Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Cause for Concern? Patriots’ Potential for Growth After Week One - 9/15/2020

Episode Date: September 15, 2020

It has been an approximate 48-hour ‘Era of Good Feelings’ in New England following the Patriots 21-11 defeat of the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. Stout defense, a strong showing by Cam Newton…and a solid ground attack have received much praise. However, things are not always as they seem. Despite the win, there are some areas of concern. Joining host Mike D’Abate is fan-favorite Thomas ‘Murph’ Murphy. The duo discuss Newton’s performance, the prowess of the running game, and the areas on both offense and defense that are most in need of potential growth.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get $10 off your first order.cbdMdRight now you can try the amazing duo of CBD Freeze and CBD Recover topicals and everything else cbdMd has to offer. They’re offering all our listeners 25% OFF your next order at cbdmd.comwhen you use the promo code LOCKEDONNFL at checkout.MyBookieINVEST IN YOUR INTUITION. USE PROMO CODE LOCKEDON AND DOUBLE YOUR FIRST DEPOSIT. NEW PLAYERS GET UP TO $1,000 IN FREE PLAY - DESIGNED TO ADD MORE EXCITEMENT TO THE SPORTS YOU LOVE AND THE GAMES YOU BET. YOUR WINNING SEASON BEGINS TODAY...ONLY AT MYBOOKIE!NFL Game PassThis season, get football on your time with NFL Game Pass. See all the action from every game with full game replays.Go to nfl.com/gamepass to start your free trial today. Door DashRight now, our listeners can get $5 off and zero delivery fees on their first order of $15 or more, when you download the DoorDash app and enter code LOCKEDON. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all of you, Foxborough faithful. You are now locked into the Locked On Patriots podcast, your daily home for news notes and analysis, infused with the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. Locked On listeners, NFL football is back. And though this football season might be a bit different, Pepsi is here to get you ready

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Pepsi, made for football watching. Patriots fans, we are halfway through the month of September, and on this Tuesday, September 15th, we will continue to break down the Patriots' victory in Week 1 over the Miami Dolphins. And if yesterday was all about feeling the flow of victory, today will be about putting things back in perspective.

And I'll get into what I mean by that in just a moment. My name is Mike DeBate, your host of the Locked On Patriots Podcast, which of course is a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. And folks, because it's your team every day, that means your questions, comments, and feedback strongly encouraged because they make us who we are. Feel free to share that feedback anytime by reaching out to me and following me on Twitter at M-D-A-B-A-T-E-F-P-C.

And while you're out there doing some Tuesday traveling through the Twitterverse, please be sure to follow the Locked On Patriots account as well at LO underscore Patriots. Greetings and salutations, Pats Nation. Thank you for joining me here today on the pod, and I know you're all still riding the wave of excitement when it comes to the Patriots' victory over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, opening the 2020 NFL season 1-0. And it's understandable, Cam Newton looking solid, healthy,

and comfortable as the quarterback of the New England Patriots, the running game looking like the New England Transit Authority. All three units on the Pats defense looking stellar. What's not to love, am I right? It's a victory, and to the victor go the spoils. But that's not all the winning team gets. There's also a lot of expectations put on the shoulders of that victorious team. And as we look ahead to the Patriots Week 2 matchup,

that task is going to get a whole lot tougher with Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks staring them right in the face. And fear not everyone, we will spend a significant amount of time breaking down that game against the Seahawks, including our Locked On crossover on Thursday with the host of Locked On Seahawks, Corbin Smith. But as exciting as this Sunday night matchup will be, we're not quite done with our evaluation of the Patriots Week 1 victory over the Miami Dolphins. Yesterday, here on Victory Monday on the pod, Steve Balistrieri of Patsfans.com joined me, and by and large, we were pretty positive about what we took away from the game on Sunday. But that doesn't mean there aren't areas for concern. And having had the opportunity to re-watch the game a couple of times now, I was able to pick

up on a few things that I didn't catch during the first viewing. And in the interest of not raining on the parade of good feelings we all have going on in Foxborough right now, I'll stop short of calling them problems or areas of concern. Let's just call them areas for growth potential, and there might be more of them than you think. But before you think I'm being negative just for the sake of being negative, I'm not the only one that picked up on these areas. My guest here today on Locked On Patriots picked up on them too. And let me tell you folks, his concern level is a bit higher than mine.

