Murray: We better see Patriots starters play against Packers

The New England Patriots will play their second preseason game on Saturday evening against the Green Bay Packers. In their preseason opener very few projected starters saw action during the game. On Friday's Felger and Mazz, Jim Murray talked about how he wants to see the starters, especially Mac Jones, play in the game against the Packers.

Jim Murray: Couple of Patriots thoughts for me ahead of the second preseason game tomorrow night against the Packers....Number one: we better see the starters, specifically the quarterback. And I know you're going to speak further about this, Mike, about their slow starts, but if Mac Jones sits again, even if you want to make the case of, "well, the offensive line's in shambles, you can't put your starting quarterback behind an offensive line that looks like that", I think he's got to get out there. I think he has to get real reps eventually. And what does continuing to hold Mac Jones and the starters out do to benefit them when Mac Jones specifically is playing for his third offensive coordinator in as many years? You can't tell me that he and the offense can't benefit from real reps. And not to mention, I just think it's a terrible look when you compare it to the rest of the league, how it's been these first couple of weeks during the preseason. Sean McDermott said today all his starters, Josh Allen, they're going to play a quarter and a half for the Bills this weekend against Pittsburgh. And then last week....what do Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson, Deshaun Watson, Trevor Lawrence, Derek Carr, Justin Fields, Jordan Love and Kenny Pickett all have in common? They all started their preseason games. So Mac Jones should do the same. And then number two...I saw this tweet from the Boston Herald's Doug Kyed: "Patriots running back Coach Vinnie Sunseri says Ezekiel Elliott has taken on a leadership role in a short time with the team. Says everyone in the room is excited to have Elliott aboard". He's been there three days? Two? If Zeke Elliott is a leader for the Patriots after 72 hours, let's call it, that's indicative of a leadership void on this team. I don't think that that's actually a good sign.

Listen to Felger and Mazz from 2-6 every Monday-Friday on 98.5 The Sports Hub, with hosts Mike Felger, Tony “Mazz” Massarotti, and Jim Murray “Big Jim”. You can listen live in the Sports Hub App and subscribe to their podcasts here. Follow @FelgerAndMazz on Twitter to keep up with the show!

Over the years, Bill Belichick hasn't been a man of many words, but there are certain players that leave him rambling and drooling over their play.

Belichick is a football guy first and foremost. If you do something on the field that catches his eyes, he's going to tip his cap in the media. Sometimes it's even said just chatting with the player on the field. DeAndre Hopkins is a perfect example of that.

Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski might not like this list too much, because they didn't get the same praise while playing for him. But even after their careers came to an end, Belichick had no problem ranting about how special they were.

While the players Belichick complemented didn't always end up joining the organization, some did. Wes Welker always caught Belichick's eye when the Dolphins went up against the Patriots. That led to the eventual swap of a 2007 2nd-rounder and 7th-rounder being flipped for Welker's services, which completely changed the trajectory of his career.

Hunter Henry fits right into that category as well. Belichick was rambling about Henry's entire career before going up against the Chargers during the 2020-20-21 season, which led to him being labeled a target for the Patriots the following offseason. It ended up being spot on, as Belichick inked him to a 3-year deal worth $37.5 million at the start of free agency.

Some of the names on this list range from Hall of Famers to young stars still currently in the league, so there's a chance they may end up like Henry or Welker one day. Or they might just torture the AFC for years to come like a certain quarterback on this list.

So let's walk down memory lane and reminiscence on the players Belichick has gushed over since becoming head coach of the Patriots...

Belichick: “He’s the best weak safety I’ve seen since I’ve been in the National Football League in my career. He’s outstanding at pretty much everything. The list goes on and on with him. It’s just a question of pretty much anything he’s out there for, he’s good at.”  - New York Times, 1/18/13

Not too many players get the experience of the Greatest Head Coach of all-time saying they're happy they don't have to go up against him more than once every four years. 20 seconds of chatting fueled an entire offseason of speculation about whether Hopkins could land with the Patriots. It didn't end up happening, but there's clearly a healthy amount of love between the two.

Belichick: "Kittle is a great player. He does everything well. I'd put him right at the top of the league there, period. His ability to run, catch, get open, after the catch, block, he does everything at a high level. He's as good as anybody that I've coached or as good as anybody that we've played against." - ESPN, 10/19/20

Belichick: “Hekker is a tremendous weapon... I mean, this guy is as good a player as I’ve ever seen at that position. He’s a tremendous weapon in his ability to punt the ball, punt it inside the 20, directional kick it, involved in fakes, can throw, can run, very athletic. … He’s dangerous. Absolutely. He’s like a quarterback. He can throw. He can run. You gotta defend him like you defend one of those guys.” - NBC Sports Boston, 11/30/16

Belichick:  "He works extremely hard. He’s very knowledgeable in all phases of the game, but particularly the passing game and techniques, training, fundamentals. He’s, I would say, to receivers what Peyton Manning was to quarterbacks in terms of that type of total obsession of knowing everything about the position and how to do things and how to convey those to his teammates... he’s a tremendous player and he’s had a tremendous career. I don’t know how you could do much more than what he’s done for the amount of time that he’s done it in. He’s had tremendous durability and production." - NBC Sports Boston, 10/16/15

Belichick: "The fact that he’s there every week and he plays good, whether it’s in the running game, the passing game, he’s a solid all-around player, one of the premier tight ends in the league... He comes up big in big situations, does a great job for them in the running game and makes big and clutch plays for them in the passing game. They obviously have a lot of confidence in him. Both quarterbacks look for him in critical situations, as they have for years. The fact that he’s there all the time, has been there throughout his career, his durability has been remarkable." - NBC Sports Boston, 11/25/20

Belichick: “I don’t think anybody is any better than Aaron Rodgers through the years.. End of games, two-minute, four-minute, fo­­ur-minute ahead, two-minute behind, all those situations. One play type situations, cadence. He just takes situational football to a much higher level. We always study them and of course, we face them. We’re dealing with all the things that we studied and watched him and the Packers do going back to when Mike (McCarthy) was there. Of course now with coach (Matt) LaFleur, but it just continues to be very impressive.” - NESN, 9/30/22