 Tua, and Josh, and Aaron, and Mack, my biggest NFC East questions. Tom Curran joins me on path. Celtics and a cornucopia of Curran events from Taylor Swift to Ben Affleck and Geely. Okay, we'll get there. Now get me an American bottled water spaghetti and olive oil. Okay, Greg, let's go. Cut succession reference there with Tom after he does a line of cocaine and then makes Greg shames him into doing a line of cocaine on election night. In this latest episode, two episodes left. My goodness, I have not slept. I watched this last night. This show should only be available in the morning. In the morning on a lazy Sunday when you have nothing else to do because your head is like... And the question is, and this is for you guys out there, is there any more tense of a season of a show ever? Ozark, Ozark to me, drags. And in some of, I'm not talking about succession as a show. I'm talking about season four of succession. These episodes that we've had that are just constant. I'm like, I have such, the whole time I'm watching. Sopranos, maybe? What do you guys think? Yes, Sopranos for sure. I never watched it, tense. I know Benny Baklava or whatever, I know. Yeah. But this season is like that, every episode is like the whole time you're at a 10 out of 10 where I think Sopranos has some lulls with like, Carmela Meadow. I know, see, I... Okay, we got a lot on our show today. Tom Curran will be joining us. We're gonna get a nice look in it. Bryce Young, little Bryce Young, little, little Bryce Young. I don't like, listen, I'm five feet tall. I do not like or accept when NFL players, a la, Drew Brees, a Russell Wilson, and a Bryce Young get shamed for their size. But there's some old footage out there. We're gonna have to deal with those and heels. There's ways to stand and angle yourself. Trust me, I'm an expert. I think we can work on this, Bryce. We're gonna talk about that. But okay, but let's get to the producer's favorite segment of the show. Why? Because they get to yell at me and hit me with paper snowballs. So it is called unanswered questions. Going division by division. It is time for the AFC East. Let's take a little peek over at Fandall Sports Book. Little Sports Book. The bills, still the favorites in the division after the Aaron Rodgers trade. But the Jets are on their heels, guys. Everyone is plus money right now. We'd love to see that. Okay, that's a positivity. The Dolphins are a close third. The Patriots round things out at plus 750. So all looks nice, but April showers bring May questions. Let's start. What's the question? Yeah, yeah, what's going on over there? Let's start. Can't catch your tongue? Let's go. Let's start golly, golly. Oh my God. I didn't think, wow. Danita, that's really not expected here. You live on the sunshine. We're gonna start with the Buffalo bills. By the way, I am jonesing for one of those truly. What is it, Paula's Peanut Sticks? Whatever you talk to me about. So many tweets. Somebody in Buffalo send me one of those soon. Okay, the question for the bills is, shut up Conrad. My question for the bills is, do we love Josh Allen enough? Did we get him enough presents on his birthday? Did we get every aisle on the back to school list? New trapper keeper, new protractor, a troll pencil topper? Did we load him up to get straight A's in 2023? Do we get him that duck tail lunchbox that everybody wanted? I know some of you were like, add more, give Josh Allen more around him. He has knocks and he has digs and blah, blah, blah. We spoiled Josh Allen. And they had the number two ranked opens in the league last year and they still moved up and they did to snag a tight end, a star hopefully in Dalton Kincaid in the draft. You know, this is like giving him a fritopia and a squeeze at Anna Gogart in his duck tails lunchbox. He's got, he's loaded. He doesn't need anything more. He's trading for flaming hot Cheetos on recess. I get it. But I am wondering if they do need to give young Josh just a little bit more because the task isn't make trades at lunch for gushers and for rollups. It is, in fact, win a fricking Super Bowl. And there was talk about big trades, right? Big swings. Deandra Hopkins coming in a deal for Dalton Cook. Nothing's materialized so far. But let's look at the skill group, okay? James Cook, there's your project and starting running back beyond Stefan digs. We hope we can get another step up from Gabe Davis. We'll see how they use Kincaid. We'll see. But I've brought this up before. As talented as Josh Allen is and as monster of an arm as he may have and he does have, I mean, he ranked, they ranked 22nd in the league in passer rating over the second half of the season. And this team was not great as he's leading the team or league in pesky and costly turnovers, okay? So yes, they made it super far. They didn't make it to a Super Bowl. They didn't win a Super Bowl. Obviously there was a lot of adversity at this theme faced. But if you look at those numbers from Allen combined with the game against the Bengals, it really takes one of those Mr. Sketch scented red markers and cherry flavor that used to have in score Marissa knows. Yeah, that and Lisa Frank sticker. It really underlines that this Buffalo Bills team might need more. Let's be real, Borough, Mahomes, Tua, Herbert, they have considerably deeper groups of talent around them, more depth, okay? You can make the case, you could argue Aaron Rodgers does as well, okay? So these are the squads that you have to beat to win it all. So if I'm Brandon Bean, I am absolutely exploring every possible option this off season for depth and for optimization, self-actualization and win the damn thing. Who should they go get? Should they go get anybody? Does he have enough? You guys tell me at Up and Atom Show and please send me one of those peanut sticks. My God, they looked delicious. Okay, next up, let's go with the Dolphins. Okay, the best wide receiver. Well, we've got the best wide receiver group in the league. Darius Butler said, so God. What's the question? I mean, everyone's gonna say the question should be what? Tua and his health, right? We're not doctors. We wish Tua the best. We met him at Super Bowl. We loved him. I know he's doing everything in his power. He's doing some conventional things, some things to sort of make sure that he can stay on the field as much as he wants to be. I mean, Butler said that they're an F1 team. They need the driver to be healthy. We get it. The biggest question for the Dolphins is, can Jalen Ramsey and Vic Fangio fix the defense? This music is awful. What is this music in my ear? Da, da, I'm liking flash dance. Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. What was that? Anyone? I liked it. Just some fun. You liked it? It was, it was a real, okay. Okay, my question is can Vic Fangio, this is for Taylor to cut it for Twitter, my question for the Dolphins is, not about two on his health, it's about can Jalen Ramsey and Vic Fangio, the OG fix the defense? Sure, there are two of questions, even with him missing a third of the season, though, let me tell you something. This was the sixth best total offense in the league with him missing all those games. The defense, on the other hand, had some major woofies going on. 23rd and scoring D last season, 27th against the pass, not great. You know, I don't know. They've got better quarterback play in the division, right? Their conference is nuts this year, so they have to make moves. They did. Chris Greer and the Dolphins, they had a nice response to this. They went in. They weren't satisfied with playoff appearances, and they fixed the defense. They hope, will it translate? We'll see. Their first move is they made the DC change from Josh Boyer to Vic Fangio, and I know people might be, I saw a little bit on Twitter that was like, Vic Fangio, just because things didn't pan out, and you didn't excel as a head coach, let's please not forget that Vic is one of the best defensive coordinators in NFL history. Okay, I mean that, NFL history. He had five top five defenses over the last 10 seasons with three different franchises. Beat that. This is a big time move. This is a big time swing by the Dolphins to fix this defense. And then another one for a superstar, when they bring in Jaylen Ramsey like a month later, world class corner, Super Bowl champion, pedigree, chip on his shoulder. He knows how to get it done. I think it's fair to say that last season didn't meet his or our standards of Ramsey greatness for whatever reason. We saw a lot of this. We saw him taking a lot of chances. We saw him give up more big plays and we're used to seeing him give up. So yeah, I don't know. I don't know what it was and I'm not gonna get into it. I know he wants to be performed better. And if he can lock in and get back to being locked on corner, we know he can be with Xavier and Howard on the other side. The secondary can get hitting overnight, I swear. And if that happens, healthy to a don't count the Dolphins out for the division, okay? Or potentially making a run to the Super Bowl. I'm telling you, the feeling is this high in Miami. So insert your ignorant anti-tuotropes right here, Twitter. Let's move it along. Next up, I have to take a sip of, what is this allergy thing going on in Los Angeles? Hey. Stop stalling on the question. That's good. That was well done by you. You got caught, dear. You got caught. Oh my gosh. Let's go. Next up. Oh my God. I'm so surprised you guys don't have Chandler Parsons out here just pelting you with things. Great tan. That's seven feet tall. Was that a bad comment? He was living in the studio and I said, great tan, Chandler. I mean, he lives in Cabo, right? He flies in every day for the show. I think so. I think that's where he lives in Cabo. That's what I understand. He's always there. Next up, let's go to the New England Patriots. Tom Kern on the show, by the way. Keep it here for that. He's got all the inside information. And you're gonna die when you hear how many wins. He thinks his team's gonna rock in this year. Unbelievable. But for the New England Patriots. What's the question? It's breaking back in the building. Shut up. Dumois is linking Tom Brady to Kim Kardashian. Who said that that was gonna happen? You did. I said, the second that, that relationship that he was in unraveled. I said, oh, he's gonna be linked to Kim K. It's gonna be a whole PR thing. They're talking about Bakers Bay and Bahamas. It's definitely not real. Okay, the, okay, let's get to it. The question that I have guys on the Patriots is, what in the name, hello? Okay, let me look. I forgot what I wrote down last night. I wrote this down. Hold on, I gotta get to it. I wrote this down and it's not, okay. Not happening. It's fine. My question is, oh, here it is. Here's what I wrote. What in the name of Goodwill Hunting is going on with Mack Jones? That's my question. What is going on? All off season, we were flooded with reports about how Belichick had soured on Mack that they might make a move for Lamar or draft Will Leavis or deal Mack to Vegas or Tampa and just start Bailey, Zappy, Zappy. Everybody don't worry, Bezappy, that whole thing. But here we sit on May 16th, National Lemosa Day, failed by you guys. And I'm more confused than an out of town or trying to navigate through Wellington Circle in Medford. If you know, you know. Listen, I've driven through there. It's not pretty. What were these rare rumors that we were hearing out of New England all exaggerated? Are they true, but they're working through it and there's nothing to it? I don't know. I don't think we saw enough for Mack that he deserves a chance to straighten this thing out. He's only a year removed from the playoffs. There were some questions about a supporting cast. And now he's on offensive coordinator number three. And the Patriots did make moves, guys. They brought in guys like Juju Smith-Schuster, Mike Kaseke, they've given him a proven offensive coordinator named Bill O'Brien, who by the way, gets the four-time Super Bowl champion, Rob Gronkowski, chef's kiss seal of approval, which we love to see. I think this offense is a lot more intriguing than last year. So you're up, kid. I think, Mack, it's you, pass fans. How are we feeling? And also, I'd love to know the most confusing intersection or part of driving in Boston. Boston gets completely under