So in the interest of gaining this perspective, as only he can provide it, I thought today might be the perfect day to give Locked On Patriots its very own hashtag. Yeah, you guessed it folks. Joining me right here on the pod today is the Green King of Sting himself, Thomas Murphy. And if you've paid any attention to Murph's Twitter feed over the course of the last 24 to 48 hours, then you know that the man has some, how shall we say, feelings about what he saw on Sunday. Of course, we'll be discussing Cam Newton's impressive debut in Patriot Blue.

But can New England sustain that type of commitment to the running game that we saw against the Dolphins on Sunday? Could there be any factors out there that could possibly derail it, such as Cam's health, facing a more formidable and experienced defense? Or are there still significant questions about his supporting cast on offense? We'll even flip the script and talk about the defense. Yesterday, you heard Steve and I sing the praises of all three phases when it comes to the Patriots' defense, the interior of the offensive line, the linebackers and the edge

rushers, and of course, that stifling secondary. But were the optics of the defense's performance enhanced by the level of competition they faced or lack thereof? Well, Murph and I will delve into those questions and much more in just a moment here on Locked On Patriots as we continue to play Sunday's victory over the Dolphins under the microscope. But first, now that week one of the 2020 NFL season is in the books, you're in full football mode and you don't want to miss a second of the action. But sometimes with all the various games and all the various time zones, you can be on

information overload. Well, this season, get football on your time with NFL Game Pass. You can catch every snap from every game with full game replays and see all of the plays in just 45 minutes with condensed games. You can relive all the gutsy calls, all the crazy catches, all those wild comebacks, and the breakout stars from every game every week. It's all the action, all the football you can handle, all in one place. And NFL Game Pass is the only place where you can replay every game all season long. You'll also learn from the league's best players with over 40 NFL Game Pass film session episodes. Go inside the game from a

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48-hour era of good feelings here in new england following the patriots defeat of the miami dolphins on sunday stout defense strong showing by cam newton the ground attack looks potent folks and it even had me already calling this team the new england transit authority but things aren't always as they seem and despite the win there are some areas of concern, and here today to address those areas is the man who holds the keys, the monster keys. That's right, folks. It's that time again. Your favorite and mine, my benefactor in this business, the Count of Murphy, Fisto himself, the legendary Thomas Murphy, is back for his weekly appearance

here on Locked On Patriots. Thank you for coming to me in friendship and for joining me today on the pod, Don Murph. Always my pleasure, bud. Always my pleasure. God, I get a cough. I hate that. No, always great to be here. Thanks for asking me.

You know, you know, sliding me down to number two in the lineup after a great show yesterday from, uh, from our good friend. Um, I didn't just blank on Steve's name. Steve's going to be replaying that and letting you hear it for a good long time, I assure you. Yeah, and you know what? I do have the power of the editing pen, but you know what?

I'm going to leave it in just because I think it's going to make a good copy later. Yeah, he's going to need it. No, all kidding aside, it's always, always my pleasure to have you guys join me on the pod and to break down what was an interesting opening game for the New England Patriots. Definitely gone as Patriots fans would have hoped it would be scripted. And Murph, the story of the weekend was Cam Newton. All eyes were on Cam. Delivered a solid debut.

Rushed 15 times for 75 yards. Two touchdowns. Threw for 155 yards as well. Leading a Patriots offensive attack that looked pretty formidable on the ground. As a matter of fact, in the final tally, New England had a mass 217 of its 357 yards on the ground. So different dimension for the Patriots on offense.

And we talked about how that was going to be different. But you and I both know that one game is one game. And as great as this ground attack seemed to look on Sunday, you have to think that the Patriots are hoping it remains sustainable, especially if teams line up to take away the run and force Cam to throw, which they should, and I believe they will. And I think it's going to start in Seattle this Sunday. Murph, based on what you saw this past weekend,

