I stopped listening to this show many years ago, and since Covid stopped listening to all radio, but for some reason I still follow this thread religiously.
Felger and Mazz - Creating False Naratives one day at a time
- Thread starter HomeBrew1901
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Vegas has them at 6.5. They aren't any more down on the team than the consensus of NFL analysts right now.
Felger's overall handling of the Belichick/Brady situation has actually felt pretty fair to me. I know plenty of fans that are MUCH more anti-Bill at this point, and were so immediately once Brady had success elsewhere. Felger has vocally argued against the "Bill sucks, it was all Brady" takes since they started. I think it's fair now for him to start questioning Belichick's current performance and potential succession. I think the offensive coordinator role being such a cluster last year in Mac's 2nd year was the tipping point for some to start losing the confidence there once was in Bill being infallible. Even if the last 3 years without Brady had gone better you'd still have to start wondering how much longer he can head the entire football operation at his age.
I think I may listen a little less, as there's less actual content to discuss, but I might enjoy it more. It was pretty bad when the Patriots were winning titles and they were still, as they'll joke today, "The Brady is in Decline Show" for almost a decade. But now that the Patriots are sort of just another team running in the pack I enjoy it more.
It goes with the honesty that JMOH mentions. They had to get creative to constantly be critical of the Patriots, and some of the opinions were subsequently idiotic. Same goes with most of their current Celtics talk, they end up sounding dumb because they have to nitpick the flaws of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Last year's Patriots with Matt Patricia, this year's Red Sox? Easy targets.
I will say, the less seriously you take their sports analysis, the more enjoyable it is. They're clowns paid to fill 4 hours of air, they know that's the job.
Eagles have won 10 divisions since 2001 and have made the playoffs 14 times since then. For the Pats it has been 17 divisions and 18 playoff appearances. That includes 6-3 in the Super Bowl for the Pats and 1-2 for the Eagles. The Eagles are certainly better than the Patriots right now, but any radio buffoon trying to claim they've been a better run organization over the past 22 years is just that, a buffoon.
Now Jim Murray on the other hand, yes, he hates the local teams. He seems to hate everything.
My sports radio listening has gone down probably 90 - 95% from its height a few years back. While the Pats' level of success has gone down it hasn't been that as a factor but more so the fact that COVID pushed me from a role where I was traveling and in the car all the time to one where I work from home most of the time. Also I've largely stopped listening to Felger and Mazz because they are arguably the most predictable show in radio. I know exactly what they are going to say. So there is no point in listening to them. I've listened to them for maybe 2 - 3 hours over the entire summer, right after Marcus Smart got traded and when Bergeron retired. I've probably spent more time in this thread than listening.
Felger doesn't hate any of the teams. If it comes off as hate, it is because he is faking it and leaning hard into the act. Felger isn't from around here and the only team here in town that he is really passionate about is the Bruins. He will claim he is objective, but he is as big a homer of the Milwaukee teams as any Bostonian is of the local teams. For example there was a clip of him on a plane from when the Celtics beat the Bucks in the playoffs in an important game and he was whining and moaning about the refs like any random fan. With one big exception; he has often been hard on Rodgers and Favre, presumably because of their lack of winning in comparison to Brady.
Now Jim Murray on the other hand, yes, he hates the local teams. He seems to hate everything.
No. Sometimes it can be more entertaining to listen after a big loss. And most of the time when there is a big loss, if a player or coach made a mistake, then I am totally fine with sports radio hosts tearing them apart.
My sports radio listening has gone down probably 90 - 95% from its height a few years back. While the Pats' level of success has gone down it hasn't been that as a factor but more so the fact that COVID pushed me from a role where I was traveling and in the car all the time to one where I work from home most of the time. Also I've largely stopped listening to Felger and Mazz because they are arguably the most predictable show in radio. I know exactly what they are going to say. So there is no point in listening to them. I've listened to them for maybe 2 - 3 hours over the entire summer, right after Marcus Smart got traded and when Bergeron retired. I've probably spent more time in this thread than listening.
I'm surprised Holley is so down on them in comparison to the other two. I've always viewed him as one of the rare "good" guys in the market, someone who doesn't resort to over the top trolling. Has he changed? If someone told me Giardi picked the Pats to go 0-17 it wouldn't surprise me.
Three weeks ago Holley thought the Pats would win 10-12 games. I haven’t heard his reasons but he doesn’t think that’s the case anymore.
Felger took him to task over that, he wanted to know why he flipped, Holley just talked in circles and never really gave an answer as to why he flipped.
Agreed. But the point is he thought the Pats were going to be above .500. Now not so much.
The show's long stated their opinion that there's no wins when taking a loss. Given how many think the Pats will finish 4th in the East I'm curious to hear tomorrow's show opener. "But Mike, we all expected them to get blown out but they only lost by 5!"