the radar nationally when it comes to being the worst traffic city. There are no rules. Driving on the shoulder is normal. Like, it's an unbelievable place to drive and it's insane. So let me know up in Adam's show. Okay, finally, let's get to the Jets, guys. Gangrene. What's the question? Hey! Okay, but seriously, is gangrene not the worst nickname in all of sports? Yeah, I think so. Like, if your nickname is a top five worst way to go, like worst way to die, it probably, we need to revisit that and maybe have a conversation and a reband. I would think I'd like to see that. But my question, good job, Eric. My question, do you guys all match today for, like, what's going on with you two? Why are we matching? We've got company man Brian wearing his fan duel gear. By the way, that hoodie could be yours. Stay tuned. We're doing a giveaway today. We're doing a fan duel giveaway today. Yay! Where's that hoodie? Yeah. This one. This one. Specific hoodie. This hoodie. It could be yours. No, not at all. My question for the Jets is, it's not an if, it's not a whatever for me. It's a how quickly, how fast. How quickly can they get things to click? Because, listen, we saw this with Tom Brady. I know it went on to win a Super Bowl, but down in Tampa, things might not fire on all cylinders right away. The Bucks will remember, seven to five to start the Super Bowl year before they rattled off those eight straight wins and it all came together. The problem is, and the difference is, I mean, is Roger's Tom Brady, there's that argument. You can have that at your local bar. That's fine. But the Jets don't have the luxury of playing in the NFC South or the Candyland board game that we, the media, have deemed the NFC this year, okay? Ipso facto, taking it easy, sleazy and CJ Mosley along isn't an option for Aaron and the Jets, okay? Now with the Bills, now with the Dolphins and that division. And to the Broadway Joe drama of it all, look at what the schedule makers have bestowed upon them. We gotta play the Bills, the Cowboys, the Chiefs in the first four weeks of the season, granted most games are at home. But how homey is MetLife to Rogers? Okay, he's had one house his whole life. The address is 1265 Lombardi Avenue. I will say he is four in one in his career in the Meadowlands. He's only paid there five times though. Only five times though. Is that gonna, you know, 19 years, 18 years in one place, what's that gonna look like? He also has a tough divisional game against the Patriots sprinkled in there as well. So I know we wanted to get Aaron Rogers on prime time as quickly as possible, but Yeesh, this is a little bit rough out the gates. Do they get out of that stretch that I just mentioned guys at two and two? I think so, right? They can win four in two of those games, right? If they do, that's what they need. That's what you need if you're a Jets fan if you've got a rooting interest in Aaron Rogers. If they do, they're in great shape because after that, when they get through that, the schedule does calm down. They still get to play at home a ton and not travel. But if things for whatever reason are like Brady when he was down in Tampa after playing in New England so long, it doesn't go that well and you have to dig themselves out of a hole in what might be the toughest division in the NFL in a stack to conference as I can even remember. I don't love that for them. And you could go from prime corner booth at Reo's to cold slice waiting in line with the rest of us bozos forays to pizza, 99 cent slices, just that quick. So all the little things count right now is the point of that. All the little things, the little camp, the little bonding time. And I think Aaron knows that and the Packers fans wanna say, he didn't show up for this with us and he didn't do this like every second counts with this new team cause there's no room for error and the margin is super small in that division and that conference. We asked you guys on Twitter last night, what was your biggest question for the AFC? I love this one from Peter Bukowski, speaking of food and Reo's and Re's. Aaron Rodgers order from Carbone. I said I think he's definitely like a table side Caesar guy, like bring the cart, bring the show, look at me. Is that it though? No pasta? I think pasta too. I was like, I think it's like a debt, like a, absolutely we're doing a table side Caesar. But I think he's also like, are there GMOs in this? What is made with this? Yeah, he's judging. It's a vinegar red. How many trans fats are in here? Does he bring his, does he like bring his own dressing like that kind of thing? I don't know. I think he's like, what is it? The fun guy? Yeah, I think he's into that. One more tweet. You guys, they made a shrooms reference. Nobody even noticed it. Dustin said, how much longer, ooh, how much longer does Bella check coach over under five and a half years? What do you guys got? Under, under. Under five. How old is he? He's done. He's cooked. She's released. Brady will be there week one. That'll be so interesting to see those two interact. What? 71. 71. 71 is young. I don't know. Over under five and a half years. I'm going under. It's all gonna depend on how, I don't know, look at Pete Carroll. All it's gonna take is like, if Pete Carroll had a Gino Smith, or if Bill Belichick had a Gino Smith situation, Mac Jones turns the corner or something else happens. We'll see how that looks. All right, coming up next. We had to Carolina to check in on little Bryce young with the athletics Joe person. It's all after this. Tom Kern is on the show as well. Oh God, nailed it. Look at how proud, like a proud mama, Eric. I asked you for your AFC East unanswered questions. Be groomsy. We thank you for tweeting. If two of us stays healthy, how far can Miami go? What did I say? Playoffs, Super Bowl contender. Jalen Ramsey, Vic Van Gio. And if two of us can stay healthy, this team, which is by the way, top 10 still offense with all the games two amiss in all of that. They can absolutely make a run for a Super Bowl in that AFC watch over in the NFC. Let's get to it here. Our next guest has been covering the Panthers since back in 2010. He currently covers