Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Bananaland: Patriots’ Drake Maye Dominates Fourth Quarter In Film Review

Starting point is 00:00:00 I just got done with my film review, and I'm here to tell you that Sunday night's fourth quarter was the best quarter of football I've ever seen Drake May play. Let's break it down. This is Locked-on Patriots. You are Locked-on Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's happening? I'm your host, Nick Cattles, born and raised in New England, been covering the paths for the past 16 years, also the co-host of the Greg Bedard Patriots podcast with Nick Cattles and a sports radio veteran. Welcome to Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. We are glad you are here. We are now the number one

Starting point is 00:00:48 sports podcast network, your team every day. On today's episode, in the third segment, we'll tell you how the Ravens made life tough for the Patriots offensive line after those guys up front, we're coming off two of their best games. In the second segment, the Pat's offense answered a huge question that we had going into Sunday night. But first, with the motion removed and film now watched, I'm here to tell you, Drake May was a boss in that fourth quarter, even better than you thought, even better than I thought in real time. Today's episode is brought to by Fandul. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit Fandu. Doodle.com and place your live NFL bets all season long.

Starting point is 00:01:34 In real time, watching the game on Sunday night, talked about this a little bit in the live post game. I thought Drake May's fourth quarter was spectacular, spectacular, but he was even better than I thought, even better than I think most of you thought. Greg Bedard wrote about Drake May's fourth quarter at Boston Sports Journal. Here's what Greg wrote. Drake May was 12 of 14 for 139 yards and a touchdown. was a 139.8 passer rating.

Starting point is 00:02:03 Now, many of us saw the stats last night, 12 of 14, a buck 39, a touchdown, a passerating that almost hit 140 on the road against a team that was desperate, fighting for their playoff lives. But then you continue to what Greg wrote, and it's pretty amazing that the two incompletions that we're talking about in that fourth quarter were number one a throwaway and number two, the play where Kishon Booty was tackled

Starting point is 00:02:34 and somehow some way a flag was not thrown. Those were the only two incompletions that Drake May threw in the fourth quarter, primetime, national television, on the road, down 11 points, going against a Ravens defense that has been much better over the past several weeks since they've gotten more healthy. that just from a number standpoint in a perspective of the only two throws that he missed were a throwaway

Starting point is 00:03:03 and the Kashon booty play he also had a 16 yard run to ice the game and I'm sitting down I'm watching the film on Monday and I'm saying to myself as I go through the fourth quarter this is even more impressive than I thought and I was pretty darn impressed to begin with but this was even more impressive. Over the two touchdown drives that Drake May had in the fourth quarter, I had him for nine plus plays and one minus play, nine plus one minus. The one minus play was on a third and two from the Baltimore 48-yard line, and it was a force.

Starting point is 00:03:50 It was a force to Kyle Williams. It's just, you know, interesting because it's not as if Kyle Williams has been getting a ton of targets this year. He's made like seven catches and three of those touchdowns, which is pretty amazing. But it was a third and two from the Baltimore 48-yard line. And I thought that Drake May forced the throw to Kyle Williams. He also left that throw inside. And it was a dangerous throw. Chris Collinsworth talked about the throw at the time, but when you watched the All-22,

Starting point is 00:04:24 it wasn't just that the throw was left inside towards the defender by Drake May, but there was also the fact that Stefan Diggs was actually open on that play. That was the only minus play that I had during those two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter for Drake May. And you know what? Drake May immediately erased that minus play because the very next play was the fourth and two when he uncorks a laser beam to Stefan Diggs just beating the coverage, which turned into a big time play. So Drake May's only minus play during those two

Starting point is 00:05:06 touchdown drives was erased immediately because Drake May came right back with a plus play, which is not a surprise. We've seen this before, right? The idea that Drake May can have a play that is not necessarily a good one, but comes right back and finds a way to continue to do what he's got to do to play at a high level to help his football team win. So let's relive some of the overlooked plays, three or four plays that we might not remember in a couple of days. Second and four from the New England 33-yard line,

Starting point is 00:05:39 12-07 left in the fourth quarter. Jared Wilson gets bull rushed. Wasn't a great game for him. We'll talk about that. that later on. But Jared Wilson gets bull rushed. And Drake May literally has somebody who is dragging him down to the ground, but finds Hunter Henry for a five-yard gain, first down, move the chains. You take that sack. It's an incomplete. You're either looking at a third and four or a third in nine or third and ten. So one of those overlooked plays, something that was

