Lots to Say: First Golf Outing, Sportswriter Tom E. Curran, NFL Top 100 Players

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Bobby Bones Show – "Lots to Say: First Golf Outing, Sportswriter Tom E. Curran, NFL Top 100 Players"

Episode Date: July 8, 2026
Hosts: Bobby Bones, Matt Castle
Notable Guest: Tom E. Curran (NBC Sports Boston)
Producer: NFL & iHeart Podcasts

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Episode Overview

This episode of "Lots to Say" delivers a lively mix of personal stories, sports banter, and topical football talk. Bobby Bones and Matt Castle recount their first-ever round of golf together (in brutal heat), discuss situational awareness (both in life and the NFL), test each other in rapid-fire "what-if" scenarios, and are joined by respected Patriots insider Tom E. Curran for a deep dive into the New England Patriots’ evolving roster and coaching dynamics. The show wraps with a debate on the significance of the NFL Top 100 players list and commentary on recent sports controversies.

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Main Segments & Insights

1. First Golf Outing: Bobby vs. Castle in the Nashville Heat (02:06–12:27)

• Scheduling Difficulties: Bobby jokes about Matt's five kids and his own five jobs, making coordinating a game almost impossible.
• Golf Club Hierarchies: Discussion about Nashville’s exclusive Belmead Country Club, which allegedly once turned away legendary announcer Jim Nance.
  • "That's like Kobe showing up to play pick up ball at the Y and them going, no, wait in line." – Matt Castle (05:09)
• Golfing in Extreme Heat:
  • Sweltering conditions ("104, 105...they said it was going to get to 109"), sweaty t-shirts, and empty golf courses.
  • Bobby’s club of choice ends up being Matt’s, with banter about club quality.
• Notable Moments:
  • Longest drive controversy on a par 4, where Castle’s ball took a lucky bounce down the cart path.
    • "It was a 370-yard drive... cart path all the way down." – Matt Castle (09:32)
  • Both consider quitting after 9 holes due to the heat; both relieved when the other suggests it.
  • Friendly ribbing about who actually won the round (“Bobby beat me. No. By one stroke." – 10:18).
• Comic Relatability:
  • Parking anxiety at private clubs, celebrity moments (“Everywhere you go, Bobby Bones!”), and anecdotes about golf etiquette.

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2. Random Life Mishaps & Suburban Problem Solving (12:27-18:28)

• Car Trouble:
  • Matt recounts his wife breaking down with their baby—and the chain of phone calls and problem-solving that follows.
  • Bobby shares a story where a simple car issue (left in drive) led to an unnecessary AAA call; Matt identifies with this kind of “dad mistake.”
• DIY & Tech:
  • Both discuss using ChatGPT to fix household appliances and pools.
  • "I also fixed a garage door that wouldn't come all the way down flush. ...I felt like Bob Vila." – Matt Castle (16:33)

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3. Situational Awareness, Life & Football—Rapid Fire Scenarios (21:18–34:53)

• Trash Rule for Investments:
  • Bobby explains how he judged gyms by their trash management before investing.
  • "If you don't do the little things right, I don't trust you to do the big things right." – Bobby Bones (22:13)
• Hypotheticals:
  • Presidential intervention in sports, giving honest feedback to friends’ bad podcast ideas, leaving parties early for a spouse (“Pack it up. I’ve tried to stay longer… it usually backfires.” – Bobby Bones, 29:05).
  • Parenting tactics (letting sons win—or not—in basketball); moving inconveniences (“I’ll pay a moving company to come and do this for you.” – Matt Castle, 34:03).
• Comic Exchanges:
  • Bobby’s “overly affectionate friend” persona roasted by Matt and an anonymous friend (“That’s you. It’s all out of love.” – 30:51).
  • Colorblind husband excuse for missing wife’s hair changes ("I have a disability." – Matt Castle, 32:44).

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4. Featured Interview: Tom E. Curran on the New England Patriots (36:26–59:38)

Patriots’ Roster & Offseason Upgrades

• A.J. Brown Impact:
  • "They haven't had an ex [receiver] since you were there…A.J. Brown is going to make this offense that much more difficult to deal with." – Tom E. Curran (38:28)
• Drake May’s Development:
  • Highlighting OC Alex Van Pelt’s back-to-basics approach improving May’s consistency and leadership.
  • "He's a great improver. ...He was much more accurate by the end of that 2024 training camp." – Tom E. Curran (50:57)
• On Josh McDaniels' Return:
  • “When McDaniels came in, he played to [Drake May’s] strengths. ...They let him play off script.” – Tom E. Curran (52:22)
• Offensive & Defensive Overhauls:
  • Significant wide receiver (A.J. Brown, Romeo Doubs) and O-line (Elijah Vera-Tucker) additions noted.
  • Concerns remain about edge rusher depth and tight end production post-Hunter Henry/Austin Hooper.

Tom Brady, Matt Cassel, and Patriots Legacy

• Cassel’s 2008 Rise:
  • "He hadn't really played a snap since high school." – Curran notes local skepticism, eventual support during Cassel's unexpected breakout (43:10).
  • Emotional behind-the-scenes: “His dad passed away… Matt was incredibly [stoic]…” – Tom E. Curran (43:41)
• The Franchise Tag Saga:
  • "Were you surprised Belichick franchised me after that season?" – Matt Castle (44:27)
  • Curran unpacks the business logic of the move, not just the football angle.

Mac Jones' Rollercoaster Ride:

• Analysis:
  • Early promise, organizational instability, and the impact of non-traditional coaching moves.
  • Curran argues Jones can and will win playoff games in the NFL, “the kind of guy who... can go 18-for-22 for 171 yards and 2 touchdowns.”

Patriots 2026 Outlook: Strengths and Vulnerabilities

• Improved Receivers/O-Line, Defensive Questions:
  • Praise for skill positions and coaching adaptability; worries about edge pressure and specialized depth.

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5. NFL Top 100 Discussion & Sports Headlines (59:41–65:22)

• Top 100 Player Voting:
  • Drops for A.J. Brown (to #80) and Travis Kelce (to #79) debated.
  • Bobby: “I don't think players care as much as Pro Bowl honors... but it is an honor to be on the top 100.” (62:44)
  • Castle jokingly chided for not making the list (“You were not. I already looked.” – Tom E. Curran, 60:27)
• Sean Payton–Belichick Coaching Record Scheme:
  • They riff on a wild report: Payton allegedly planned to step down temporarily so Belichick could surpass Don Shula’s win record.
  • “Imagine Champagne voluntarily stepping down... that's how much respect he has for Belichick.” – Bobby Bones (61:40)
• Soccer/Penalty Scandal:
  • Laughing at a controversial red card reversal for the US, leading to an eventual loss: "We succeeded in cheating, and then we lost." – Matt Castle (65:18)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On exclusivity in golf clubs:
  "That's like Kobe showing up to play pick up ball at the Y and them going, no, wait in line." – Matt Castle (05:09)
• On rapid-fire advice for bad podcast ideas:
  “If it’s a real friend... that’s a bad idea. No one's going to listen to it. Tighten it up.” – Matt Castle (25:12)
• Tom Curran on Patriots’ evolving offense:
  "They haven't had an ex [receiver] since you were there, for God's sake." (38:28)
• Personal and professional resilience:
  “Had to handle some stuff. But that's what this game brings to you — adversity and everything else.” – Matt Castle (44:17)
• On parenthood and being present:
  "They'll just get done with lunch — Dad, what are we doing for dinner?" – Bobby Bones (24:34)

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Section Timestamps

• Golf Outing Stories & Nashville Club Talk: 02:06–12:27
• Suburban Dilemmas, Car Drama & DIY Life: 12:27–18:28
• Situational Awareness & ‘What Would You Do?’: 21:18–34:53
• Interview: Tom E. Curran, Patriots Analysis: 36:26–59:38
• NFL Top 100, Coaching Headlines, Soccer Banter: 59:41–65:22

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Tone & Vibe

Upbeat, friendly, self-deprecating humor, insider access, and casual banter. The episode combines personal anecdotes with sharp football insights, resulting in a podcast that's fun for casual fans and rewarding for those wanting a deeper look at the NFL and behind-the-scenes sports culture.

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For Listeners Who Missed It

Even if you haven't listened, this episode provides:

• Entertaining insights into sports celebrity life and its everyday quirks
• Authentic, unfiltered football analysis and behind-the-scenes stories
• Relatable life moments (parenting, mishaps, learning on the fly)
• Memorable, lightly roasted moments between friends and colleagues

Whether you’re here for the football, the laughs, or the life lessons, “Lots to Say” more than lives up to its name this week.