the team over at something that we love and we all get so much smarter from being a part of and getting to absorb from the athletic. So you heard it. Tell us all about little Bryce Young's debut at Panthers rookie minicamp. I mean, he puts the mini in minicamp, doesn't he? Listen, Kate, he told us at the draft that he wasn't going to grow anymore. Yeah. He said, he is who he is. Well, I can confirm he did not grow at all during those two weeks between Kansas City and arriving in Charlotte. Bryce Young, you see the photos of me. He definitely does not fill out a uniform. Now he was not in shoulder pads. These were shorts and helmets type of practices. But look, the Panthers knew where they were getting. That the minute they drafted him, Bryce Young became the smallest quarterback in the league. Interestingly, the Panthers started a guy the last couple of years who I think PJ Walker was listed, I think at 511. PJ Walker, I think, would look Bryce Young eye to eye. The difference is PJ Walker was an undrafted free agent, came through the XFL. He was not the number one overall pick. I mean, let me see those images again. I asked them not to show me them until you came on. So we got, I mean, person, we got to look at these. It looks like Lil Mac in the Nintendo video game from the 90s punch out, taking on King Hippo, Don Flamenco and company. He looks slight, but you know what? I think we're overreacting here. Do you feel like people are overreacting to this? Yeah, a little bit. And by the way, that was Josh McCown who walked through the frame therapy. Josh McCown was a pretty tall quarterback in 6-3, but look, this, the Panthers, as you know, they have their choice of quarterback. They could have taken a bigger guy in Anthony Richardson or in CJ Stroud. But this was the guy they felt like has the word I think they've used, it's the magic in his game. Frank Reich told the story that when he arrived in late January, I guess it was, when he was hired, he goes in in a pre-combined meeting. And so this would have, I guess, been mid-February. And Scott Fitter, the GM and all the scouts at the end of this meeting, Fitter asked the question, if we trade up to number one, who would you guys want a quarterback? And Frank Reich said it was anonymous, unanimous, around the rim, Bryce Young's the guy. Frank Reich wanted a couple more weeks to kind of sit on it and chew on it. Because you know the history, like Frank Reich likes, he was a big quarterback, he likes big quarterbacks, but after a couple of weeks, he felt Bryce Young was the best fit as well. And we love to see that, and I know, you know, there's a lot to be made of Frank Reich, what he can do in mold and get out of quarterbacks, but also how he's approaching the position. Now I'm hearing Andy Dalton's taking the first team reps there. What do I need to know? What am I reading into that? Is this a make Bryce Young earn it approach from Reich, or is it a formality? It's definitely a formality. And I think it's, Andy Dalton's been here, they've been doing off season workouts for like the last five weeks now in Charlotte. And I think it's just, don't overwhelm Bryce, let him kind of get his feet under him, get in the playbook, get to know his new coaches and his new teammates and everything's new. And, but it's going to happen sooner rather than later. I mean, I thought it might, I thought Frank Reich might take this into the first preseason game and maybe he will, but I have a feeling he's gonna even set it sooner than that, just to have, you know, let Bryce Young know and let the rest of the team know. This is Bryce's offense, you know, going into training camp and, you know, we're fired up to have. And I'm fired up for this whole team, some new energy there and listen, I am a broken record when it comes to the talent on this defense for years, you know, death taxes and K-Adams is calling Brian Burns and JC Horne and company Young and Feisty, let's get it going, Jeremy Chin, all those guys. I thought they were turning a corner in 2021. They were top two in total defense, the entire league. And then last year, I was a little bummed out because they took a step back. What is the problem? Or like, what is the adversity that they're facing? And what do you think is going to be new with their new DC in town? So they've been a little inconsistent in past coverage and some of that, it was JC Horne getting hurt his rookie year and Dante Jackson last year, their other corner, Torres Achilles. And so they were really, especially by the end of last season, they had their like number three and four corners. They went to Tampa Bay, a lot of people forget this. Steve Welks, the interim coach, took this team to Tampa Bay in week 17 to face Tom Brady with an opportunity to get into first place and potentially make the playoffs in the NFC South. They were a game behind, they all know how bad the NFC South was, I get it. But they rolled into Tampa and they didn't have more, they didn't have Dante Jackson and Tom Brady and Mike Evans had to field it. And so that sort of wrote that chapter. But it's a whole new vibe here now, Kay, with the new defensive coordinator, Jero Averro. He comes in, great background. I mean, he interviewed for this head coaching job. Like this is a guy they were considering as a head coach. He has background with the Rams. He was most recently at Denver, of course, last year. And he will put in a three-four. They've mainly been a four-three base defense when that rule was here. And so this three-four, I think, will give Brian Burns, whom you mentioned, even a chance to cook a little bit more as a stand-up head coach. I just love the event, you know, because when you cover all these teams from a bird's-eye view, it's hard to remember the guys that are in the, Josh McCallan just being in the building, taking on that role of quarterback's coach. I mean, he looks like Ivan Drago and we have to think and consider that and we're talking about the scale of Bryce Young in this photo, but what a presence. And Frank Reich, and like, I really believe in the leadership of this team and this new energy and the new vibe that you're saying the DC's bringing