do you wonder if teams do start to focus more on containing Cam and keeping him in the pocket? Do you have any concern from what you saw on Sunday that he can, A, be accurate, or B, if the Patriots have the skill players besides just Julian Edelman to get open and make plays for him in the open field? A, is it sustainable um of course it's sustainable um because unlike you i would beg the patriots to keep doing this okay go ahead sure you scored 21 points watch me hang 38 on you um this is gonna this is whether or not this is going to be sustainable as whether it is going to predicate not on the, uh, the offense, but on the defense. If the defense can keep, you know, turning, uh, opposing teams over three times and, uh, and the Patriots not scoring off of any of those opportunities, which really ticked me off. Um, and, uh, and also, um, you know, hold opponents to 11 points. But unfortunately, we're not going to be playing the Dolphins every single week. We're not going to be able to turn Fitz Magic

into Fitz Tragic, as I wrote on Friday, the way he normally does. It's sustainable. You can keep doing it. But is it going to get you into the playoffs I don't think so yeah I think that's an interesting point I'm glad that you mentioned uh the Patriots defense because that's definitely a key component and why the Patriots looked so good on Sunday and we'll get into the defense in a little bit but uh obviously with Cam being able to sustain this yeah I agree I think it is sustainable uh because Cam just has an ability to be able to run an offense in that fashion in a lot of ways in which Patriots fans just haven't seen before. Obviously, you have concerns about the health.

I know he said his hamstring is fine, but there is video out there of him holding it. It'll be interesting to see how that progresses throughout the week if he seems to be hampered by it. I don't expect it's going to affect his playing status on sunday but it may hamper him a little bit and if it does do the patriots have to show a little bit of diversity in their offense early on the other key piece obviously is you hope that his shoulder his feet everything hold up from the injuries that he's had in the past i didn't see any sign that they were going to be a problem. He looked pretty healthy on Sunday.

He did. And that's a great piece of news for Patriots fans. I think another reason why he had a lot of success was the offensive line. You heard Cam himself after the game say it. As a matter of fact, he gave the ball to David Andrews, told him to spike it. First of all, I think as a favor to David, just to get him back out there and see that he was so happy to be back out on the field, but also as a nod to the offensive line and in terms of what they've done for him all throughout training camp and providing that type of

protection. I thought having Mike on way new rotating him at right tackle, despite the fact that he hadn't played the position in quite some time was a smart move by Bill Belichick. He almost was like a third tight end in there at times. And I think that helped providing, you know, some solid blocking that allowed for the running game to really get on track. I also thought Isaiah Wynn had a fairly good game as well in being able to protect the pass protection and the run game on the left-hand side. And speaking of that running game, buddy, they had some pretty stellar moments on Sunday. All four of the Patriots running backs got at least four carries. I think part of

it was to get these guys' looks. I've heard some people say that, oh, well, they're still, you know, using this as the preseason to get these guys' looks. But knowing Bill the way we do, you have to think it was a concerted effort by the coaching staff to throw the Dolphins a lot of different looks. And I think it worked. It seemed to work. They ran the ball pretty well on Sunday. Who stood out to you among the running backs? And how do you think this unit as a whole can complement the added dimension that Cam brings to the table? Well, at the running back position, who really stood out to me, of course, was James White. He had a fantastic game. Average four yards per carry, and then he did his damage catching the ball out of the backfield. But I really, really enjoyed watching J.J. Taylor out

there. He had one good run of over 10 yards. Burkhead got one off for 15 yards. It was a team room effort, and I see a lot more of that happening in the future. Sonny did look good. People are going to say, well, he only averaged 3.7 yards per carry. He only got 10 carries on the day. Things were still a tad bit predictable when he was in, was in the, in the backfield and, and that kind of, you know, mitigates what he was able to do. It just seemed like every time he was in there, yeah, they did stack the box and that put it against him. So no,

I'm happy with what everybody did running the football. Of course, what Cam was able to do running the football looked really good and it got people hyped up. He ended up with two touchdowns. Sony ended up with one. But there's room to grow with this. We're going to see Josh do a lot more things out of the sets that he was using. Even the super heavy sets. I called for heavy sets in my keys to the game last week, and I didn't think he'd run four tight ends out there.

And that was fun to see. But, no, the running game is sustainable. It's going to have to be sustainable because of the problems that the Patriots are still showing in other areas. Yeah, without question. And speaking to that sustainability and speaking to that sort of areas of concern or things that may have opened your eye, it's time for a Murph rant here for just a little bit. On the offensive side of the ball, because in our next segment, we will focus more on

the defense. On the offensive side of the ball, what concerns you the most when you look at this team as a whole? Where are the areas that the Patriots really need to improve? And dare I say, starting this Sunday, in order to really face what will be a pretty formidable Seattle attack? Well, as you know, I am an old man, and I love a ground-and-pound game, and I love good old-fashioned Chuck Knox football.