Transcript

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

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[Bobby Bones]

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[Matt Castle]

Lots to say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle is a production of the NFL and iHeart podcasts. We got lots to say. We got lots to say

[Bobby Bones]

we're glad

[Matt Castle]

you're here and we hope you stay Cause we got lots to say

[Bobby Bones]

yeah,

[Matt Castle]

we got lots to say. Now here's Bobby and Matt.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

Hello.

[Matt Castle]

Welcome to the show. It's Ma. Matt Castle. It's Kickoff. Kevin, that's Brandon Ray. I'm Bobby Bones. What's up, Matt Castle.

[Bobby Bones]

What's up brother?

[Matt Castle]

So to you two knuckleheads who sit behind the desk over there, Matt and I have been trying to play golf forever. We finally played golf together.

[Tom E. Curran]

What?

[Bobby Bones]

Yes, we did.

[Matt Castle]

He has five kids, I have five jobs. So it's hard for us to just get the hour right. Like we have available hours, but they never match.

[Bobby Bones]

Ever.

[Matt Castle]

And so I was off last week completely. And I text Castle. I said, hey, I'm free Wednesday through Sunday from 6am to 11pm I gave him a wide open window.

[Bobby Bones]

That's a lot.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah, nothing going on.

[Bobby Bones]

Nothing.

[Matt Castle]

And so I said, let's go play golf. And so I'd set a time at my club, but the best I could get for the next couple days was like 11pm, which is brutal. Because 500 degrees here. Because he got an app. And Castle hits it back. He goes, hey, I got. It's on. It was a little earlier, which was nice. It was like 10am so we go to Matt's club, which is very nice. Nicer than mine. Obvious, obviously, in a former NFL quarterback.

[Bobby Bones]

Oh, stop. You just were asking me to sponsor you to get a second golf club membership.

[Matt Castle]

Is it nicer? Of course it's nicer. It's far nicer. It's. It's premier. It's plush. Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

I mean, I wouldn't say it's. It's a very nice golf club. Yes.

[Matt Castle]

Shame on you.

[Bobby Bones]

But it's also not probably the top here in Nashville by any means.

[Matt Castle]

Have you ever played here in Nashville? Belmead Country Club?

[Bobby Bones]

Yes.

[Matt Castle]

Okay, so I've never even been on that course.

[Bobby Bones]

It's tough to get on.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah. Because they locked that one down.

[Bobby Bones]

It's like, yes, Blue Bloods.

[Matt Castle]

Yes.

[Bobby Bones]

I heard the application process. You have to have 50 sponsors. 50?

[Matt Castle]

What's that question?

[Bobby Bones]

I don't even know that many people.

[Matt Castle]

Is it nice or is it just. Is it cool because you can't get on?

[Bobby Bones]

It's a nice course, but it's very linksy. Right. It's kind of more target golf. It's not very. It's not spread out wide open. You can kind of hit across to another fairway, but there doesn't. There's not a lot of up and down or different shots. I mean, some dog legs here and there, but it's a nice course.

[Matt Castle]

That one is probably cool because you can't get in. It's very get on. So my funny story about that, before I give you the Castle and Bobby story, is I heard a rumor that Belmead would not let Jim Nance into their club. You know what? I think Jim Nance told me that. He said, oh, from the horse's mouth, I believe so. So I've spent a little time with Jim Nance. Not enough to call him a friend. If I saw him, I'd hug him. He'd hug me. We like each other.

[Bobby Bones]

I thought you don't hug anybody. Dude, I try to hug you, and you come in, you're like, nah, dude,

[Matt Castle]

you hug me every day.

[Bobby Bones]

Jim Nance. Come here, buddy.

[Matt Castle]

We have his cell phone number, but we're not. I would say we're friends, but we're friendly.

[Bobby Bones]

Sounds pretty friendly.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah, it was awesome. He's Jim Nance. You ever met him?

[Bobby Bones]

Yes.

[Matt Castle]

He's the greatest.

[Bobby Bones]

He's awesome.

[Matt Castle]

Yes. And so he lives in Nashville part time, and he had said he tried to get into Bell Meade, and they were like, yeah, well, look at your resume and your application. And so I get on my show and I'm going, you're not letting Mr. Masters, the voice of the Masters, immediately jump the line and be at your club. And I made the analogy of that's like Kobe showing up to play pick up ball at the Y and them going, no, wait. Wait in line. Like, put your. Put your quarter down and wait in line.

[Bobby Bones]

Right?

[Matt Castle]

I said, no, you let Kobe play immediately when he shows up. So that clip, somebody heard it and sent it back to Jim Nance. And Jim Nance, he goes, that's the funniest thing I ever heard. And so then the clip started spreading around and then somehow not saying that I'm the reason, but I could possibly be a factor, he got in very soon after that.

[Bobby Bones]

That's shocking. Yeah. I mean, when that gets out and the word gets out that you've denied Jim Nance, the greatest announcer of all time, who could potentially sit there at a member, guest and just introduce people. Yes, one person. Do you know what that would for your club alone? Oh, my gosh. It's life experiences here, people.

[Matt Castle]

And he's a great guy, like, the loveliest. So it wasn't Belmead, but Matt has a really nice club. And so we go and gets around 9, 9:30 or something. And it's a hot day for sure. And the heat index that day was like 104, 105.

[Bobby Bones]

Yes. They said it was going to get to 109.

[Matt Castle]

So one of those days. And it was the hottest day. It's crazy humidity, it's hot. And so I almost parked because I don't know his club. I almost parked back where they valet cars like. Like over the hill.

[Bobby Bones]

It was like way up, dude. He didn't even come up to the clubhouse. He was. I don't even know who parks down there.

[Sponsor/Advertiser Voice]

Driveway.

[Bobby Bones]

I think it's people that are going to work there all day long, I think so. Not.

[Matt Castle]

I was like, I don't want to do the wrong thing. I'm kind of intimidated by this, so. And I haven't had money that long to know what I'm supposed to do. And so I was like, I'm just gonna park here. And then I see Castle and I'm like, okay, let me just drive up and ask him. And he goes, were you gonna park back there? I was like, yeah, I didn't know where to park. And so there's a much closer parking spot behind his club. And we go and we get in the car, and we get up, and we're hitting on the range. And you can tell then that the club is starting to slip out of our hands just from sweat, just from. Just from hitting balls on the range.

[Bobby Bones]

Bobby had a purple shirt on, and I'm not kidding you, his whole entire back was dark purple. His stomach started to be dark purple. I wore white on purpose, but I looked like I was in a wet T shirt contest. It was brutal. Before Bobby even shows up there, I'm checking the tee time, what time we're going out, and three people that are sitting around here that I'm playing with Bobby, he's like, Mr. Keshler, you're with Bobby Bones today. He's like, the Bobby Bones. And then this other guy comes up and goes, you play with Bobby. I've known Bobby for 30 years. I was like, okay, Everybody knows Bobby Bones there. Okay, that's awesome. Nice to meet you guys for the first time as well. But Bobby is coming. He'll talk to you all momentarily.

[Matt Castle]

We hit some balls, and what I noticed immediately, like, you can take the guy out of the league, but you can't take the league out of the guy. Like, everything about him, his body, the fluidity of his golf swing, he's shaking his head because he's Mr. Humble. I could tell immediately, all right? And he said he hadn't played in a while, so maybe I knew he might be a little rusty, but this guy can do some hand eye. And so he's crack. He's cranking him. He's hitting his irons. So. And me, I'm like. I'm, like, taking up divots so. So large. I'm embarrassed. I'm thinking I'm gonna get charged, like, invoiced for the divots on the driving range. And so we get in the car, and it's freaking hot, wasn't it?

[Bobby Bones]

It was really hot.

[Matt Castle]

And I am okay with hot, but after a lot of being okay, I start to get not okay. So there was nobody ahead of us either. It was so hot that nobody was on the course in the middle of the day. And Matt's good, and he probably was a little rusty because he hadn't played but once or twice this year. He hits the side of the ball.

[Bobby Bones]

Who had the longest drive of the day?

[Matt Castle]

I hit the carpet. It doesn't count.

[Bobby Bones]

It was the greatest shot ever.

[Matt Castle]

If you had a car pass and it rolls down there, that doesn't Count.

[Bobby Bones]

It was a par. It was a par 4. Okay. And it's probably. I don't know, 3 90, something like that. Maybe. Maybe a little bit. But it was straight downhill. Once you get past this point, I thought he hit a tree and just kind of came over, but he must have just missed that. And then there. Cart pass there. And then it's a straight downhill. We're looking all over in this one area. We can't find it. And finally I was like, dude, just take a free drop. It was around here somewhere. And I looked down as I'm walking over to my ball. Bobby's is. I'm not kidding you. 10ft from the green.