in as well who had the chops and wanted to be the head coach and lead this team. So there's a lot of gripes about what they did at the head coaching position with what Temper decided to do and not do when it came to changing the regime up from what was happening last year in the interim. So it's a very interesting sort of thing to follow. And we certainly will, and you certainly will force and we appreciate all of that insight from you, Joe Person over at the athletic covering, all things Carolina Panthers. And by the way, beautiful smile on you today. Like those bright whites are just fairly white. You need to tell the audience that I had a dental appointment already planted. I did not go get it for the appearance, but I'm glad it was that way. You're like one of those orbit gum commercials. Love it. You seem like a tall guy. I'm gonna kind of guess how tall you are. Fake a guess. Six three. No, I wish I topped out at like six two, but okay, I think I'm shrink. Like I think I'm down to six one. So like let's just say six two. Six two garbage, Joe. We'll talk to you and we'll talk to you soon. We appreciate you so much. Great, great time chatting all things. Little Bryce Young, little Mack, little Bryce Young. Somebody make a mock up. Here's what I'm talking about. King Hippo with the exit to punch it. Impossible. Get in on the NBA Playoff action right from the first tip with Fandola. Right now new customers can get a no sweat first bet up to $1,000. That's $1,000 back in bonus bets. If your first bet doesn't win, I like it. There's no better place to bet all the playoff action than America's number one sportsbook. That's right baby, we the best. So download the app and bet on the NBA Playoffs. Today Fandola officials sports betting partner of the NBA and I'm really excited because it's game one tonight, baby. Western Conference finals, Nuggets, Lakers. I went to a Lakers game, they won. I love Stan Kronke and I'm rooting for Joe Kitch, all that. But we've got our guy Conrad Company because I'm out of the Parley game. I'm out, retired, salute, I'm done. So Conrad, I'm really thinking I'm about to fall in love with this thing that we're gonna do as a show tonight. And everybody, if you want to at home do, it's not, whatever. So it's first basket because I want something that's like quick agony or quick excitement. I mean, Kay, it's just, it's you do it, T. Just give me quick and fast, quick and fast and chaos. I don't care who gets it, someone's gonna, I mean, okay. Someone's gonna get this first bucket, Kay. Okay, I like four quarters of tenderness actually, but thank you. Thanks Conrad, tell me about the first basket. All right, first basket here. Over time, that's cool. Yeah, no, no, we have the full screen here. Look, Nikolai Yochik, he's the leader, LeBron, Michael Porter, Anthony Davis. Those are the big names that every single person is gonna wanna go with. How did you just, how did you just say Joker? Nikolai Yochik? Yochik, Nikolai Yochik, Nikola, we're excited. Okay, so here's, I'm gonna pull that full screen back up. We're doing the first basket tonight. And this is quick and easy. And I'll be on my Instagram live, by the way. Kay Adams, Instagram live, hey Kay Adams, we're up in Adam Show, both of them will be active. And I'm gonna watch this with our team and I'm gonna watch this with you guys out there if you wanna participate. I think Reevesy Baby is the guy. I was at that Lakers game, pool shmuel, he couldn't get it going. And Reevesy said, I'm here for this. And he was on fire. And Conrad, he was doing this thing, I mean, when he hit that half court shot, he was like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And I was like, okay, Austin Reevesy. I mean, he's him, he got that dog in him, Kay. Is that why you brought me back on to talk about Austin Reeves having that dog in him? He is him, but is it a good idea to pick him? It's a great idea. So let me give you a couple little nuggets here. So Anthony Davis played against the Nuggets three times this year, he won two of the three tips. So odds are saying you got a 67% chance that the Lakers are gonna get the rock first, right on the opening tip. Denver has allowed a Lehigh 27% first baskets from shooting guards. Guess what position Austin Reeves plays? Shooting guard. A shooting guard. Ooh, ooh, ooh. So in all and all, Reeves has attempted 23% of the first bucket since he's been a starter for the Lakers too. So you have a fourth of a chance. And he started in every playoff game. We looked this morning. Last series he started every single game, yeah. Well, I asked Twitter and Twitter's saying Anthony Davis. A lot of Anthony Davis on there. Twitter wants the easy ones. They want the easy ones, okay? Okay, well this, I mean it's a hard one to call. It's just like having a little fun, but it's quick and plainless and it'll be over in about two seconds and that's why I'm enjoying it. So my pick is Austin Reeves. Don't give me your pick yet. Let's get our crew here in studio. Where's Will? I gotta get Will. Will? Will, get over here. Okay, Marissa, make your pick. I'm going Jamal Murray. I'm a Jamal Murray gal. I really feel that today. You think he's gonna get the first basket? I do, I do. All right, let's go, Eric. Hey, I just started working on this show. Sorry about your books. Oh, that's all good. Hey, it happens. I want to make good of first impression so I'm gonna go with Austin Reeves. I'm supporting you guys. Austin Reeves, we made it! Let's go. Is it because you pelted me in the head with a paper ball earlier? Trying to make amends, that's all right. Okay, sounds good. Yeah. What do we got, Brian? We got KCP, little revenge factor here. Contavious Caldwell Pope. Okay. Just learned about him this morning. Okay, and we like him. Will, what do we got, Will? Yeah, I'm going Yochich. Yeah? Yochich, that's the favorite right for this, right? That's the first basket, right? Let's go, let's go check out. Listen, we're not the professionals, right? We're a football-y kind of show, although Shyam says we're an NBA show, which I love. Let's hear what the run at Bat Crew had to say about the first basket tonight. Basket is