Starting point is 00:06:13 really a danger for Drake May, he turned it into a positive. then of course we all pay attention and we should to the Kyle Williams touchdown but let's not forget two point conversion attempt Drake may extends the play there's a little bit of pressure when you look at this on the all 22 he doesn't have any receivers open remandre stevenson a little bit late into the end zone where he springs free because he's helping block up front and Drake may's ability to manipulate the pocket move up in the pocket and hit remandre stevenson gives you that two-point conversion. The second touchdown drive in the fourth quarter.

Starting point is 00:06:50 Second and six from the New England 35-yard line, 354 left in the game. Roquan Smith, the linebacker for the Ravens, he runs a game. He runs a game up front, and he has a free run. Free run at Drake May. Drake May takes a hit,

Starting point is 00:07:06 but he gets rid of the football. He sees Roquan Smith barreling down at him, but he gets rid of the football in a split second to Staph's, Fond digs, nine-yard gain. Again, move the chains. Nine yards on a second and six. Convert it, first down, keep it moving.

Starting point is 00:07:25 Later on, during that drive, first and 10 from the Baltimore 27-yard line, 255 left in the game. Pass rush, it's getting to Drake May. Everything is covered. Again, Drake May moves the pocket off one leg, finds Mack Hollins for a six-yard gain. that play sets up Ramandre Stevenson's touchdown run on the second and four. If you don't make that play, you're looking at second and long. You might have to throw the football again.

Starting point is 00:07:56 You're probably not going to run with Ramandre Stevenson, but because you're able to move the pocket, evade the rush, understand that everything initially is covered, get to Mack Hollins on the progression, pick up six yards, make it second and manageable, which opens the door to run Ramonald. and of course he finds the end zone. Those are some of the little plays that are probably going to go overlooked in the grand scheme of things that I wanted to highlight. We could talk about

Starting point is 00:08:26 the Kyle Williams touchdown. We could talk about the back shoulder to Austin Hooper. We could talk about some of the great elite plays, but there were plus plays in this game that were not necessarily elite, but they were absolutely freaking needed. Drake May was not bailing against free runners. Fourth quarter, a number of guys running right after Drake May, nobody touching him, not bailing, keeping his eyes up, remaining a passer, finding the progression, right, the right progression at the right time. He did it over and over and over again. The arm strength, that Kyle Williams touchdown, the play where he's evading the rush and somehow some way throws off one leg to the boundary on the right side, which is a very tough throw to make,

Starting point is 00:09:15 to Hunter Henry to make something out of nothing. We just saw it over and over and over again. The deep ball accuracy, the explosive plays in the past game returned on Sunday night. Next gen stats, Drake May completed four or five passes beyond 20 air yards against the Ravens for a career high, 111 yards, and a touchdown. Drake May's plus 62.6 EPA on deep attempts this season are the most in the NFL and plus 20.6 more than any Patriots quarterback in the last decade. Taylor Kyle's posted, Drake May had a career high nine completions of 20 plus yards versus the Ravens nearly double his

Starting point is 00:09:56 previous single game high. And this is all happening while there's tons of traffic in front of him taking tons of hits. The offensive line is on skates throughout the second half, especially the fourth quarter. That is a fearless, fearless performance from the quarterback. He's getting twisted up, getting right back up, fighting to see another day, kept making big plays from behind on the road, even more impressive on the film. That fourth quarter was outstanding. Banana land in a good way. All right, what we thought could spell trouble for the Pat's offense against the Ravens

Starting point is 00:10:41 during our preview episode ended up a massive advantage for the Pat's. That's next as we continue with today's Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. NFL Sundays move fast. One big play, and suddenly everything feels different. That's what makes live betting with Fanduil so exciting. You're not just watching the game. You're reacting to it in real time.