[Matt Castle]

370 yard drive. It must be car path. Guys, I'm telling you, it was a. It was a decent shot, but it car pathed all the way down.

[Bobby Bones]

It wasn't 370 yards, but it was unbelievable.

[Matt Castle]

Doesn't matter how it gets there, as

[Bobby Bones]

long as it gets there.

[Matt Castle]

So we play, and it's so hot that when Castle's hitting drives, you can see the club slipping out of his hand because he swings really hard. And it's just getting it. It's getting miserable. And I'm thinking, all right, am I the one to say we're only playing nine? Am I going to be the one to say, hey, let's just play nine? And I was like, I think we should just play nine. I said, it's so hot. And he was like, yeah, yeah, I feel you. So Castle's a way better golfer than I am. But we had a good time, and Bobby beat me. No.

[Bobby Bones]

By one stroke.

[Matt Castle]

That is.

[Bobby Bones]

It was.

[Matt Castle]

That's not true. At one point, I hit a ball so far to the left, he goes, I just take a. Just take another free shot. That alone makes me lose the round. He's such a nice guy. He counts me winning even though he gave me a free mulligan. I was like, I don't. I don't want to take a mulligan. I'll play my own. So don't listen to him. He won.

[Bobby Bones]

I didn't. He won by destroying.

[Matt Castle]

It's not true. But we did play. We played. I wish we could have played 18 because I was having a really good time, except for it was just so hot. It was miserable.

[Bobby Bones]

Yes, it was absolutely miserable. I'm really happy that you said something, because I would have manned up and been like, dude, I.

[Matt Castle]

Me too.

[Bobby Bones]

I told you, we're going to golf. We're going to play 18. We're going to do this. And we didn't, but we did it.

[Matt Castle]

We found time. I gave him three full days of 20 hour windows each day. And yeah, dang it, do we not find a day to go play golf?

[Bobby Bones]

And I said, you want to go play again tomorrow? And he said, hell no. It's way too high.

[Matt Castle]

It's way too high. We were going to play. So we were going to jump on with two other people. And he said, hey, Ryan Herd and his brother are playing. We're going to play with them. And I'm great friends with Ryan Herd, the songwriter, the artist. And so I wasn't going to say anything to Ryan. I was just going to show up and play with them and be like, hey, what? And I know Ryan really well. And so as I'm driving up, I get a text from Ryan going, are you playing in my club? And I was like, yeah, I'm gonna play with you. He goes, nah, man, I'm in Chicago. We just did that in case we wanted to play. I'm going to sing the. I'm going to sing the seventh inning stretch at Wrigley. And I was like, dang. One. I wanted to see you in two. That's so unfortunate.

[Bobby Bones]

That's probably the only reason he showed up to play with me. He's like, oh, well, Ryan Hurd's going, oh, he's my boy. Did you guys ride in one cart or two?

[Matt Castle]

One. Okay.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah, dude. The thing about where we're at, it was basically cart path. Only, what, 75 of the holes?

[Matt Castle]

Yeah, because it's so dry. And usually it's the opposite because if it's so wet, they don't want you tearing up the grounds. But it was so dry because of the heat. Wow. Yeah, it's crazy.

[Bobby Bones]

I don't think I've ever seen that

[Matt Castle]

or played on a course like that. He ended up playing a course like Cali.

[Bobby Bones]

We walked a lot more.

[Matt Castle]

This guy here's got a course. You know what I'm saying? You want to be friends at Mad Castle, you go playing next. I'm still waiting for my.

[Bobby Bones]

There's a lot of members there, guys. A lot of members. I'm not the only one here.

[Matt Castle]

But when I was driving up here, I was leaving the other studio to come here, and as I was at my other studio, my wife calls and I'm in the middle of a segment, so I don't answer. But I noticed it's kind of weird that she called. It was after the show, so if she calls during a show, I know something's wrong. It was after the show. She spent some recording. She calls. She goes to voicemail. She calls again. I'm like, oh, wow, this is something.

[Bobby Bones]

Yep.

[Matt Castle]

So I get off. I get off the air and I call her back. I'm like, what's up? She goes, cars broke down. And I was like, really?

[Bobby Bones]

Where?

[Matt Castle]

She tells me, where part of town. I said, who are you with? She goes, I got the baby. Oh. And I said, oh, no. Do you want me to come? She goes, well, there's like three people from the store that are out here trying to jump the car. And she's like, we're having no luck, so I think we're just gonna Uber back to the house. And then just. I said, so is it in a parking spot in the place? Cause she was like, I don't wanna just leave the car here. I said, okay, but is it in a parking spot? She's yeah, you're good. If it's in a parking spot, who knows the difference? You're just parked somewhere.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah, you're fine.

[Matt Castle]

And so she, her and the baby go home. Car's still sitting there, so I gotta go now. When I leave here, I guess, and jump it.

[Bobby Bones]

Are you sure it's a dead battery?

[Matt Castle]

No, I'm not, because I haven't been there. She says it is, but she's like, me, we don't know anything about cars. I know a little more because I had some old pieces when I was younger and had to learn how to just get by by fixing them. So I'm gonna go. And we don't have aaa. I thought we did. So I called this company. I said, hey, if we needed to tow the car, because if it's not a jump, can you come? And they're like, yeah, but what's your experience with towing? I always feel like when somebody tows a car, it never really is the same. Like, it always drives a little different.

[Bobby Bones]

Well, usually you get a car towed in the first place because it's either wrecked or something really bad's happened to it.

[Matt Castle]

Parked wrong.

[Bobby Bones]

Right. It's usually not a dead battery. I mean, maybe every now and then.

[Matt Castle]

Well, the transmission could have gone out. Who knows? But I'm saying, like, anytime, hopefully they don't put the hook. They don't do the hook tow. Right. Do they even do that anymore?

[Bobby Bones]

I don't know. They probably put the car neutral and try to back it up. But then that might not work if you've got a dead battery.

[Matt Castle]

I want them to.

[Bobby Bones]

What I need gently.

[Matt Castle]

I wanted to Bring a helicopter and lift it, lay it on a bed.

[Bobby Bones]

No, please, please don't hurt it.

[Matt Castle]

And then just slowly drive off. So I'm gonna go do that today. Are you a car guy at all?

[Bobby Bones]

No, No. I know enough to jump a car, put some washer fluid in and that's. I can change a tire for sure, But I'm not like a car guy by any means. I do remember, though, one time my wife called AAA to our house because my truck wasn't starting and I was weird because it was fine yesterday. The guy gets there, and sometimes when I pull up to my driveway, I just quickly turn off the car and forget that the car's still in drive. She called the AAA because she thought the car was like, busted, Battery needed to be replaced. He comes in, he goes, well, here's your problem right here. And I look in and he's like. He looked at me like, you a little bit. And I didn't.

[Matt Castle]

That's on you a little bit, huh?

[Bobby Bones]

I didn't check it right. She did. I was gone for a second running Aaron. And she's. Yeah, the car's. The car's not working. I'm going to call aaa. And then I got home as the guy got there and just was like, boom. And then I pushed the. He pushed the ignition.

[Matt Castle]

Oh, you put in park. It wasn't him.

[Bobby Bones]

At least you know it was him because he looked at in the car.

[Matt Castle]

I thought it was you that was in drive.

[Bobby Bones]

So it won't automatically start unless the car's in park. So he's just like, boop. You should be good. Gosh. That's for car people that know cars. It's always embarrassing when you're so ignorant. And it's probably just such a simple fix. It's the same thing when you have a handyman or somebody come over to fix something at the house and they come in and they immediately go and it's fixed. And you didn't really need to call him at all. Chat GPT has really helped with those.

[Matt Castle]

Oh, man, me too.

[Bobby Bones]

It's unbelievable.

[Matt Castle]

We had a fireplace at our house in Fayetteville that I could not get to work. It was one of those. We go one of the. And so I had to get. I took a picture of it and I said, here's what I'm doing. And it gave me seven steps. I fixed the whole thing because chatgpt told me exactly what was wrong, that I also fixed a garage door that wouldn't come all the way down flush. And it was like you probably need to take the poll. I did it. I felt like Bob Vila. Do you get the reference?

[Bobby Bones]

Yes, 100%. Okay. Do you get the reference?

[Matt Castle]

I didn't know if you knew who Bob Vila was, but yeah, chatgpt. If you just take a picture of something.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah.

[Matt Castle]

1. I'm so stupid on this one. So, 1. I didn't know that when you had a swimming pool, you filled it up with a water hose.

[Bobby Bones]

Would you think that a natural stream would somehow come down or it would just rain? Often a swimming pool truck or something?

[Matt Castle]

I don't know. I was stupid. I was stupid. And the first time.