But if you're going to run to set up the pass, you have to actually pass the football. And there wasn't enough of that over the weekend. I thought it was a tad bit too run-heavy. You people are all happy with the final score. And I'm getting, but Murph, it should have been 28, 31 to 11 or 31 to, you know, to three. It's, it, that's why the term is there. Okay. Run to set up the pass. There needs to be more balls thrown in the air. And I think you will see it when teams start sucking up and working their way into stopping the run. And Cam will open it up.

The problem is the wide receivers that we have. I am not seeing a better product out there after one game than I did after 16 games, 17 games last year. I'm not happy with Nikhil Harry at all. We talked about his work with a footwork coach over the offseason. That wasn't the problem on Sunday. The problem on Sunday is he's still getting jammed. This is a humongous man, people. And he's still getting chucked at the line of scrimmage,

not being able to get off. He can't put his shoulder down and run through Smurfs to go get a first down. And he can't hang on to the ball when touchdowns are imminent. What the hell? What the ever-loving hell? You should have spent the year maybe with Jerry Rice, learning how to use stick them.

Maybe a wide receiver that is not afraid to go and get those extra three yards. It can teach you to lower your shoulder and go get some for me. I was not happy with the first ground pick. It surprised me last year. And it's really ticking me off right now that Bill did not go get Debo Samuel when I told him to. No, and you know, I think there are a lot of people that will share those sentiments, and especially when it comes to the toughness of being able to hang on to the football and be able to, you know, move forward and get the type of yardage that you need in that role, especially in the role that he's playing. One of the easiest ways to develop a problem in a Bill Belichick offense or a Bill Belichick coach team and a Josh Daniel offense as well. Yeah, exactly.

The lack of yak, the lack of yards after the catch folks. And if you do not protect the football, it is the Cardinal sin for this type of a team. And I know they're probably going to still ride in a keel because I think Cam likes him. I think there is a synergy there. And I think there is some talent that's budding that needs to come out, but it's going to have to come out quickly. And if he has problems holding onto the football, you're going to see him taken out of the offensive game plan, at least as a prominent feature of the game plan, sooner rather than later. And that could be a problem moving forward.

So, Murph, the offense took the spotlight, but I think the defense took this one home for the Patriots on Sunday, really looking great in all areas of the field. But where are the areas of improvement? How can this team stack up against a more formidable offensive attack? Murph and I answer this question and more when the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. Locked On listeners, making sure that your vehicle is looking and running at its absolute best is a true labor of love.

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And Murph, the Patriots defense, I think, once again, proved its prowess. They look solid in the secondary. They look stout between the tackles. Great performances by the interior defensive line. The secondary is always solid. But for me, the key was versatility. And I think that's going to be the story of this Patriots defense, especially in the secondary where guys like Jawan Williams and

plug here, my guy, Adrian Phillips, really seemed to take their hybrid roles. I thought they really seemed to take these roles and played them very well. But it wasn't a perfect day, even as much as I'd love to say it was a perfect day for Adrian. It wasn't. There were some chunk plays that were let up. There were some coverage issues, sometimes a little bit late in the game. They looked to be a little bit gas, maybe breaking down a little bit. But overall, I thought they played a very solid game in all three phases.

Murph, when you looked at the defense, what stood out to the most to you in terms of things that you'd like to build on, meaning the positives that you think can only get better? Is that scary? Or what were some of the things that you saw in defense that may make you a little squeamish moving forward when the Patriots do have to face maybe more formidable offensive attacks? I don't want to say anything made me squeamish. I would have liked to have seen a bit more finish on the linebackers getting to the quarterback. We had hurries. We had a hit here or there. Derek Rivers did have a sack. Well done. But other than that, they weren't getting home. I understand i understand people that it's about pressure and it's about throwing guys off of their timing and things like that and that all works in but to get those minus yards is is really going to be important going forward uh to make these teams play further behind

the sticks to get them into situations where it is third and long. They are looking at fourth down and not saying, yeah, it's a 63% chance that we can make it. Let's go get some. That's my main concern is being able to get home going forward. Yeah, and I think that I do agree with you on that, especially when it comes to, you know, limiting the, obviously the goal of a defense is to limit the amount of points that