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Starting point is 00:12:36 We have climbed over 8,000 subs. Next goal is 85-hunge. We can get there. Huge emphasis. There was a huge emphasis by me during the preview show, the deep dive preview for the Sunday night game regarding Drake May versus man coverage. When you looked at the prior four games, games heading into Sunday night, the numbers for Drake May and the analytics for Drake May

Starting point is 00:13:04 against man coverage, they weren't good. They were declining. You could even argue they were declining precipitously for Drake May and this Patriots offense. I've got some good news for you. The Patriots torched. They torched the Ravens when the Ravens were in man coverage on Sunday night. are wrote at patriots.com. The Ravens played 14 dropbacks in man coverage. And Drake May was 9 of 13 for 131 yards in a touchdown. Say it again.

Starting point is 00:13:43 14 dropbacks in man coverage from the Ravens. And during those 14 dropbacks, Drake May completed 9 of 13 passes for a buck 31 in a touch. Pretty crazy. Evan Lazzar continues. Drake May had explosive completions of 33 yards, a Stefan Diggs crosser. 26 yards, which was the Austin Hooper.

Starting point is 00:14:09 Oh my God, I can't believe he just threw that perfectly on the back shoulder down the scene like he did. 20 yards on a Mack Hollins crosser, which was the layered throw, which was pretty nuts. And a 21-yard completion to Diggs on fourth down, which was the fourth and two that we discussed during the first segment. If teams continue to play, Evan Lazzar writes, man coverage against the Pat's offense,

Starting point is 00:14:33 the receivers need to make them pay by creating separation. In New England's past catchers did that, and Sunday nights win. And here's the thing. This was 100% discussed during the week. And not just by me, not by guys like Phil Perry and Evan Lazzar and Greg Bedard, not just by us who talk about this for a living,

Starting point is 00:14:55 thankfully. But this was discussed last week by the team. And Kyle Williams said as much in the post game on Sunday night. Mark Daniels transcribed what Kyle Williams said to the media. And here's what he said, quote, we knew man was a big thing we were going to see this week. And we wanted to make sure we dominated because we know we can dominate zone. And for me, I love man to man.

Starting point is 00:15:21 So I was making the most of it, unquote. So Kyle Williams, there he is, telling the media, we knew the Baltimore Ravens we're going to throw man coverage up against us. We knew what they like to do defensively. We knew that there are questions about our ability or inability to beat man coverage. We knew the prior month before this game

Starting point is 00:15:42 that we had some issues against man coverage. This was a conversation that was happening, not just on this podcast, but at that facility, behind those closed doors. Back to Mark Daniels. Kyle Williams said the players wanted to, quote, unquote, prove ourselves right. They knew they could do it.

Starting point is 00:16:04 They just had to show it. One last quote from Kyle Williams, quote, man to man is something if we keep getting it. We're just going to keep abusing it. Hopefully teams decide to back up. But if not, we're going to work it to our advantage. And that's precisely what they did on Sunday night. and it was really equal opportunity when you're watching the film. Stefan Diggs won against man coverage.

Starting point is 00:16:28 Kyle Williams wins against man coverage on his touchdown. Mack Hollins wins against man coverage. Kishon Booty wins against man coverage, even though the defensive pass interference play did not count. Kind of crazy. I mean, you could add a lot of yards to Drake May's total if Kishon Booty is not interfered with. but no call, nothing to see.

Starting point is 00:16:55 But it was equal opportunity. A number of your wide receivers were beating man coverage on Sunday night. And that is so crucial to this operation. It is so crucial to the success of this passing game. And what was even more impressive is Trayvion Henderson left this game early with the concussion. And Trayvion Henderson is one of those assets that you use and that Josh McDaniels uses to help declares coverage. You'll send Trayvion Henderson to the outside, right?

Starting point is 00:17:27 Lined up as a wide receiver to see if they are in man. You'll move them around the line of scrimmage. You want to try to get him lined up against linebackers and safeties. He is absolutely an asset when you're trying to pick apart the man, coverage against certain defenses. And with Trayvion Henderson out, they still figured it out. You lost that weapon that you have, that explosive weapon, a guy that if he gets lined up against somebody who you deem the right matchup can toast them.

Starting point is 00:18:05 And you lost that weapon, but you adjusted and you still found ways. You still found ways to be explosive. You still found ways to be explosive against man coverage. That is a great thing that we witnessed on Sunday night. And don't get it twisted. The Ravens were a tough matchup when you talk about playing man. Marlon Humphrey is a legitimate cornerback. Nate Wiggins is a physical, physical cornerback.

