Patriots' LB Jahlani Tavai joins the show! Tavai on Bill Belichick and being on social media.
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00:00on time this morning and ready for football. Here he is. Hey,
00:04Jelani. How you guys doing? How are you? I'm good. Ready and
00:11excited. Did you get to watch any of that game last night?
00:14Not at all. Nothing. Leap by the first quarter. Really?
00:20Alright, good. That's good. You get that rest. Yeah. You got
00:23your eight hours or your or your ten hours. That's good.
00:27Jelani. Jelani. We did it. When you obviously approaching
00:31this game, I guess it seems like it's still up in the air. We
00:34talk to Mayo. You guys are gonna prepare like Jamar Chase
00:37is playing. If he does play, what are some of the problems
00:41that he he's gonna create for that defense? I mean, he's a
00:46dynamic receiver. You know, he's he got a a big catch radius
00:51and you know, we just gotta make sure that we do our jobs
00:54on on the back end and make sure we just secure our
00:57tackles. We don't want him to if he does catch the ball or
01:02whatnot like we don't we just don't wanna make don't wanna
01:05allow him to become a a threat after after the catch you know
01:11so we just gotta do our job on pressuring Burrow and and
01:17causing him to have those off the clock throws and maybe
01:24that'll that'll be one of the ways that we can limit Chase
01:28at you know receiving the ball or whatnot so we're just gonna
01:33have to play fundamental football and rely on rely on
01:38each other on the defensive side. Jelani, obviously, the
01:41Bengals are a talented team and have been for the last couple
01:44of of years but since 2020, they're one in seven in the
01:47first two weeks of the season. How important is it for you to
01:51capitalize on something like that and make sure that you
01:53guys make a really strong first impression? I didn't even
01:58know that they were like that but I don't I don't look at
02:01people's past because you know it's a whole new team.
02:05They're not they're not the same team that they were last
02:07year and the year before that so we don't know what they're
02:11capable of other than what they put on film and so far what
02:15we've seen on film is that they have really good receivers.
02:18They have a really good offense and it's just another
02:22opportunity and challenge that we we're excited for on the
02:26defensive side and regardless of what happened in the past,
02:30we're just gonna approach it as if it's another brand new
02:33week because I'm sure that they're doing the same thing.
02:36They wanna probably change that, change the script on that
02:40part of what they've been doing. So, we just gotta expect
02:44the expect them to bring their A game. Jelani, one of the
02:48things you just talked about is is kinda getting Joe Barr off
02:51his timing and and his spot a little bit. We always talk
02:54about familiarity and when teams have it, they play
02:58against each other or even personnel. You're gonna have an
03:01opportunity, I think and you talked about this to be a guy
03:03that can come off the edge and put some pressure. You're going
03:06against your former teammate, Trent Brown's gonna be down
03:09there. Obviously, Orlando Brown Junior is one of the other
03:12tackles. What are some of the things that you guys know from
03:16playing with Trent Brown that you might be able to attack to
03:20maybe expose a little bit. Your opportunities coming off
03:23those edges to give Joe Burrow some problems cuz it is really
03:28about that pass rush that you guys can create.
03:33You know, yeah, they got some big tackles, you know, and I
03:37think definitely that's just another, like I said, it's just
03:41another opportunity for us to showcase what we got. Obviously,
03:45I don't wanna go into full detail about what we know about
03:49Trent or Orlando or whatnot, but you know, we have a set
03:53game plan about what we wanna do and we just gotta trust the
03:57process that the game plan is gonna work out. Did you give
04:01Bill Belichick a follow on Instagram, Jelani? I did
04:06actually. Did he follow you back? I'm not sure but I'm
04:13interested to see what he wants to do on on what what do you
04:18call it? Snap face? Is that surprising to you that you see
04:22basically you turn on your TV or you're seeing Bill on a new
04:25show or he's on Instagram. What have you made of all this? Oh
04:29no, it was it was a big shocker for all of us. We were I think
04:33that was a big talk of the locker room yesterday. I don't
04:36know if it was yesterday or the day before but we're we were at
04:40shop when we saw that. Yeah, I mean a tad bit hypocritical. I
04:43guess when a guy is telling you to stay off social media and
04:46then as soon as he's not the coach anymore, he's on social
04:49media. It's kinda interesting. Yeah, well, I mean, I think I
04:53think his biggest message for us is while we're in the
04:56building and and in league, try our best to get off of it. I
05:01mean, he wasn't wrong. It's it's kind of a distraction for a
05:05lot of guys. Yeah. Um and you know, it it helps clear your
05:10mind when you don't see all the noise going around, all the
05:13buzz. So, speaking of noise and buzz, has any of the back and
05:18forth on who should be the starting quarterback affected
05:24you guys been a distraction at all? Not really. Um not really.
