone down. I don’t want to let the people at Fox down. I certainly don’t want to let the great NFL fans down, either.”
Another thing he mentioned as he moves on to his next chapter is the fact he plans on being more efficient with his time, focusing on trying to work on only the things that will make his on-air performance better as he tries to balance family against his new career.
“I really want to be efficient with my time to make sure the time I am spending preparing is really worth it,” said Brady. “I’m working on the things that are actually going to add to the broadcast rather than just working on things to work on them that will actually never come up.”
One thing that was interesting was Brady talking about the offensive line, which he believes that despite how good a quarterback might be, it’s impossible to completely cover up bad offensive line play.
He went on to say that there’s so many nuances when it comes to that group, and he believes that having a good offensive line coach is definitely an underrated aspect of the game.
“There’s so many nuances to the success of an offense. I don’t think you can ever make a bad O-line good,” said Brady. “And over the course of my career, I always, I believe I played with the best offensive line coach in the history of the NFL, Dante Scarneccia. Regardless of who we drafted, free agents, we got free agents in the draft, free agents in NFL, free agency, veteran free agency. We always pieced together a unit that played really well together. All of them may not have been Pro bowlers, but as a unit, they played as well as any team in the league.”
“That was a tough challenge for every D-line you would play. You’d go, Okay, I know they’re going to block us well. I know the ball is going to come out quick. I know they’re going to have good plans when we play They’re going to have man coverage. They’re going to have man-beaters. I know when we get in the red area, they’re going to challenge us. They’re going to have some different schemes in there in the run game that we’re going to prepare for.”
Having played during an era where they had one of the best to ever do it coaching the offensive line, that remains an area Brady believes is lacking league-wide and what Scarnecchia was able to do is something he continues to be impressed by.
“We put a lot of pressure on the defense all the time to do things the right way, as opposed to the five the offensive lineman, having a draft, first-round pick, first-round pick, first-round pick to put together a great O-line. So much of great O-line play is a great O-line coach. I think we could talk about there’s not a lot of great O-line coaches anymore in the NFL.”
Anyone who remembers the situation in the late 90s with the New England Patriots and Robert Kraft making a potential relocation to Hartford, Connecticut, can likely relate to what’s happening out in Kansas City.
According to the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin, the state of Kansas is apparently expanding its push to try and lure the Chiefs across state lines. The governer, Laura Kelly, signed legislation last Friday expanding a state bond program that could enable it to fund up to 70 percent of a new stadium for the Chiefs, with the state also interested in potentially luring away the Royals.
This comes after voters in Missouri rejected a sales tax measure that would have paid for renovations to Arrowhead Stadium, which the club is bound to by a lease and doesn’t expire until 2030.
However, a new stadium – given the fact nearly 60% of the voters shot down the last measure on a renovation for Arrowhead Stadium – doesn’t appear in the cards currently in Missouri.
Now, with Kansas putting together an offer, which has seen potential renderings that include a state-of-the-art, multi-use domed stadium, the discussion has gotten interesting.
For those who recall the situation in Foxboro when the city of Hartford, Connecticut came calling, there’s a bit of a parallel. Hartford put together a deal that was too good to turn down, which Kraft accepted after Massachusetts rejected assistance during Kraft’s initial new stadium bid.
The craziest part of that situation was after exploring options in Boston, which didn’t pan out, Kraft still made an effort to keep the team in Foxboro. The owner even decided to finance the construction of the stadium on his own, which was significant given that the state of Connecticut was willing to finance the entire stadium, even willing to pay any leftover money to Kraft if it came in below initial estimates.
Despite that, Massachusetts continued to play hardball, with the state still initially rejecting the money needed for the infrastructure around a possible new stadium in Foxboro.
That’s when things became contentious. At that point, all signs pointed to an exit to Connecticut, which ultimately required the league to step in and help negotiate with the state in an effort to get the $70 million in infrastructure upgrades approved to consummate the deal.
Fortunately, it got pushed through and the rest, as they say, is history.
At the time, Hartford felt “used” to get that deal done. Ironically enough, that’s how Missouri feels right now as Kansas is rolling out the red carpet to lure the Chiefs 10 miles across state lines. Still, while there is apparently an agreement that was reached between Missouri and Kansas back in 2019 to “not poach businesses from each other,” the feeling now is that Missouri had its chance. Now Kansas is making its bid.
Whether or not something comes to fruition remains to be seen. But a renovation vs a new domed facility has to be enticing.
Meanwhile, for the rest of us who lived through that saga here in New England when it seemed like the Patriots were leaving Massachusetts, it will be interesting to see how this situation ultimately plays out.
More from Brady, who spoke about the mindset he used to have in the offseason. One interesting thing he mentioned was the fact he challenged himself throughout the months between April and July about where he was physically, constantly pushing himself. “Even in the offseason, I was always thinking about, was I prepared?” said Brady. “If there was a game on Sunday, could I play? I would think about that in April and May and June and July. I would watch other great athletes, Floyd Mayweather comes to mind. He always seemed ready to go. If someone called him, say, ‘Hey, you got to fight on Saturday,’ he’d be like, ‘Cool.’ I think that’s how I always physically train my body.” … Lance Reynolds of the Boston Herald had a good story recently bringing to light a situation involving 60 boxers recently, which caught the attention of former Patriots QB, Brian Hoyer. Hoyer, who owns several boxers of his own, heard the news after the MSPCA of Massachusetts took in the group of boxers and urged people to help. “As the parent to 3 boxers, this broke my heart,” Hoyer said on X (Twitter) on Friday. “I’m grateful to the @MspcaAngell for stepping up to take in these dogs. They are in great hands. Boxers are special dogs with unwavering loyalty and love. Please help if you can.” … Former receiver Julian Edelman provided some insight last week during his own appearance with Cowherd on how Brady kept his guys involved. “He kept on talking about the rhythm of the game. When you get into the beginning of the game, everyone’s got nerves. Everyone’s got a little anxiety. And what cleans up those nerves is a play. You catch a ball, you get hit, that wakes you up. All right, now we’re ready to really get into the flow of the game. I remember times, specifically after injuries or something with aGronk or a me, when you got into that game, it was like, ‘We need to get me the ball,’ or ‘We need to get someone who’s been out for a while the ball early so you can gain that confidence.’ Also, it’s rewarding players in practice. There could be guys that are doing insane reps. They’re doing great things in practice, and you try to get them the ball early. It’s kind of like a reward factor as well. But getting the ball to your priority receivers was something that we always tried to do to get guys in the flow of things, get guys confidence going, to let guys know, ‘Hey, we’re going to keep it going here.'” … During the Patriots Hall of Fame broadcast for Brady last week, the former quarterback was spotted wearing what many thought might have been his “favorite” Super Bowl ring, with efforts during the broadcast trying to figure out which one it was. Come to find out, it was a custom Hall of Fame ring, commemorating his incredible run with the club. There were some great details released in a behind-the-scenes video, which you’ll definitely want to check out if you haven’t seen it.
From our archive - this week all-time:
April 5 - April 20 (Through 26yrs)
Join 2,000+ fans getting exclusive stats, analysis, and insights delivered straight to their inbox every week. Never miss a play.