Starting point is 00:18:33 And then you've got other guys, the talent that we talked about during that deep dive preview. You've got Kyle Hamilton, the Swiss Army Knife, who can cover all sorts of different players, skill position players, and man coverage, if need be. Roquan Smith, very athletic on the second level at linebacker. Alohi Gilman, somebody who's been very good for the Ravens. So it's not like you are playing against a team that is incapable of playing man coverage. You are playing against a team that has played a decent amount of man coverage this year and has the type of talent that could cause you some issues, especially when you think, hey, man, we've been struggling against man for the past month or so.

Starting point is 00:19:15 So that was a big time question for me heading into the game. And the Patriots not only answered that question. They answered it convincingly. And they took what was a question going in and made it an advantage. And as Kyle Williams said to the media, if defenses want to keep playing man coverage, this is the statement, right? This was the statement game.

Starting point is 00:19:39 We're showing you. We're putting on film that we can beat man coverage. So if you want to test us, try to test us. And we'll see how defenses adjust, if they adjust. Especially when we get into playoff football, because, yeah, as we talked about last night, it's official. The Patriots are playoff bound. All right, some things to fix and some heroes from Sunday night, not named Drake May. We got some leftovers from the All-22.

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Starting point is 00:21:37 Drake May, we knew, as I said in the first segment, real time, that he was spectacular in the fourth quarter. when you watch the film, it emphasizes that even more. He was even better than we might have thought. But what else did we learn watching the All-22? Let's first start with the Patriots Offensive Line. The second half was a train wreck. It was a disaster class in the second half.

Starting point is 00:21:58 The offensive line struggled mightily, which was tough to see because you could argue, and I would make the argument, that the Giants game and the Bill's game, were the two best games that we've seen from the offensive line this season. The pass protection was at its very best in those two games. And then you jump to Sunday night against the Ravens. And the second half, I thought the first half was okay. Vedarian Lowe was not good in the first half. A lot of the pressure was from the left

Starting point is 00:22:29 side. A lot of that pressure was coming up against Vedarian Lowe. But in the second half, a number of guys just did not play well at all. And one of the things that I noticed was, the Ravens defensive line was bludgeoning the Patriots offensive line. They were smashing the offensive line of the Patriots and not necessarily always worried about their one-on-one. What I mean by that is you'd have an interior defensive lineman who was rushing Drake May but would, instead of trying to win the one-on-one right in front of him, he would just bully the interior offensive lineman next to him.

Starting point is 00:23:14 So if you're rushing against Garrett Bradbury, you might just throw the chicken wing and just kind of lean into Jared Wilson. And that would move Wilson off of his block. It would throw Garrett Bradbury off. I saw this a number of times. They did it to Vedarian Lowe. They did it to Jared Wilson. They did it to Garrett Bradbury.

Starting point is 00:23:36 so they were utilizing their size and their strength against the smaller, lighter Patriots offensive line. And the results, again, they weren't good. Vadarian Lowe was a mess. Jared Wilson was not much better. Garrett Bradbury actually ended up on his Tuckus at least once, if not a couple of times. I did think Michael Wenu played okay. I thought he was probably the best offensive lineman out of all of them on Sunday.

Starting point is 00:24:06 night. Morgan Moses was clearly not healthy. You see it in the film. We know that he left the game. He came back. Mike Vrable embraced Morgan Moses for an extended period of time as he was waiting for him outside of the locker room. Drake May, there's a video that surfaced on Monday on social media from the Patriots where Drake May is going up and down the line. And he specifically singles out Morgan Moses and says, that's the way to fight. Morgan Moses was not healthy and I give them a lot of credit for getting back into that football game

Starting point is 00:24:41 in the first place. So the O-Lion had its issues, no doubt. Something else that jumped out of me as we talk about play at the line of scrimmage, the run defense. What's going on with the run defense? I actually thought the edges had some issues. I thought K. LeVan Chase on again had some issues

Starting point is 00:24:59 containing that edge, setting the edge. I thought Johnny Tavai. had a couple of issues when he was out there. So, you know, Caleb on Chase on getting moved around. Harold Landry, non-existent when he's out there. Jack Gibbons, I thought, when you talk about the second level, the linebackers, I thought Jack Gibbons was late.