the offense is going to score, but it's the way that they do it. It's the diversity in which the Patriots are able to do it. Can they sustain that? We saw the secondary come up with big plays, you know, routinely, and they do this, Stephon Gilmore with the interception. J.C. Jackson with the interception. The flip side is Stephon had a couple of pass interference calls. One of those, I think, was a little when Steve and I talked about this yesterday here on the pod. One of them, I think, was a little more ticky-tack. The other was, I think, Stephon trying to overcompensate

and did commit the penalty. But I thought J.C.'s interception was very much a heads-up play, especially at a point in the game where they really needed it. I wouldn't say they needed it, but at a point in the game that was so key and so clutch. Even Bill Belichick gave him his props earlier this week when he spoke to the media and specifically singled out J.C.'s performance. And that's not something Bill does that often. One of the things that I was so impressed with, Murph, when it came to the defense on Sunday was the interior of the defensive line.

And I think a lot of people had worried about the departure of Danny Shelton, the lack of health and the lack of visibility to a guy like Bo Allen, who was brought in to be his like-for-like replacement. I think Byron Coward did an amazing job on Sunday. I think his power and the ability for him to shed blocks in the trenches really stood out to me. Our good friend Evan Lazar pointed out in his post-game column that he's a difficult guy to move backward. He uses his upper body strength to control his engagements and shed those blocks. Coward may end up being one of the more unsung heroes on this defense.

Do you think that a presence of Coward, the way he's playing right now, makes this a better team at defending the run than they were in 2019? Because that was their Achilles heel, despite the fact that they were a very good, one of the best defenses in the league in 2019. I'm not ready to go there yet. I'm really not. Miami's run game is trash, dude. It really is. Their offensive line is brand new across the board. These guys are all just starting to get to know one another. There's no, as a big fat guy, I am, I'm a round person. I played center my entire life. I know how important it is to know that guard that's standing next to you and

how important it is for that guard to know that tackle that is next to him or that in-line tight end and how they are going to play and what you have to do on both sides, on the right side and on the left side. You have to know these people. This takes time. There is no unit more important on an NFL team than the offensive line. We do everything together. We eat together. We freaking nap together underneath trees. We, you know, this is what we do because you have to get to know these guys. Very, very, the defensive line is going to end up facing more prolific offensive lines, lines that have been together for a great deal of time coming up in this,

in this schedule. And they're going to face vastly, vastly better running backs and better systems than they did against Miami. I'm sorry. I'm just not ready to go there yet. I do think that this is – they played a good game. I'm not taking anything away from them. But let's just wait, man.

It's a bit early after one game against the Miami freaking Dolphins, that offensive line and the running backs that they're throwing out there. Yeah, I think a little dose of reality that we all needed, myself included. And I thought you brought up some good points. I'm glad half full guy. I know. And I'm glad that you did that because in a lot of ways, you know, you start to buy

into it. And I'm as guilty of this as anybody. You look at film, you look at breakdowns and you start to see what these guys are doing and doing well, and they look at it, you tend to maybe shy away from looking at the competition. And that's not a knock to Miami, folks. I'm not going to sit here and start flushing them down the toilet. This is about Miami being a new offensive line and not loving their running backs and, quite frankly, Chan Gailey's system. Yeah, perfectly. Perfectly said, and I completely agree with that. So thank you for lending that thicket of wisdom and counsel here to Locked On Patriots.

That's why we bring you on, buddy. You're always the voice of reason and wisdom and counsel. I know. The people are freaking out, though. Tell us what we need to hear. They're out there freaking out. They're like, wow, Mike and Murph aren't agreeing. No, we don't always agree, folks.

We don't. No, we don't. You know me. I pull no punches no punches absolutely and you know what variety is the spice of life it makes things a little bit better and just to add a little additional spice onto the uh the top of this show today leads me into my last question and we start to look ahead now murph we start to turn our attention towards seattle russell wil the Seattle Seahawks, obviously, have an impressive win on Sunday over the Atlanta Falcons. Although, you know, we'll talk about competition all we want to, but this is going to be a formidable,

especially a formidable offense for the Patriots to defend. Improved on defense as well. Early thoughts on the Seahawks. Not putting you on the spot, you know, so much here, but early thoughts on the Seahawks, not putting you on the spot so much here, but early thoughts on the Seahawks and what type of attack might we see the Patriots employ? I'm hoping a more balanced attack, that's for sure. My thoughts on the Seahawks are this. Russell Danger Wilson has been the best quarterback under the age of 40 in the NFL for about six years now. And he is going to not be fooled by the myriad of defenses that Bill throws out there.