05:30I mean, I can just speak on the defensive side cuz we we're
05:34we're just we're we're so focused and dialed in and
05:38regardless on who plays on that side of the ball, we're just
05:40gonna make sure that we have their backs. That's how we
05:43always been preparing and that's how we we've always
05:45played. Whoever's whoever's on that side of the ball. Um
05:50regardless of whatever the situation is in the game,
05:53we're gonna make sure that we continue to just get after the
05:55ball and and get the ball back into the offense's hands. That
05:59way, they can make a play and put some points on the board.
06:02So, yeah, our job is just to make sure we got their backs
06:05and and uh you know, get us out of uh situations. How do you
06:13feel like the defense is this season compared to how they
06:18were last season?
06:21Um I I think I think we're approaching the same way. You
06:25know, um I know I know II probably say the same thing
06:29about our teams uh how different it is every year but
06:32uh I think our approach has never changed. Uh how we are,
06:38you know, we're excited. We're dialed in. We're we're focused
06:40on what we have, you know, on what we have to do and uh come
06:45Sunday, we get to just showcase it all. What was the biggest
06:49difference Jelani now that camp's over and you're getting
06:51ready for week one of uh a Gerard Mayo camp versus Bill
06:55Belichick.
06:58Um I don't know. I I still feel like the page you're away,
07:03you know, but I think I'm I think the difference was just
07:06the energy that's the like the um that male brings. You know,
07:11it's a little bit more youthful and and young uh and yeah, I
07:19don't know. You you gotta be in the building to understand it
07:22because I'm sure I'm sure by the interviews you guys have
07:25with him, you can you can tell that the little uh the little
07:31jokes he probably says or or whatnot but he brings that same
07:34energy that he has with you guys to to the meetings as well
07:37um and and you know, it just never changes. So, we really
07:41appreciate the way that he's been approaching uh his first
07:45year as our head coach. Alright, well, what? Oh no, I
07:48was just gonna ask real quick. Jelani, I know you guys always
07:50talk about it is about the three units, special teams, defense,
07:53and and offense but I've been, I played for teams where one is
07:58a little bit stronger than the than the other is the mindset
08:02from the defense standpoint because you got a lot of
08:04returning guys, a lot of veterans. Is it the mindset
08:07that we have to make sure that we're the strongest unit out
08:11there cuz we're gonna have to carry this football team cuz
08:13it's gonna take some time for the offense to get clicking.
08:18Um we always have that like have that mindset really. It
08:24doesn't matter if our offense was um you know productive or
08:27not like like our mindset is always we gotta be the ones to
08:31set the tone and you know to make sure that the team runs
08:35through us you know and that's how we I guess that's how I see
08:40things um and uh and I'm sure people will see that too but I
08:46don't I don't I don't know. It's more of just like how I
08:53think it's just the type of football that we play on
08:55defense. You know, we're tough and we're freaking. We're just
08:58blue collar workers. You know, we're just we we wanna make
09:01sure that everything's like everybody can rely on us. It's
09:04like I don't know. I don't know. That's a good one. Uh
09:11Rob Ninkovich suggested this week that uh should it be
09:14necessary, he would essentially slap Mac Jones
09:17silly. Who would win in uh who would win in a fight? A
09:21linebacker or a quarterback in in your mind? A linebacker or a
09:26quarterback. Yeah. Any linebacker or quarterback or
09:30are we talking about this situation? I was trying to give
09:34you an out but if you who would win Ninkovich or Mac Jones? Oh,
09:38I don't know. Well, I don't know but if if we're just
09:43talking broad, a broad statement, um I would I would
09:47say a linebacker. Okay. Yeah, I would too. Alright. Alright.
09:51Listen. I would do that. You'd have to put me in the
09:53situation and I'm not gonna I'm not gonna allow myself to let
09:57that happen. The quarterback room Jelani a little happier
10:00this year. Is that the way you would view things? Uh I don't
10:05know. I hope so. Alright. Well, listen. I got nothing but
10:09respect for Mac so. Uh yeah, 100%. There you go. Plus Joe
10:13Milton's a big guy too. Yeah, Joe Milton's yeah, Joe Milton's
10:16a big guy. Alright. Uh he's a big guy. Um alright, listen.
10:20Uh can't wait for Sunday and can't wait to talk to you again
10:23next week. So, uh go get him. Appreciate it. Have a good one.
10:27Alright, there he is. Jelani Tvai on a Patriots Friday. He's
10:32taking Rob Ninkovich. I mean, who wouldn't? Yeah. Yeah. Oh,
10:35absolutely. And I was on the island for a while but um