Anthony Davis wins the tip, LeBron gets to the hoop, it's the first bucket. Basket tonight is Yochich. He's on a mission. I got Yochich winning the tip and Michael Porter Jr. getting the first basket because get the underdog. All right, so we got, I mean, Chandler went above and beyond with that beautiful bronze man that he is standing here at seven feet tall. He almost hits the lights in the entire studio. Taylor, make your pick. The Joker. Give me, I need some, I need some reason. I need some oomph. I mean, he inflicted pain on my son, so you know, might as well just root for, yeah, pain. This is personal. The chaos. Absolutely, that's the most Taylor answer I've ever heard. To lean into that. Hamilton, who you got? Well, I'm going to show some solidarity with Darius and our alma mater who extended a very generous invitation to us over the weekend. I'm going Michael Porter Jr. Michael Porter Jr. From Mizzou. Okay, if he, okay, okay. Okay, let's make this interesting, buddy. If he makes the first basket, I will accept said invitation from Mizzou to go back to Columbia, eat El Rancho, drown myself in nachos bianco from Addison's and stumble home after eating some late night picklemans, I'm in and that we'll get Tom Curran. Tom Curran will be here next time. Tom Curran, who you got first basket tonight? Nuggets, Lakers. Jamal Murray, just 100% Jamal Murray. Jamal Murray, Jamal Murray. I don't even know how to say that accent. All right, let's get back to Conrad here. Conrad, wrap it up with your pick and give me that full screen one more time. Instagram Live, guys, 825 Eastern, I'll be on there. What do you got? Austin Reeves, we have the same haircut. I play a little of the same game, a little three point shooter. He's gonna get the first bucket, baby, let's go. Woo, Yolketsch, nobody pick LeBron James. Nobody pick LeBron James, what we do, we all pick Tom Curran. He'll be back to talk about Ben Affleck starring in Daredevil next. So the guys in that locker room seem to overwhelm when we have his back and at this point, even if Mac isn't traded, you have to wonder how the nature of this is going to affect Bill and Mac's relationship. Could you see the Patriots and Mac Jones parting way? I think that is fake news, but in the future, if Mac Jones doesn't put it together this year with Billy O'Brien and all that, I could see that being a possibility. I think he's a young guy who now get a chance to be with Billy O, a proven offensive mind in his lead. And I think he's gonna go out and he's just gonna skyrocket. A lot of pressure on that, Billy O. What's going on with Mac? I know a guy who probably and surely knows. My next guest at Patriots, Insider, and longtime head man at NBC Sports, Boston, Tom Curran, get in here, buddy. Hey, what are you doing? Listen, we're having a great time. We're gonna talk a little Mac. We're gonna a little dance. Hey, an AOL email, what's that like? It's good, because it's $9.95 a month and you get full internet access. Okay, dial up, yep, yep, yep. And it's like people are out there, they're changing their emails, there's email and stuff, but I just stick with the AOL because I think the $9.95 is reasonable. Yeah, we had a nice laugh about it. It just really shows your integrity, your loyalty to a quality product. All I'm doing AOL for is email. I don't need people spying on me and chasing me around and seeing where I'm getting. Yeah, nobody wants to look at your search history, buddy. I agree. You could have read my emails. Are you listening to the Almond Brothers on your gramophone too? I have an A-track going right now. I love that. It's, yeah. I believe that. Don't be a dink. Let's get it. I thought you said the other word. I was like, whoa, okay. Listen, Mac Jones, let's get into it. Lil' Mac, still a quarterback in New England. I got a telegraph, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, that you are projecting Mac Jones to be the comeback player of the year. Did you say that and make your case? I did say that. I did. It might have been a little bit tongue-in-cheek, but you have a player last year who was kind of booed off the field against your Chicago Bears, the worst team in football in 2022, in prime time, replaced by Bailey Zappi. People celebrated that move and all the rest of the year campaign for Bailey Zappi to replace Mac. Everything that Mac struggled with K last year, though, was attached to coaching. And it really held back the entire offense and a compliment of players, which isn't elite, but is pretty good. So you bring Billy O'Brien back. You bring a motivated Mac Jones back. You have better protection up front because the offensive line coaching isn't split between Matt Patricia, who's also running the offense for the first time ever and calling the plays for the first time ever. This was a negative situation. It wasn't even like it's not as good as everyone else. It took away from him. So Mac Jones this year is gonna have 28 touchdowns, six picks, 3800 yards, and the Patriots are gonna go 12 and five. Okay, 12. Did you say 12? 12. Okay, so you got sucked into the win-loss situation with a scubble, just 12 wins for New England. What did you eat before going through that schedule? What did you, were you hanging out there in Rogers? What's going on? This is crazy. Yeah, no, it's understandable that you would say that. They're gonna lose to the Eagles. Okay. Now I need my specs. They're gonna lose to the Eagles. Oh, cute. Hey, guys. What do you think? Losing to the Eagles, they're beating the Jets. They're going to beat Miami at home. They'll lose to Dallas. I'm catching up here. I mean, I'm glad that you're actually saying it because the original framing, because we looked this up, you said they could. They could win 10, 11, 12, and I was like, what a clever way to not say anything. They'll beat New Orleans. They'll beat the Raiders. They'll lose to the Bills. They'll lose to Miami down there. Could stun them though, could stun them. Then they're gonna roll over the commanders and beat the Colts. Then they're gonna beat the Giants. And I mean, I could keep going until I get to 12, but the point's made. I mean, the point's made and you