Starting point is 00:25:23 I thought he was late on a number of runs and, you know, stuck in traffic at times as well. A couple of mistackles. Jack Gibbons overran a Derek Henry run. that went for 20 plus yards. So Jack Gibbons causing some issues. And, you know, if you're the Patriots, Captain Avi is just knocked on the door, right? And Robert Spillane is needed because you're not going to be able. I don't think to improve your run defense as much as you want to improve your run defense

Starting point is 00:25:56 if Jack Gibbons is out there playing as many snaps as he's been playing over the past, you know, a couple of games with Robert Spillane out. So those were some of the issues. Now, here are a couple of good things. Corey Durdon made two big plays with the Patriots down 24-21. That defensive possession where the Patriots got the football back. They were down by three, just scored the touchdown on the Kyle Williams touchdown catch, the Ramandre Stevenson two-point conversion.

Starting point is 00:26:29 Patriots go right back out there on defense and they come up with a big stop. And you can thank Cory Durdon. He had to run stuff. during that stop. He also got a pressure on Tyler Huntley during that defensive possession. So Corey Durden popped up with two big plays during that defensive possession

Starting point is 00:26:50 that got you the ball back. I know we talked about Stefan Diggs, how he was showing some juice on Sunday night, in and out of his routes. Watching it on film, I got to tell you, he was explosive. He was as explosive as I've seen him in weeks. the stats match up with the eye test. And the football IQ from Stefan Diggs against zone coverages,

Starting point is 00:27:13 it really is something to witness. He understands exactly what zone defenses are trying to do. And you want to talk about helping your quarterback. He consistently helps Drake May against zone coverage. He knows exactly where to be, when to be there. He'll cut off some of his routes short to find the soft spots in the zone. Just terrific stuff. he again beat man coverage a few times

Starting point is 00:27:38 and the yards after the catch I mean we could see that but the yards after the catch pretty impressive from Stefan Diggs and when you look at prime time Stefan Diggs it is certainly a thing this year NBC Sports Boston compared

Starting point is 00:27:53 Stefan Diggs in daytime games against primetime games 11 daytime games four primetime games in his daytime games he has 45 catches primetime games even though it's, you know, almost, what, two-thirds less?

Starting point is 00:28:10 31 catches. 31 catches in four primetime games compared to 45 catches and 11 daytime games. 7.8 catches per game in primetime, just over four in daytime. 415 yards, receiving yards in primetime, 454 in daytime. He's fourth in the NFL. Stefan Diggs is fourth in. in the NFL and second most among players with four or fewer primetime games with 415 yards.

Starting point is 00:28:41 He averages over 100 yards, 103.8 in primetime, 41.3 in daytime. The only advantage in daytime, he has three touchdowns in daytime games. He has zero in prime time. But he has been a prime time player for the Patriots this season. Now, what's interesting is, you know, I looked at Stefan Diggs' playoff history, mixed bag of the playoffs. He's had some great performances. He's had some not-so-great performances. And Mark Daniels notes that Stefan Diggs with 869 receiving yards, he is the most productive receiver for the Patriots since Julian Edelman in 2019.

Starting point is 00:29:25 Man, oh man. One more note from Sunday night. The Pats prepared for the Ravens ball carrier. and that led to two huge forced fumbles and recoveries. K. Levan Chase on said to the media that the Patriots spent more time than normal working on punching the ball out from the Ravens. And he actually called the Ravens ball carriers, quote unquote, speed skaters. Like running with their arms, the ball away from their body.

Starting point is 00:29:53 It was something that this coaching staff emphasized during practice last week. And man. Did it work out to their advantage? They spent extra time punching the ball out. They punched it out twice on Sunday night for two huge turnovers. And Caleb-on-Cheson said, you know, the biggest thing Coach Mike Vrable was focusing on was takeaways. Punching was one of the ways we could get those takeaways. So you want to talk about details?

Starting point is 00:30:29 You want to talk about coaching? We could all hate the fake pun because I think we all hated the fake pun idea. But again, Mike Vrable, this coaching staff has been excellent for most of this season. And that's just the latest example. All right, that wraps up this edition

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Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Bananaland: Patriots’ Drake Maye Dominates Fourth Quarter In Film Review

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