[Bobby Bones]

Yes. Is this the fire department? Could you come over and fill up my pool?

[Matt Castle]

Anything?

[Bobby Bones]

Anything.

[Matt Castle]

I never had a pool. And so the first time they're like, yeah, you just need to run your hose for three days. In what? The pool. That's the pool. I never swam the same because I realized I was swimming in water. Hose water. But we have this hose that we had to put in the pool. They were like, hey, run your hose. This point. I know how to do it, but it's a weird water hose. It's not the one that you, like, turn the nozzle. Have you guys seen this new type where it's like a flip switch or something? No, hold on.

[Bobby Bones]

Say that again.

[Matt Castle]

I don't even know. It's not like on the wall. It comes out of the wall and you plug a hose in and then you, like, turn something and it comes on. I've never. I can't even describe it because it's only one.

[Bobby Bones]

It's fancy. It's fancy. You can't hide money, baby. Even a pool.

[Matt Castle]

I didn't know how to work the water hose thing, so I took a picture and it told me and it kind of treated me stupid. It was like, hey, idiot, what you do is.

[Bobby Bones]

This is still a hose.

[Matt Castle]

Yes. So, yeah, that's weird. Anyway, I have to do that with the car today, which I'm glad she didn't get stuck.

[Bobby Bones]

No, that would have been with the baby.

[Matt Castle]

And she was in a parking place

[Bobby Bones]

and it's hot outside.

[Matt Castle]

It's brutal.

[Sponsor/Advertiser Voice]

Yeah.

[Matt Castle]

And everybody was so. She said everybody was so nice to her at the store. Like, three people had come out to help her.

[Bobby Bones]

That's really nice.

[Matt Castle]

It's really nice.

[Bobby Bones]

Really nice. You're going to probably invest in that store, though.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

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[Bobby Bones]

All new drinks are now at McDonald's

[Matt Castle]

with refreshers like the Strawberry Watermelon Refresher and the Mango Pineapple Refresher with Popping

[Tom E. Curran]

Boba to crafted sodas like the Sprite

[Bobby Bones]

Berry Blast with berry flavors and cold foam. Who knew ice cold drinks could be so fire six all new drinks are

[Matt Castle]

here now at McDonald's.

[Bobby Bones]

Refreshers contain caffeine.

[Matt Castle]

You know what's funny? So I had a guy ask me this question where I was about oh, I got so we went to dinner with my wife's best friend and her new husband and they don't live here, they live in California. They came to town for a couple days and he said, hey, so you bought businesses based on their trash, huh? And I thought, what's oh, so in my second book, it's called Fail until youl Don't, I talked about I would go to this boxing gym, this title boxing gym franchise, but I would go to this one specific one, and I really liked how it was run. And so I just started paying attention to the small things. And I was writing this book at the time, and I said what I would really pay attention to is the trash, not what was in it, but is it taken out. How consistent are they with making sure the small details are taken care of? Because if you don't do the little things right, I don't trust you to do the big things right.

[Bobby Bones]

That's right.

[Matt Castle]

And so I talked about how I watched their trash cans for like two weeks. Outside trash, inside, trash. And they did such a great job at making sure it wasn't over flooded. It was taken out. It was that I ended up buying like three. Three gyms.

[Bobby Bones]

Because you're of the trash being taken out.

[Matt Castle]

Well, yeah. Well, yeah. So I partnered with.

[Bobby Bones]

It didn't matter about the trainers, but I'd already worked.

[Matt Castle]

I'd already worked out there.

[Bobby Bones]

No, I've worked out. I just want to watch your trash. Your trash service looks amazing.

[Matt Castle]

I'd already worked out there for like six months, Enjoyed it. But I watched how they handled something that was so small, which was their trash. And because of that, I said, okay, they do the little things right. I'm gonna trust that they do the big things right. And so, yeah, I bought. Went halves into three different gyms with the kids.

[Bobby Bones]

Have you gone to the other gyms now and watched them take out trash?

[Matt Castle]

No, I haven't. We sold them pretty recently.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah, because they weren't as efficient as you. Trash can overflowing, floating.

[Matt Castle]

One trash can after another.

[Bobby Bones]

Okay, Wraps are everywhere.

[Matt Castle]

We are do situational awareness.

[Bobby Bones]

Situational awareness. Give it to me.

[Matt Castle]

Your best player gets suspended for a playoff game, but the President of the United States calls and gets him reinstated. How do you handle it as starting quarterback?

[Bobby Bones]

I want to thank you, president, for stepping in on this manner. Obviously you read the evidence, you understand what took place, and I'm just very fortunate to have him back. And at the end of the day, go whoever, whatever team I'm on. Yeah. Oh, yeah. What else are you going to say? I mean, if the president steps in and overruns the NFL of America. Of America. That's what I'm saying.

[Matt Castle]

Of the United States.

[Bobby Bones]

Of the United States.

[Matt Castle]

He doesn't need to be getting involved in. In the NFL.

[Bobby Bones]

You know what? I'd probably be told by the PR team to go a different direction, but you know, you're. I. I'M staying out of it. It's a situation that's out of my hands. The league's handling it. Obviously, the President of the United States is involved as well, but it's not my decision. Do I hope he's there? Of course I do.

[Matt Castle]

Good answer. You know, that's that pr.

[Bobby Bones]

You gotta train yourself. That's training. That is definitely training. Here, let me turn off this ringer. I'm really sorry.

[Matt Castle]

I've not heard anything ring.

[Bobby Bones]

Oh, well, it dinged.

[Matt Castle]

Maybe you're just going crazy. Sometimes I hear phantom baby cries whenever the baby's not crying.

[Bobby Bones]

Oh, yeah.

[Matt Castle]

Maybe you hear phantom dings because you're always getting dinged by your kids on your watch.

[Bobby Bones]

Hey, what's up? Where are you? Dad, when you come to pick me up, what are we doing for dinner? They'll ask a question like that all the time. They'll be like, they'll just get done with lunch. It won't be more than 30 minutes out. Big lunch. Dad, what are we doing for dinner? I was like, I have no idea. I just fed you your second meal of the day. Like, sit there, be patient, and we'll figure it out.

[Matt Castle]

Be full.

[Bobby Bones]

Be full.

[Matt Castle]

All right, you're up.

[Bobby Bones]

All right. A friend asks for honest feedback on their podcast idea, but it's terrible. What advice do you give them? Hmm.

[Matt Castle]

A real friend. Because a real friend, I would say this. That's a bad idea. If it's a real, real friend that I can be really, it's a bad idea. No one's gonna listen to it. I tighten it up. I need you to find a better niche. If it's a mid friend, like somebody I work with and, like, who I need to be a little more sensitive

[Bobby Bones]

with, like Jim Nance.

[Matt Castle]

Oh,

[Bobby Bones]

Jim, Jim, you don't do anything wrong.

[Matt Castle]

I think I would figure out why it's bad, and let's just say it's a podcast that everybody does. I'll give you an example. Everybody wants to do a podcast interviewing people, right? We have those. Unless you're famous wildly, or you're going to be able to have extremely famous guests. It's going to be so hard to get people to pay attention to it because it's in such a fractured world. So if it's a bad interview podcast, I'm going to go, hey, look, you're not really going to build this. It's going to be very hard because people want to come at first for one or two reasons. You have nailed guests or you're the person they want to Come and talk to. I would say I think you need to identify a better niche, specifically find something like the Simpsons, like Abraham Lincoln, and really dive into something so specific that people looking for that, and then you can branch out. I'd probably give them a couple ideas on what to do. Not instead, but to modify the. What they're saying. This has happened to me so many times. Why you asked me. I was gonna say so many times.

[Bobby Bones]

All the time.

[Matt Castle]

So many times. The two things that people do most. One, I got a podcast where I just want to have real talk with people.

[Bobby Bones]

Real talk. What is real talk?

[Matt Castle]

Yeah, what do you think everybody else thinks they're doing?

[Bobby Bones]

Right.

[Matt Castle]

Everybody thinks they're having a real talk with. No, no, no. But I'm talking. We get down to it.

[Bobby Bones]

Okay, okay. But not all your guests want to get down to it.

[Matt Castle]

But also, is everybody else going, I'm going to do an interview, but today I don't feel like getting down to it. No, everybody tries to get down to it.

[Bobby Bones]

Like Pac Man Jones got down to it.

[Matt Castle]

What an interview.

[Bobby Bones]

What an interview.