believe, I like that you believe that, I mean, putting a lot of Billy O'Brien, it's putting a lot on all of it. What is it saying? I'll tell you one other quickie, too. When they added Christian Gonzalez, it's a shutdown corner in the form of Stefan Gilmour, Keeb to Leeb. You know all the other names, Kay. And when you have that kind of corner, even though he's 20 years old, by I would say four or five weeks into the season, he'll make the whole defense better. I wanna buy what you're selling, but when I saw that you said 12 wins, I thought it says a lot about what Tom thinks and what he's hearing, what he's seeing around the Patriots, but it also sort of is an indictment. What are you saying about the other teams in the AFCs? Cause not everybody can win 12 games. So what are you making of the bills and the Jets and who's not a threat to you if you're pulling out 12 wins for the Patriots? It's gonna be an elite division and they could conceivably have every team over nine wins. And yeah, I'm projecting optimistically with the Patriots, but I do think when you scrutinize the Buffalo Bills 2022 season, you see that they slipped significantly in the second half and there was a little bit of dysfunction, especially with Stefan Diggs and Josh Allen. And I think that they are coming back to the pack. Aaron Rodgers, it's gonna take not a wave of the wand to have him up and ready. I mean, that team was so bad offensively, they had 28 touchdowns in 2022. And I don't even know how many of those were offensive touchdowns, but that is anemic. That's even worse than the Patriots offense managed. Yes, they have good players. Yes, Aaron Rodgers is gonna make a difference, but they have to get the average before they get to good. And finally, Miami, I still think that that's a team that you have to fear to his availability each week and how good that team will be if he's not able to show the durability you need. Are you irked or New England fans irked with all the love the Jets are getting? And are you sort of excited to get to deal with covering Aaron Rodgers twice this year? I bet you are. Yeah, no, I'm not irked. I think it'll be fun as hell. And I think honestly, from the outside looking in, I bet you're the same way. You wanna see how he responds to the scrutiny. How long will it be before he starts acting like the smartest guy in the room and talking down and being impatient. Pick a week, Mr. 12 wins. Pick a week. Okay. Let's see the schedule. Week Columbus Day. Okay, we'll go Columbus Day. If you gave me a million dollars and said when is that? October 12th or so. I mean, you went to school when you were a kid. You got Columbus Day after. I did, I don't know. Is that a full holiday? I don't think it is anymore. I don't know. I don't know. Let's not get into any of that. Instead, I'd love for you. Let's get this stupid Jets logo off. We're talking a town corner of New England here. Put somebody on the map for me. You're in it. I wanna sound cool. I wanna be educated. So do our fans out there. Put somebody on the map for me that got you juiced for the 2023 Patriot season. I think you're gonna wanna walk up to somebody who says, I don't really think the Patriots are gonna be good and you're gonna wanna say this. And I quote, you know, everyone's all bummed out about they didn't get a receiver. They needed a receiver. They needed a receiver. They got Taekwondo and Thornton in the second round last year. Do you understand he runs a 4-2-8? Do you have any comprehension of how fast that is? 4-2-8. Watch this. Hello. And you might not have the video handy. But the guy is actually very good. Now, he had the skinniest wrists in the draft, which could impact his production, but he should be a very good player. He had a clavicle in 2022, which limited his availability, but it was a clavicle. He's 6-2. 6-2 skinny wrists, though, is a knock. I mean, I've got skinny wrists. Same. Yeah, all right. Well, okay, so deep threat, 22 catches for 247 yards, three total touchdowns last year, but he was dealing with a clavicle. A word you don't hear very often. No. If you're going to get him downfield, he's going to be the downfield receiver that people will say, well, I don't think that's Harry Judy. How come they all want the Andre Hopkins? What about Luke? Go ahead and put your money on type 1 thought and make it an impact. I like that. Now, do you want to talk about Tom Brady coming back or do you want to talk about Jason Tatum? You pick. We have one more question before. You know what? We have breaking news that Dr. Rivers got fired. I need to know your thoughts. What are your thoughts on that? He couldn't be happier. He could not be happier with that development. He is giddy. I mean, he should have run for the hills. He should have quit before they could have fired him. I mean, James Harden said he didn't want to play for Doc. He didn't want to play for anybody. He never wants to play for anybody. He only wants to play for James Harden. Get the hell out of there as fast as you can. As for Brady, it's interesting to watch Belichick, who always wants to move forward. And now he has this whole, ugh, starting the season with Brady walking out. Yeah. I think this says a lot about the, you know, we went out and we're both in the building, of course, and Tom Brady came back. It was a Sunday night game. Bucks, Patriots, week four, I believe. Lot of energy in the house. Lot of, you know, frame effing of the, frame by frame of him walking up to everybody, what it was going to look like. But it's certainly an honor. And it probably says a lot about things being under the water under the bridge right now, huh? Well, certainly, and I think to a degree, it is very much by the crafts an opportunity and an attempt to, hey, let's start the season with some positivity for the brand because the brand has taken a thrashing. Great call. They get to open on a Sunday night. They get to have Brady there. They get to be in front of a primetime audience. They get to showcase all the renovations they've made in their stadium. So this is more about the brand than it is water under the bridge. So to me, I think Belichick is going to look at this