I think it’s going to be “too many stupid penalties and Mac can’t lead a comeback. The game was there for the taking but the Patriots shot themselves in the foot time after time”.
First thing out of Mazz’s mouth this afternoon was that Hopkins would have made the play lol
They keep hammering this point about how this morning when asked why they didn't go for a fg Bill replied that there was six minutes left when in reality there was almost 10 minutes left. Using this to illustrate that Bill's in mental decline. Seems like a bit of a reach to have the coach time stamp every decision the day after (admittedly I think Bill is far removed from being at the top of his game cough cough Brady cough).
I had a different read on this. They have always positioned Bill as a Machiavellian figure who controls every facet of the operation and feeds the media nothing except for what he wants them to know. One of the things around Deflategate was Bill saying that "you'll need to talk to the quarterback". The F+M angle was that Bill knows everything, and he would certainly know what is going on with the actual footballs.
I thought that the dig at Bill yesterday was more around the fact they think he will outright lie or bend the truth to fit his narrative, and he has no problem getting up there and flat out misrepresenting something as black and what as the time left on the clock.
My feeling is that they really believe Bill is a petty megalomaniac. Maybe Bill misspoke, I don't know. There are more than a few media figures who seem to have a pathological distrust of Bill.
I know what you mean, like the "4th and 1" versus the Colts which was actually 4th and 2.
But yesterday Mazz straight up said that he thought the 10 minutes vs 6 minutes thing was a sign of cognitive decline on the part of the coach.
Presented with the inquiry of "Mazz, you think this was Belichick obfuscating the truth to make his decision more defensible or did he really not know how much time there was left int he game?" he went straight to "I THINK HE'S LOSING IT".
Mazz is shocked to learn that Denver has given up the most points so far this season.
After Miami dropped 70 on them four days ago.
After Miami dropped 70 on them four days ago.
The lesson, as always, is that Massarotti is an idiot. His opinion is literally worthless.
Hmmm.
At the end of that segment, that comment, “is he (Mac) done with you?” Then Felger saying he’s not going there, just a few minutes after Felger defended Cowherd.
Probably nothing, but I’m starting to wonder if the “not good” news about Mac coming out of New England is maybe he’s told the team he wants out. Team doesn’t want it getting out because the fans would boo the ever loving fuck out of him for the rest of the year.
Could be wrong. But maybe that’s why the people “in the know” seem so tight-lipped. They know that’d set the fan base off the deep end.
At the end of that segment, that comment, “is he (Mac) done with you?” Then Felger saying he’s not going there, just a few minutes after Felger defended Cowherd.
Probably nothing, but I’m starting to wonder if the “not good” news about Mac coming out of New England is maybe he’s told the team he wants out. Team doesn’t want it getting out because the fans would boo the ever loving fuck out of him for the rest of the year.
Could be wrong. But maybe that’s why the people “in the know” seem so tight-lipped. They know that’d set the fan base off the deep end.
I don’t want to speak for the entire fan base, but the feeling is mutual. The faster this guys off this team the better as far as I’m concerned.
The player is playing for his career at this point; what on earth would make Jones think that he's going to be attractive to some other team? Him demanding anything makes no sense whatsoever.
"These guys gave me no offensive line and no wide receivers. My second year I had a mediocre DC run the offense. I cant believe they did this to me..."
If that were true and he made it known to the team that he wants out, why haven't they flipped him anywhere for a third or whatever? Not like the difference between him and Zappe/Grier would manifest into a significant deficit in wins. My guess is he's possibly disgruntled but the team isn't aware of it.
Mini-doc on JWH storming into F&M in 2011 on Tuesday 10 pm on BST.
https://twitter.com/nbcsboston/status/1709619264372515327?s=46&t=IVL2VrlFgLlpc3mjGGto8Q
https://twitter.com/nbcsboston/status/1709619264372515327?s=46&t=IVL2VrlFgLlpc3mjGGto8Q
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Felger Is really enjoying himself trying to trash Dru holiday. But let's be real.... If we kept Williams and brogden he would say that we have a couple of broken players that are completely worthless.
All right I'm going to go back to ignoring felger and mazz for the next couple years again. But I will keep an eye on this thread as usual for the occasional nuggets of cynicism.
All right I'm going to go back to ignoring felger and mazz for the next couple years again. But I will keep an eye on this thread as usual for the occasional nuggets of cynicism.
Your'e just taking the spare pieces that the Bucks didnt want Mike! What has he ever won? Oh just 1 championship? Please!
They were over the moon with the trade on Monday, have they really turned on it already?
awesome. so all the talk about how nesn sucks because they won't talk negative about the sox and the green teamers on celtics coverage and daddy patriots don't like a bit and the tough guys fold like wet cardboard.
how unsurprising.
how unsurprising.