[Matt Castle]

And the other one is when they go something like, no one's ever going to have heard honesty like this before. Yeah, they have. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Most great podcasters have a vulnerability to them that allows people to grow close to them. But I get that a lot. It's an interview podcast where I'm going to talk to you. Every once in a while, I get a great idea thrown at me that's so good, I had one. And I don't mind saying who she is, because she's not doing the interview. She's not doing the podcast anymore. Like that. But she came to me and she said, I want to do this podcast where I just interview the wives of country stars. And this is like four or five years ago, because people do this now, in a way. There's like a WAGS podcast for athletes and their wives and girlfriends. And four or five years ago, I. She said, so I'm gonna get Caroline Bryan. I'm gonna get Brittany Aldean. These are country music wives. And talk to them. I was like, that's a home run right now. Not for me, but it's not supposed to be for me. That's a home run idea. You're talking to all of the. And she does it, and it's great. And then she gets bored with it in about a year and a half and is like, I'm gonna change it up. And so she has still a good podcast. She's on my Podcast network. Her name's Caroline Hobby. And sometimes she brings on the wives still. But like, she had that idea and was doing it before. Any of these podcasts that do that now do it. And then she just got bored and I was just like, don't get bored, don't get bored. It's such a good idea.

[Bobby Bones]

You've got that whole demographic of moms that sit there and watch Housewives, the one that are in LA and Atlanta and everybody, everybody wants a piece of that show.

[Matt Castle]

And it's so hard to have something that is even quasi original in podcasting these days. So that's my answer to that. If it was my close friend, I would be like, that is not good. That is not gonna work. If it were Jim Nantz, I'd say, let me give you some ideas on how to modify it.

[Bobby Bones]

Let's work together on this.

[Matt Castle]

Next up, your wife wants to leave a party right when you are finally having fun. Do you negotiate or do you pack it up?

[Bobby Bones]

Pack it up. Pack it up, boys. I've tried to stay longer than I should and it usually backfires and doesn't work out well for me. So when the wife is ready, I'll be ready to roll. I got a funny, and I always have fun. Like, I'm not just starting to have fun. If I go to a party, the reason I went to that party is because my intentions are to have fun.

[Matt Castle]

Fair. Unless you have to go because it's a party that maybe your wife wants to go to and you're just, I'm

[Bobby Bones]

still gonna make it fun.

[Matt Castle]

So on that note, I got an Instagram story sent to me from a friend that also knows you and loves you. And I love you, for the record. So I'm saying this, I don't want you to take this the wrong way because this is actually a good thing.

[Bobby Bones]

Set up of build up, knock down. You know that that's a method of psychology. Okay, I love you. He loves you. But we both talked.

[Matt Castle]

We did not talk bad about you at all. So you are a very warm and loving person. Generally, you meet you. People are drawn to you because you have such a smile on your face. You are. You're a hugger. I mean, every day I'm a dapper,

[Bobby Bones]

I'm hugger, all that.

[Matt Castle]

And so he sent me this. Let's see if I can find it. And the whole joke is when you have that one friend who's a little too physical when he's affectionate, and it's like people hugging, it's like Hurting him because he's hugging him so much.

[Bobby Bones]

That is definitely me. Yeah.

[Matt Castle]

Let me see if I can find this one.

[Bobby Bones]

Oh, get to know you, buddy.

[Matt Castle]

Okay, okay, okay. It says that one friend who gets mad physical every time he sees you and likes you. And he said it's you. We both said it's you. He's like, what's up? He's like hugging all slapping to that headlock.

[Bobby Bones]

That is.

[Matt Castle]

That's you. It's all out of love.

[Bobby Bones]

I do.

[Matt Castle]

But you're also big and strong and maybe sometimes you don't realize your largeness and strength.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah. You know what? My love language is Being touchy feeling. Just got to let you know that I'm coming in for the real thing. For sure. For sure. That is funny. That is. That is funny. Who is the friend?

[Matt Castle]

No.

[Bobby Bones]

You're not even gonna tell me?

[Matt Castle]

No. But we both love you.

[Bobby Bones]

Why would you not tell me?

[Matt Castle]

No.

[Bobby Bones]

No. Yeah. All right, I'm gonna find out. I'm gonna go hit him so hard the next time I see him. Your wife asks if you noticed her haircut. You did not. Do you fake it?

[Matt Castle]

No, no, no. Here's the thing that happens with my wife a lot.

[Bobby Bones]

You guys get the same haircut at the same time.

[Matt Castle]

That' get her hair colored and I don't notice. And I'm colorblind, like pretty. Pretty significantly.

[Bobby Bones]

But are we talking like roots showing and it doesn't matter?

[Matt Castle]

It doesn't matter. I'm colorblind.

[Bobby Bones]

So you don't even know what color hair your wife has?

[Matt Castle]

I probably do, but. But I know I do.

[Bobby Bones]

I'm colorblind. You can use that for sure.

[Matt Castle]

Oh.

[Bobby Bones]

Oh, that's an ace in the popcorn.

[Matt Castle]

Oh, you got your hair colored. You know I'm colorblind. I bet it's great. But I could tell.

[Bobby Bones]

Did they layer it too? No, they didn't layer anything.

[Matt Castle]

I'm layer blind. I'm layer blind. I didn't know if it was. I would know if she cuts her hair. Cause she doesn't often. And when she does, it's mostly dramatic. And also I know that she's going if she's gonna go, because it's like

[Bobby Bones]

a two hour ordeal.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah, she's gone for a long time.

[Bobby Bones]

They're really gone for a long period.

[Matt Castle]

Where I get though that question? If you would have said when she colored her hair and you don't notice? Because sometimes I don't. I just go, oh, I didn't notice. I have a disability.

[Bobby Bones]

It works well in that circumstance.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah.

[Matt Castle]

Okay. You beat your son in a game of basketball, he starts crying. What do you do?

[Bobby Bones]

Man, I'll tell you, I had a few instances when they're a little bit younger that they just. They're very competitive, they want to win. And if at some point, point I'm winning, they get so frustrated. They. They're slamming a ball. And then my best response, honestly, is I'll mess the next shot and I'll get the rebound and I'll slam the ball and I'll just. I'll act exactly like they do to give them a visible understanding of what they look like and how they're acting. And then they start laughing, and then it kind of changes the environment of what's going on, because again, when you're playing against your younger sons that aren't very big and physical, like, I'm swat their ball every now and then, but for the most part, I'm not trying to dominate them in basketball, so. But I will. They. They definitely have started crying a few times, especially when they're younger, that I just kind of play that role. I acted out.

[Matt Castle]

You fight fire with fire.

[Bobby Bones]

You just do 100%.

[Tom E. Curran]

Yeah.

[Matt Castle]

All right, last one.

[Bobby Bones]

Last one. Your friend asked him to help move. He doesn't have any boxes packed up. When you show up, are you still helping?

[Matt Castle]

Well, before that, when a friend asks me to move, I'm going to say, hey, you're one of my closest friends.

[Bobby Bones]

How much can I pay?

[Matt Castle]

I'm going to pay a moving company to come and do this for you.

[Bobby Bones]

And that's why they ask you to help them.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah. So that's what I'm going. Hey, would you help me move? Yeah. How much you got? If it's just little, no problem. I don't have a truck. I got an suv. I don't have a truck, so. Right.

[Bobby Bones]

It's not your close friend. It's Jim Nance.

[Matt Castle]

If it's Jim Nance, you get there,

[Bobby Bones]

you thought for sure this guy's going to have a moving company.

[Matt Castle]

Good point. Good point, good point. First of all, if it's not someone super close, I ain't going over to his house to help move out. The answer is going to be probably not. Can I help? I'm busy. I'm hanging out with Matt Castle, playing nine holes.

[Bobby Bones]

Sweating.

[Matt Castle]

Yep. If it's a close friend, dude, why you let me just hire a moving company? It's the least I can do. And then I let them do it.

[Bobby Bones]

Well, that's one way to do it.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah.

[Tom E. Curran]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Just get out of. Get out of the hard labor.

[Tom E. Curran]

Yeah.

[Matt Castle]

And then it's my. My treat. Yeah, my treat to myself.

[Bobby Bones]

And you feel good. And you feel good about it for sure.

[Matt Castle]

Coming up. Tom E. Curran.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tremphya offers self injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tremphya is administered as injections and under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self inject Tremphya, proper training is required. Tremphya is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. Serious allergic reactions, increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them and liver problems may occur before treatment. Get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu like symptoms or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about tremphaya today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit tremphyaradio.com from taco night in Tulum to

[Bobby Bones]

sushi in Tokyo, make every bite rewarding with gold from Amex. Wherever you dine four times. Membership rewards points at restaurants worldwide are piling up. Learn [e-mail] Explore Gold terms and points cap apply.