and like, yeah, I mean, Tom's great in everything. And I, you know, Oh my gosh. give me too much of it. I do like that. I don't, I don't know that I love that it's going to be in front of Brandon Graham and company. Oh, that's a good point. And Natty Pete. And those week one, right? Yeah, yeah, that's true. Yeah, double agent. Matt Patricia getting another, you know, he's like a cat. We're figuring out, you know, what's it going to take for Matt Patricia outside of New England? We'll see. Okay, let me ask you something. Amazing Sunday for Celtics fans. Quickly. Jason Tatum. I mean, game seven, 51 points. A record buries of 76ers. They're in the Eastern Conference finals. Look at me talking basketball. Can you imagine? Listen, bloody sock game 2004 ALCS. Paul Pierce wheelchair game 2008. Where does the Tatum moment of, I'm talking big game energy, big game dominance. Where does the Sunday's performance stack up in terms of Boston historic playoff appearances? Pop three, top three. It absolutely does. I mean, I would say Brady in the 28 to three Falcon Super Bowl in the second half of the Seattle Seahawk Super Bowl, the fourth quarter, those will be up there too. But for Tatum, I mean, Thursday, Friday night, most of New England wanted him out of town until the fourth quarter started. So the bile that was being directed at him before he went off in the fourth quarter of that game was insane. So now it's kind of funny. Everybody on Monday is like, oh, Jason Tatum, I've never doubted. Stop it. Stop it. I love Jason Tatum. And what I like most about him, 2K, when you look around the NBA, basketball is really important to him. He lives to play basketball. And you can look around in Zion Williamson or John Morant or any other number of players who've been taken high. And Anthony Davis even. Yeah. And you look at Jason Tatum, he tries to play every friggin' game, all 82. How do you score quarters at tenderness? It says if he's humbly one of the best players in the world. I'm still stuck on that four quarters at tenderness. Well, listen, the Bruins are doing their thing. They're changing the subject. The NHL record for most wins in the season. Celts rolling year after year. Patriots, you've got some work to do under Mac Dones. Get those 12 wins because you're falling behind like Harvard rowing on the depth chart of New England teams as it is. So whoop, sip your, whatever that is. And we'll be back after the break because we've got some current events to get to. Taylor Swift, Tua, and a bucket hat. Tom loves a bucket hat. We've got more unanswered AFC East questions as well. We'll be right back. Back with my friend and host of Patriots Talk podcast and the man at NBC Sports. I don't know if that's in the script. The man, the man at NBC Sports. Boston, Tom Curran. Listen, we're gonna have a little fun here and dive into some very crucial and important and significant current events. This weekend, Tom, Docs Aitken, a Star La Crosse player at the University of Virginia. Gotta try it with the Patriots. Oh my God, Docs Aitken. Aitken is the most La Crosse name of all time. Anyhow, what do I need to know about this? Okay, this is news to me. Let's move to the next question. Oh, I thought like Chris Hogan, Pellegrino. Okay, all right. Well, Chris Hogan, you got a cornerback, coach is a lacrosse guy. Bill won't shut up about lacrosse most years. I mean, so to me, it's just, I mean, he's got to hit the pickleball pool at some point. All right, you know, I love Gillette Stadium. I lived behind that Dairy Queen on Main Street for a few years. The big news in town is that Taylor Swift is there, May 19th to the 21st. Tom, floor seats are going for six grand apiece. Your thoughts? I think that that's exorbitant, but having watched the absolute chaos that transpired here when the tickets went on sale and the fact that my youngest son's girlfriend was able to, with a little assistance from me, procure a pair and she was weeping. Weeping. Does your media credential get you in there, standing room? No, no, and there's nothing to get for free. You know that, right? Who would you pay six grand to see perform? I would pay $6,000 to watch, boy, buddy, I almost said something, but I'm not gonna. Rockwaters are tenderness? That's what I was gonna say. We know each other too well. God, we know each other too well. Okay, moving it along. Ben Affleck, listen, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, big release over the weekend, the Michael Jordan, Nike movie, it's called Air. Is it a rule, Tom, that as a true Bostonian, as a true New Englander, you're obligated to support any Matt Damon, Ben Affleck movie that comes out? 100%. Yep, I honestly, when people talk about Shawshank, I talk about the Born Supremacy. Any Born movie just stops me in my tracks. Absolutely. I love all Born movies. Matt Damon is to me, and Ben Affleck's fine. I mean, he's more regular and available. Yeah, so you're telling me that you've seen Jersey Girl? Geely? Next question. No, I'm more Matt. All right, we're more of a Matt guy. I get it. Man, a Brad Fire. Right, man, I love. Born is like, if Born is on, I'm goodbye. It could be my mother's birthday, and I'm like, oh, Born's on? I'm watching this. All right, yeah, totally. OK, Tua, what last one I think? Tua catching some shade yesterday for a style choice. You're really fashionable, so look at this. It's a hoodie and bucket hat combo. Can you get behind this? I 100% can, and there's a reason for that. Look, sun damage is real. I'm going to have a thing done on Thursday. I've had it done before, basically, because I didn't use enough sunscreen. My pasty white skin is going to get burned off for the third time. It's the worst. It's the worst. It's a good point. Here you are. You're a big bucket hat guy. Look at the size of that one, too. Yeah, you've got to protect. So I have no problem at all, and don't be judgmental. Yeah, that's Tom on the lip tour, everybody. Getting his skin burned off on Thursday. We have one more than I ever needed to know about you. We love you, and go see Geely. Go see Air. Go see Hypnotic and bomb to the theater. Bad Ben Affleck movie. We love you. We'll talk to you.