What's up everybody? Welcome into the Next Pats podcast. I'm Phil Perry, a wild card round edition of Nextpats coming at you.

And we have a tremendous episode here because we're bringing in our good buddy from

NBC and peacock Tony Dungey you can watch him on football night in America 730 this

weekend obviously 815 you've got Patriots you've got chargers kicking off in the first round

of the postseason but we had a great great conversation with Tony about Mike Vrable and the

impact. He's seen Vrable make on this Patriots organization in year one. We're getting

into the X's and O's about how the Patriots should attack this beleaguered past protection

unit that L.A. has featured ever since losing Joe Alt and Ray Sean Slater, two of the best

tackles in football

protecting Justin Herbert. We're going to talk about what the Patriots should do as well.

And whether or not he would take Drake May over Justin Herbert if he was starting an organization.

But before we get to Tony, let's talk a little bit about how this game will be won this weekend. And I will be

picking the Patriots to win. And it will be due in large part to what Drake May is able to do.

But we're not talking all Drake May today. No, no, no, no, friends. The run game is going to matter

this weekend. And let me tell you why. The Chargers might be the best defense the Patriots have

played all year. But what they want to do, their philosophy, is to dare you essentially to run the

football. They play with a lot of two high safety looks. They play with a lot of light boxes. That's

six or fewer defenders right there between the

tackles, between five and eight yards, off the line of scrimmage. They love to play with too high

safety looks under defensive coordinator Jesse Minter. They actually do so at the fifth

highest rate in the NFL, according to true media.

And that has helped them rank eighth best in the NFL when it comes to limiting explosive pass plays.

...