[Matt Castle]

All right, let's welcome in Tom E. Curran, longtime Patriots insider for NBC Sports Boston. He has covered the Patriots through the Brady Belichick dynasty, the post Brady reset, and now the Drake May mine Mike Vrabel area. So one of the most trusted voices when it comes to the Patriots. And this is your boy, huh?

[Bobby Bones]

This is my boy, Tom E. Curran. We used to work together at NBC Sports Boston. He really helped raise me in this industry and I will be forever grateful. How the heck are you doing, buddy?

[Tom E. Curran]

You can trust me.

[Bobby Bones]

I can.

[Tom E. Curran]

I'm a trusted voice. Come to me for the straight shooting. I am great. And I'm so happy to have anything to do with your current career because we had so much fun. And I'm telling you folks, Matt Castle, Kevin, you know this one of the funniest people and absolutely revered by all.

[Matt Castle]

Funniest? I don't know. Revered.

[Bobby Bones]

Awesome.

[Sponsor/Advertiser Voice]

Lovely.

[Matt Castle]

Absolutely funniest.

[Tom E. Curran]

You have a hard time with funniest?

[Bobby Bones]

Do you know there's a lot of funny people out there?

[Matt Castle]

I mean, he's in the same room with me. You know, it's kind of hard, but yes. Beloved by all.

[Tom E. Curran]

Are you Kevin?

[Matt Castle]

I'm Bobby.

[Tom E. Curran]

Oh, well, it's just Kevin o' Connell under your name.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah, sometimes I just go by. I go by that when I check in, check into hotel rooms so people don't stall.

[Tom E. Curran]

That's funny.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tom E. Curran]

So, yeah, I guess you are.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

All right. So you guys had a pretty big off season, obviously. The acquisition, AJ Brown, does that immediately raise the ceiling for the Patriots this season?

[Tom E. Curran]

Thomas, I'm pausing in case you guys want to start again because I. Bobby's name.

[Matt Castle]

No. Are you kidding?

[Sponsor/Advertiser Voice]

It's.

[Matt Castle]

It's hilarious.

[Bobby Bones]

Yes.

[Matt Castle]

We're starting over. Are you kidding? That'll probably be the best part of the interview. Yeah, we will.

[Bobby Bones]

He's like, no, edit that. No, we don't edit anything.

[Matt Castle]

Yeah. No ego here.

[Tom E. Curran]

Yeah. How does A.J. brown impact the Patriots in the immediate. Was that the question? Yes.

[Bobby Bones]

Yes. The ceiling of this offense, does it immediately go up, up?

[Tom E. Curran]

Yes, it does. Because they haven't had an ex Matt since you were there, for God's sake. They haven't. They've. They haven't had a lead, X put it that way. They've had Gronk, they've had Welker, neither of whom would qualify as X's. They've had James White, they've had Kevin Falk. The exes that they've had have been Brandon Cooks, Brandon Lefell, you know, Antonio Brown for 15 seconds. But really nobody who qualifies as a boundary receiver who can do the things that. That A.J. brown, now the Eagles made him exclusively that he doesn't work in the middle for the Eagles, he will work in the middle more for the Patriots. But I think you could probably point out all the reasons that a big six to 225 pound receiver with the build of A.J. brown is going to make this offense that much more difficult to deal with. Will it be the same? And I don't want to prattle on too long here, but Drake May last year on 3rd and 11 to 15 had a completion rate of like 50% and the teams or even higher. And I could look it up, his conversion rate on those was the same as it would be on third and one or two. That can't continue. Or could it, because their offensive weaponry is that much better. But it's. It's really amazing when you look at those outlier numbers that Drake May was responsible for last year and the teams they played might have sucked, but the defenses didn't suck. That's an interesting qualifier. So impact Them significantly. Sorry, Bob.

[Matt Castle]

No, indulge me here, Tom. So whenever Tom Brady gets hurt and you're like, oh my God, this, this Cassell guy's going in like what gave you the Cassell? What was that like in New England? Like week one, week two, week three of that situation.

[Tom E. Curran]

Well, he played so bad in the preseason.

[Bobby Bones]

It was limited action.

[Tom E. Curran]

Be that it's in me in 2007 when Bill said go ahead in there, go get him with kicking the Dolphins. Oh, he immediately threw it to the wrong team.

[Bobby Bones]

Jason Taylor returned. Literally they put me in. We're winning like 40 something to nothing. It's mop up duty.

[Matt Castle]

What game is this?

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

This preseason?

[Bobby Bones]

No, this is a rare season before Brady got hurt. This is before Brady, this is the year before Brady got hurt. Got it. We're drumming the Miami Dolphins down in Miami. Bill puts me in late in the fourth quarter. Call Z, return X, stop. Something like that. Well, Welker's, Welker's hot. They're bringing too strong and Welker kind of, he stops there, but then he keeps going. I throw the ball trying to anticipate because I got to get the ball in my hands. Jason Taylor, defensive end, stands up because he's responsible for comes over. I hit him directly in the numbers and takes it into the touchdown for like 20 yard return. Talk about feeling pretty small. Yeah, so that was, that was part of my journey.

[Matt Castle]

That was the year before.

[Tom E. Curran]

That was like before it was like 45, 21. It was early in the season Matt came in that happened and then it hadn't yet or 42, 21. Anyway it turned into a 14 point game. So after the game everybody was already up in arms about the Patriots rubbing teams faces in it it. And they brought Brady back in. You never see that started came back in and I remember South Valentonio in the post games. Like didn't you. Hadn't you already made your point? You bring Tom Brady back in after that pick six. I mean 14 point game at this point. I mean it's just so you. I can only imagine. And Matt, I'm not bringing it up to, to highlight something. I'm just saying that when Brady got hurt, nobody was expecting double digit wins and the level of capability that Matt had season and he actually Matt was unbelievably physically tough and athletic in a way that Brady wasn't. I mean I think that Matt, had he come into the league and had probably more college experience, had he come into the league in 16, 17, 18 or 19, he'd have been a lot different player in terms of the way he was viewed and used. Because Bobby, you've seen him run around, right?

[Matt Castle]

Yeah, he's a lot. He's a large Adonis type figure that's also good looking and extreme. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tom E. Curran]

Ran people over, so that's good.

[Matt Castle]

Did you feel his celebrity rising locally though, after a few wins, like, could you feel it was, man, this. This might be our guide. Not forever, but this season. And we're getting behind him.

[Tom E. Curran]

Oh, yeah. I think that there was definitely a groundswell, but it still came with a large dose of skepticism because he hadn't really played a snap since high school. So I don't think the people were all in, you know, a way that they would have been if Matt had had the same background as Jimmy Garoppolo and, you know, was anointed. I think he had a lot to overcome. And Matt, if I'm not mistaken, that was a tough year for you personally, right? Your dad. Yes.

[Bobby Bones]

He passed away in between the Seattle game and the Raiders game.

[Tom E. Curran]

Yeah. This is something. Bobby, if you want to get serious, I don't know how long we're here, but he was a real champion. Matt was, during that year because he's extremely close to his dad and I think you were. Sutton.

[Matt Castle]

Yes.

[Tom E. Curran]

Am I mistaken?

[Bobby Bones]

Yes. It was sudden.

[Tom E. Curran]

Well, let me tell you. But we didn't know about it. We didn't talk about it. We didn't cover it. It in this with the same intensity. Matt was incredibly, for his beautiful, sparkling eyes and. And smile, really a stoic and an admirable. Not admirable, you know what I'm saying?

[Bobby Bones]

Had to handle some stuff. But that's what. That's what this game kind of brings to you. The adversity and everything else. I was going to ask you, were you actually surprised that Belichick franchise me after that season?

[Matt Castle]

You.

[Bobby Bones]

I mean, I never saw that coming in a million years.

[Tom E. Curran]

Okay. He did that.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah. A lot of people do. They're like, wait, how'd you end up in Kansas City? I was like, I got traded there. And they're like, I thought you were a free agent. I was like, nope, New England front gaming.

[Tom E. Curran]

See, and that's why people hated the Patriots. There's so many things that they've done that were within the rules, but against the spirit of the rules that you forget, hey, we have Tom Brady. He's the greatest quarterback of all time. He threw 50 touchdowns two years ago. That's our franchise quarterback. That Castle is. I. I was not Surprised, because it was inevitable. I mean, he was going to do whatever he could to get an angle and compensation. So they would use whatever was at their disposal. So it didn't surprise me, but it is. I was extremely happy for his success when he went to Kansas City. Would you have 27 and seven touchdowns to pick?

[Bobby Bones]

Yes, sir.

[Tom E. Curran]

He was good. He's a good player, man. Good player now.