Agreed. Felger, Mazz and Murray (aka the TOUGHEST guy at TSH) always talk about how they don’t care, they’ll speak truth to power, blah, blah. The minute that the Pats get pissed it’s, “sorry Mr. Kraft. I’m not sure what we were thinking. We’ll take it right down sir.”
I mean, it’s not that funny of a parody to begin with (a Love Shack parody? How timely for 1989, well done) but it’s just the hypocrisy and the back peddling.
Especially like you say they spend so much time ripping NESN and Boston Sports for being in the pockets of the Sox and Celts respectively.
Fucking dorks.
To be fair I've heard Felger say numerous times that whenever they go after the Pats too hard they can expect a visit from management, which happens after the Kraft family picks up the phone to ask why their radio partner is bashing them.
It all seems so fickle, if the team sucks anyone should be able to call them out on it, if as owners you don't like it put together a better product.
I suspect it comes from the ultra wealthy lifestyle where someone opens every door for you, drives you, cooks for you, etc. You're essentially on elevated god status and if someone under your payroll umbrella is going to throw shade we're just not having it.
Has the king who wears no clothes vibe.
It all seems so fickle, if the team sucks anyone should be able to call them out on it, if as owners you don't like it put together a better product.
I suspect it comes from the ultra wealthy lifestyle where someone opens every door for you, drives you, cooks for you, etc. You're essentially on elevated god status and if someone under your payroll umbrella is going to throw shade we're just not having it.
Has the king who wears no clothes vibe.
Those idiots were bashing the team while they were in the midst of an unprecedented run of success, winning 12 games a year and making the AFC Champion Game 8 years in a row from 2011-2018. It's one of the many reasons why they suck. They wouldn't even let the local fans in the market enjoy it while it was happening. Radio listeners should have rejected their bullshit immediately, but for reasons I'll never understand, they lapped it up instead.
Mate it's how sports radio works. Contrived controversy powers sports talk no matter what the conditions. There's no engagement if "the team's really good!" & negativity drives the market.
Sox win 100 games and it's ok but is their pitching staff built for the playoffs or can the closer get saves against elite teams. It's such a transparent formula of never being good enough, there's always an itch to scratch.
And it's not even like it's a new formula. It's the sort of thing that gave rise to sports radio in the first place. We just didn't consider it contrived in the late 90s because the teams actually did suck (or were not quite "good enough"). Now after 15-20 years of success with the local teams, it looks a lot more try-hard.
It's a little funny considering how negative and ruthless the Patriots Unfiltered guys have been as employees of the team.
This past week Mazz & Murray were all in that the Pats are trash now. Accordingly Felger argued that they'll still beat teams with the bad qbs so that should keep them competitive.
Tomorrow's going to be interesting to see if after five weeks with a 1-4 record with the team looking like it has the past two weeks if he'll argue that there's room for hope.
Tomorrow's going to be interesting to see if after five weeks with a 1-4 record with the team looking like it has the past two weeks if he'll argue that there's room for hope.
Throughout the entire Brady run here, on Monday the Felger and Mazz reaction would be that they only won the game because the opponent sucked. On the rare occasion that the Pats lost a game, it was armageddon. Oh, and throughout a lot of those years we also had the show declaring Brady a cheater, declaring the team overall cheaters, declaring the team cheap, *coughing* about Brady being on steroids, etc...
Post Brady the biggest takeaway from Felger and Mazz regarding the Pats is that the team sucks and as such we shouldn't watch the games or listen to the radio broadcast.
So yes, if I'm the Krafts and this is coming from the headlining show of my radio partner, I absolutely am picking up the phone and expressing my anger at how my team is treated. Frankly I think Kraft has been far too soft on 98.5. It's one thing to bash the team when they deserve it (and this year, yes, they absolutely deserve it). But the over the topness that has been the Felger and Mazz treatment of the Pats, especially when Brady was here has been appalling.
As for how the show reacts to this loss, I no longer listen to anything on the show about the Pats so I can only speculate, but my assumption is that it will descend into tearing apart everything the team has ever done and proclaiming that the dynasty essentially all came down to luck. Also, if this team continues to lose and is say 1-6, 1-7, etc... I expect king contrarian Felger to come out with some crazy (but still obviously super fake) take that we are all of a sudden being too harsh on the team. He is the same guy who kept going on and on about a "path" for the team in 2020.
Meh, this is a little bit silly. Felger and Mazz talk openly about how they desperately need the team to be good enough to have people interested. They don't want the Patriots to be terrible, they know a sucky team reflects on lower ratings. These guys are playing wrestling characters, they are 100% self aware of what they're doing. It's fine to detest the schtick, but it's a schtick, and one they don't even hide.
The story that Rappaport broke about his contract is bigger than a win over the Bills to go to 2-5. They can get back to fringe playoff contender if they win in Miami next week; but a lot of fans thought Bill would be pushed out if they collapsed. A new contract makes that highly unlikely and has a lot of downstream effects on how to view the organization.