[Matt Castle]

So from all the years that you've covered the Patriots, one of the times that I think about is after Belichick left and Mac Jones was the quarterback. And for a second, Mac Jones was hot, and then he was not. And there was all the drama, you know, second string, third string, now he's kind of bounced back and he's a great backup. Did you think Mac Jones was going to be a good quarterback? Was just in the wrong situation with that era of Bell. What did you think of Mac Jones when he was drafted and was playing with New England early?

[Tom E. Curran]

Thought he was pretty good. I thought he had a great understanding of what he wanted to do with the ball and that's why he took the job from Cam Newton within about 11 seconds of training camp starting. Cam, obviously superior physical player, had an mvp, great leader. But they would put him in red zone, which training camp. But we started with red zone stuff. Bobby and Cam would be padding, padding, padding. Deciding, deciding he'd be throwing, you know, completely wide open to the end zone. Horrible mechanics. And Mac Jones was just right when he got there, so it was pretty clear he was going to win the job. So he had the accuracy, he had the understanding of what to do in the offense. He didn't have great arm strength, but he had great anticipation to mitigate that. And he actually was physically tough. Even though somet pictures of him, like after he got hit, he. He did take some thrashings, so he should have been a good player. But he ended up getting sent a timeout because when he and Hoyer. Matt can tell you about Brian Hoyer, who he's friends with as well. When they made Matt, Patricia and Joe Judge the OC and quarterbacks coach and offensive line coach and tried to give them every job on offense when they weren't really prepared for it, it Brian Hoyer would say to Mac, this is a little imac goes, yeah, I thought so pick up the phone and call somebody. And caught wind that he was going outside the building to try and figure out what in God's name he should be doing. And then Bill said, okay, I'm done with you. Basically wasn't talking to a starting quarterback by the end of that. So that's why it didn't surprise me when he came in for San Francisco last year and played with some capability. Am I talking too long? No, no.

[Bobby Bones]

We love you're holding court.

[Matt Castle]

We love I'm just curious. I was curious about, you know, the post Brady Belichick years that got lean and I think about Mac Jones being there and being the guy, but then Bailey Zappi being the guy and then, and then it just, there was no consistency. But now I like to see the Mac Jones kind of redemption arc. Not that he's a starting quarterback, but he played really well last year and I think now he'll be able to eventually have a starting job somewhere else. I just wondered if you had seen that in him early on.

[Tom E. Curran]

Oh yeah. I I said when he got traded, replaced, benched by Belichick for Bailey Zappy at the end of that room, at the end of that season, I said Mac Jones will start and win a playoff game in this league. He absolutely will. And I believe that he is a high level backup who's the kind of guy who, when inevitably somebody gets hurt in week 14 and he has to play it into the postseason, he's the kind of guy who you can say, oh wow, he went 18 for 22 for 171 yards and two touchdowns and all picks. I guess, I guess that was a pretty good performance. That's the kind of guy.

[Bobby Bones]

That's the kind of guy.

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[Bobby Bones]

Sushi in Tokyo, make every bite Rewarding with gold from AMEX wherever you dine. 4 times membership re points at restaurants worldwide are piling up. Learn more@american express.com Explore-Gold terms and points cap apply. Then let's talk about Drake May. So he comes in his rookie year and you could see flashes. The physical ability was there, but it wasn't always the consistency. A lot of that had to do with the personnel around him. But then last year, coming into that season, there was higher expectations because of the arrival of Josh McDaniels coming back. How pivotal was that? Having Josh McDaniels there in the building with Drake May helping his development, it was massive.

[Tom E. Curran]

But I will say this one really cool thing that Alex Van Pelt did during May's rookie year is he took him back to fundamentals 101 and improved. A guy who was very scattershot, very disorganized and robotic as they tried to work on some of his drops and stuff and turned him into a guy who was much more accurate by the end of that 2024 training camp, really accurate and was ready to become the leader. And I think that that shouldn't be overlooked because his drastic improvement began when he was drafted. Mindicamp he looked. It was weird. Oh, boy, it's going to take him minute. And everybody said that. Belichick said that the night he was drafted. Famously. It's going to take some time. He's a great improver. And then when McDaniels came in, he played to his strengths. And Matt again, I. I don't want to.

[Bobby Bones]

I don't know.

[Tom E. Curran]

Drake May is probably faster, probably a little bit stronger and probably has a little bit more explosive arm.

[Bobby Bones]

So he's better in every category. He's better in every category.

[Tom E. Curran]

Yeah. I think Matt Castle's 74% Drake may,

[Bobby Bones]

but, you know, he's really good.

[Tom E. Curran]

Well, McDaniels couldn't like exploit the things that Matt did that make and do. He's not going to build the offense around Matt Castle, but he could build it around the mobility of May. And because players and the systems are so changed and there's more acceptability to allow Drake May to playoff script. McDaniels allowed him to do that. So I think that that was something that really was strong. They wanted May to be a better leader. They wanted him to play from the pocket, not get jumpy, but be decisive. And I think one great thing about mine as a quarterback is he's unbelievably decisive when he says it's time to go. It's time to go and he doesn't do it too early.

[Matt Castle]

And when you look at last season's Patriots record, do you see a team that had an easy schedule and a fortunate playoff game against an injured quarterback, or do you see a team that was actually really good?

[Tom E. Curran]

Let's see a team that the. The former. It was an easy schedule, but they took advantage and they played with, you know, a really good spirit. They didn't just take advantage, though, of Jared Stidham. They took advantage of the San Diego Los Angeles Chargers offensive line, which was in utter disarray. They exploited them, turned it into hell for Justin Herbert. Herbert. Then C.J. stroud was coming off one of the worst playoff games anyone had ever seen. In the wild card round. They get him in the divisional round and he plays an even worse game somehow. And then Bo Nix gets hurt in garbage time and they get Jared Stidham. So there are teams that we've seen over the course of our sports viewing careers that end up in final games that aren't prepared. Like, remember the night. I'm going way too far back, but I don't remember. You won't. But remember the 94 Chargers?

[Bobby Bones]

94 Chargers?

[Matt Castle]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Tom E. Curran]

And Humphreys, they played the Niners and it was an absolute blitzing. I think that Steve Young two for six touchdowns.

[Bobby Bones]

I was like 49 to like seven.

[Tom E. Curran]

Yeah, it was chaos. 55. 10. I think you've 10.

[Matt Castle]

Not good.

[Tom E. Curran]

No, I think you might be right. 49 because it was. They covered like a 20 point spread. But the Patriots were kind of like that. They had no shot against Seattle, despite the fact that we thought going into that game that they might. They just could get overpowered by that front, which so often happens in the super bowl where a front four can just take over a game and wreck it. And that's what happened with Seattle. So the Patriots were a good team, an improving team team, but they were not nearly ready for prime time.

[Bobby Bones]

When you look at this year's Patriots team, where are the places that they've improved the most and the places that you think they're most vulnerable or need more help at?

[Tom E. Curran]

I think wide receivers, drastic improvement with Romeo Dobbs in and A.J. brown in. That's. That's a layup. Offensive line, massive improvement. Especially if everything works out with Elijah Vera Tucker, who, you know was a Jets first rounder. And when you watch clips of him from when he's healthy, he's just a rototiller. That should improve as well. With Jared Wilson moving to center away from guard where he was a pro football focus flop even though he was pretty good. But a guard, he was not as good as. As you hope that he would be at center. If you're a Patriots fan, Will Campbell should be strong, fully healthy. I worry about his confidence because I think he's a very confident kid. But he also seems to have rabbit ears and he heard every bit of criticism and sometimes when you hear all that criticism you might say it doesn't bother you, but you're obviously going to operate with the criticism in your mind and he's out there. He is remarkably narrow shouldered for a left tackle in the NFL and you can see him when we're at minicamps or, or, or training camp and you're close to him relative to the guys who were standing across from. He's obviously big, a large human, but he's just differently shaped. So he's going to have to continue to get by on that. But those are places they're better. Tight end, unfortunately not. The Hunter Henry is not good but they moved on from Austin Hooper and they replaced him with a kid named Julian Hill from Miami who's already lost for the season. And then they drafted this kitty like Raritan from Notre Dam Game who did not impress me in terms of saying, oh wow, she's kind of there during the minicamps so maybe he'll be better. So that's a disappointment. And defensive. And edge and the defensive interior line is, is a problem that. Well, it's Kairos Tonga who was a really good player, went to the Chiefs just like Matt Castle did once upon a time and they also. They're just not, not good enough on the edge. They moved on from Anthony Jennings, they brought in Draymond Jones. The hell else happened there? It's July. I have to reboot soon. They're not good enough on the edge to exert pressure when you said that.

[Bobby Bones]

But with the interior of this defense you had Milton Williams. Christian Barmore is a guy that, I mean those are two, two dudes though. If Christian Barmore. What about Christian Barmore right now? He just needs to be more consistent if he's able to do that though. So I think most of those worries that you're talking about are probably going to go away, don't you think?

[Tom E. Curran]

I do. But you still need to. They generated so much pressure, Matt. My estimation was scheme and exploiting teams and sending the fifth guy and twists and great pursuit by Kayla Chase on who went to the commanders. They're putting a lot on Harold Landry and hoping Harold Landry plays well. Oh, they drafted Gabe Akis and hoped that he would be a guy who could play kind of immediately, and he still hasn't. He didn't show up for training camp or anything like that. Excuse me. Minicamp. Because he's got some contract strife. So. Issue.

[Matt Castle]

You've been giving us the gold, Tom.

[Bobby Bones]

Gold, baby.

[Matt Castle]

Tom. Tom Curran's Patriots Talk podcast. You guys can follow Tom at tome. Curran. We really appreciate it. Thanks for the insight on my friend here, Matt Castle, who. Who, you know, his version of the story is completely different. If you ask him how it all went down.

[Bobby Bones]

Which story?

[Matt Castle]

Well, all of them that he told that, you know, he said as soon as he went in, everybody knew that he was the man. You got to hear him talk about it.

[Bobby Bones]

Oh, man. I said, I gotta.

[Matt Castle]

They were cheering for him like Rudy. They were like, castle, Castle. As soon. Yeah. So it sounds like that wasn't true, Tom.

[Tom E. Curran]

I don't know. Yeah, I don't really remember it that way. Hey, look at this. Matt.

[Bobby Bones]

Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt. Where you at? Oh, Edgewood, Tahoe. He went out there to Tahoe last.

[Tom E. Curran]

Last.

[Bobby Bones]

Last week you said you took the family out and went and golfed the golf course. Avid golfer here. Avid golfer.

[Matt Castle]

Well, good for you to play. To play golf where it's not 500 degrees. Really appreciate the time. Thank you so much. And hopefully we'll. We'll talk to you again when the season's going.

[Tom E. Curran]

I would like that.

[Matt Castle]

All right. Thanks, Tom.

[Bobby Bones]

Thanks, Tom.

[Matt Castle]

Got lots to say. All right, final story from each of us. The NFL top 100. The players vote. And so with this. They haven't released a whole list yet. Am I right? Is it one of those where they just release, like, a few at a time to keep you going? Yeah, each day. Because I thought it was a weird story because they didn't put number one on there. They only had, like, number 38.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

So.

[Bobby Bones]

A.J.

[Matt Castle]

brown, new Patriots receiver at number 80, which drops him 51 spots. Travis Kelsey came in at 79, which dropped him 42 spots. And so, more so about their position, did you ever vote in the top 100? Was that a thing when you were playing?

[Bobby Bones]

It was. And I believe there was a year I was in the top 100, but maybe you should check that.

[Tom E. Curran]

You were not. I already looked.

[Bobby Bones]

I was. Yes, I was. You were in, like, a Bleacher Report, 2010.

[Matt Castle]

He didn't even say I couldn't. I didn't look. He just said, no, you weren't.

[Bobby Bones]

Wasn't. I There.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

I'll.

[Bobby Bones]

I'll check.

[Matt Castle]

Do players look at this? Do they care?

[Bobby Bones]

I don't think players care as much as they do about Pro bowl honors, all Pro honors, all those things that are voted on, obviously, by, by the players themselves. They, they probably do to a certain extent. And it is an honor to be on the top 100, because I do think the players vote for the top 100. So they go to each position group, make their rankings, and then they tally up votes, and that's how it decides who's in the top 100. Now, I don't know how they do the draft specific order of 100 down to one, but when you usually look at those top 10, top 20 players, everybody in the league can agree they were pretty much deserving of that on that given year.

[Matt Castle]

All right, what's your story? Wrap us up.

[Bobby Bones]

All right, story. This is a wild story. Sean Payton attempted to have Bill Belichick take his head coaching job to break Don Shula's win record.

[Matt Castle]

It was like going to step down for a minute, right. And let him coach.

[Bobby Bones]

He was gonna. Yeah. Just so he could get it and then regain that position as the head coach.

[Sponsor/Advertiser Voice]

Coach.

[Bobby Bones]

I, I just think it's fascinating that to imagine Champagne voluntarily stepping down, even if it's just temporary for anyone, because he's got a pretty big ego and he's at the same time a Super bowl winning coach. So. But to do that, and I didn't know he had that type of relationship with Belichick as well, to say, hey, I really want you to get this honor, take over for Don Shula. How do you feel if you're Don, like Don Shula, and that can, on that side of the fence going, well, wait, you're going to hire this guy just to come break my record?

[Matt Castle]

Wait, Don Chula dead? Yeah, he died in 2020. So I feel pretty good. If I'm Don Shula, I'm not really concerned about it.

[Bobby Bones]

I'm saying if you're making that argument on his behalf for him, as the winningest coach of all time, for like

[Matt Castle]

Mike Shoeless, let's say, how does Mike Shula feel?

[Bobby Bones]

Right. That, that that's one of the biggest pieces of history in our game to be the winningest coach of all time, and then for somebody to come in and Sean Payton, because of his relationship with Bill Belichick, to step down and allow him to coach, just to get, get Don Shula's record without really truly being the head coach of a team

[Matt Castle]

feels a bit like if the president Calls a company and goes, hey, can we overturn that red card and let's cheat a little bit. I. I mean, yeah, not exactly fair. So. Yeah, that's all I'm saying. I know.

[Bobby Bones]

Did you watch any of that game?

[Matt Castle]

Of course I watched. It was terrible. What a terrible game.

[Bobby Bones]

It was terrible. But did you hear, was it the coach for Belgium after or one of the players, the interview where they just absolutely went after the US And I

[Matt Castle]

would have too, if I were.

[Bobby Bones]

This is the first time you guys face any competition. This is real.

[Matt Castle]

They were like, overturn this. They started yelling, overturn. Overturned. We cheated and still lost. Now the, the call was bad during the game.

[Bobby Bones]

I was going to say, did you see that call?

[Matt Castle]

It's not about the call. The call was bad, but it was over. It's like a targeting penalty and somebody has to miss the next game. And the governor of Alabama calls and goes, hey, I think this Crimson died players, they got the targetings and I missed the first half. I think we should re review that. So then they go, okay, they go back in the SEC offices in Alabama and they re, yeah, I think we're going to remove that, that targeting call because we got a coach, a call from the governor that ain't.

[Bobby Bones]

Is it the rarest of the rare to get a red card overturned after

[Matt Castle]

the fact two times ever.

[Bobby Bones]

Two times. Oh, so it's two times ever, ever this.

[Matt Castle]

And in the 60s, I believe it happened. So some people were arguing about Ronaldo, but he, his red card was before the tournament even started. And so he got to play and they were like, no, he rever. He, they. But it was a different tournament that didn't happen here. And so also you can review. There are situations outside of this tournament that you can review a red card and they can overturn it. But this, there is no review process. FIFA even said after the game, we can't review it. It is a non reviewable call. So once it's a call, it's a call, right? And the game's over. And the next day they said we can't review it. And then we have daddy call and go, I think we need to review it.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah, that's bad luck.

[Matt Castle]

And then we get beat 4 to 1. I'd have been screaming to overturn this. Overturn this.

[Bobby Bones]

The one. The one that got me was when the goalie came out of goal and oh my God, he blocked it. But then his foot hit the ground kind of like that field goal. Remember the field goal that we talked about when he kicked the ground and you're going. Then he panics and kicks it right to the dude. And I was like, what's. Oh, my God. Yep, that was. And then the further insult to injury was at the end of the game when they scored the fourth goal right before, I think there was 15 seconds left in the game.

[Matt Castle]

And they was running like the crowd, like, come on now. Come on now. It's like wrestling.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah. So it was physical, too.

[Matt Castle]

Usa. USA all the way. But, yeah, no, we. We tried to cheat.

[Bobby Bones]

No, we are allowed to cheat. It sounds like we tried.

[Matt Castle]

We succeeded in cheating and then we lost.

[Bobby Bones]

But.

[Matt Castle]

And then we got.

[Bobby Bones]

It was a backfire.

[Matt Castle]

We got crushed. That's it. That's Matt Castle. That's Kickoff Kevin. That's Brandon Ray. I'm Bobby Bones. We have had lots to say. We will see you guys next week. Lots to say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle is a production of the NFL and iHeart podcasts. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Get that AMEX gold cart ready. I'm way too tired to cook tonight.

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[Bobby Bones]

Five guys?

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

Either of those sound good?

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Yes.

[Bobby Bones]

Which one? Both pay with the gold card to

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

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