These guys are going to have to be in the hip pocket of every single receiver that gets out into space come Sunday. And they're also going to have to worry they're going to get a dose of their own medicine. What are they going to do when Wilson takes off? I'm really looking forward to hearing that, seeing that. This is a good team. This is a quality team led by a quality coach, no matter what you guys think of whether or not he should have run down at the goal line a few years ago or not. Uh, this is a man that, that does not get confused

that often. We were lucky that day he did. But, um, other than that, no, this is, it's going to be a great, a great matchup. Um, but the Patriots are going to have to catch a couple of breaks to, to get to two and oh, yeah, definitely. Well said, not going to throw to catch a couple of breaks to get to 2-0. Yeah, definitely well said. He's not going to throw three interceptions, people. It's just not going to happen. Yeah, Russell Wilson is at the top of that echelon, and he's going to prove it, I think, again on Sunday.

It's going to be a tough game. I'm glad you said that the Patriots are going to have to be precision. That means in the hip pocket, like you said, somebody like J.C. Jackson is primed for a big game. If the Patriots are going to win this game, I look at him as being one of the keys on defense. He's one of their best cover corners. Obviously, you know, nobody's taking away from Stephon Gilmore. He is the best of this unit without question. But I think in order for the Patriots to win this game, I think Jackson has to come up, have a big game.

And I think that interior of the defensive line that I just touted is going to have to be very, very good on Sunday in order to be able to shut down that Seattle offense. Murph, what can I say? You're always, always family here. I can't thank you enough for coming on, lending your wisdom and counsel each and every week here to the Locked On Patriots podcast. Folks, you should already be doing so. But for any of our new listeners, and we do have quite a few this week, and we welcome you and we appreciate you, follow this man, the Count of Murphy Fisto himself, on Twitter, at TeamMurph207. Do not miss Murph's Monster Keys. Each and every week, they are point, click, learn material. You'll be a better football fan.

You'll be better equipped to watch the game on Sunday, and you'll just be a better person all the way around for reading this man's work uh always proudly found on diehard boston sports fans.com and of course never miss an episode of one patriots place my favorite patriots podcast with murph and our great mutual friend steve balistrieri my good man thank you again always honored always humbled by your presence. Fantastic to be here. Always a joy, man. And it's even great when we disagree. I think it might even be better. It is.

You know what? Again, variety is the spice of life. You added just the right amount of spice, I think, to make this show sizzle a little bit. We'll continue to work on that, and I'll continue to ask the tough questions. You continue to tell us what we need to hear. Not always what we want to hear, but what we need to hear. Not always what we want to hear, but what we need to hear. Makes us all better, my friend.

And that's why we love you. Have a great week. Stay safe. Stay well. We look forward to doing this all again next week. All right, bud. And so, Patriots fans,

I hope that you have enjoyed today's Locked On Murph episode here on the Locked On Patriots podcast. It's always an honor and a privilege to share the microphone with my good friend. And whether you may have agreed with Murph's insight or not, he always calls it like he sees it. And folks, if I'm being honest, he's right a whole lot more than he's wrong. But even after observing Murph's wisdom and counsel today,

I'm sure that many of you out there still have questions surrounding this Patriots team. Questions about what you saw this past Sunday. Questions about what you might see this coming Sunday. And when you have these types of outstanding questions, you want answers. Well, tomorrow here on Locked on Patriots, I will be reopening the midweek mailbag, which means that all of you, the great listeners of Locked on Patriots, are the star of tomorrow's show. So be sure to submit your questions to me on Twitter at MDABATEFPC or via the Locked On Patriots account at LO underscore Patriots for a chance to have it featured on tomorrow's

pod. And of course, expert analysis on Sunday's matchup with the Seattle Seahawks is still to come. So to ensure that you do not miss a single episode of Locked On Patriots, download us wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us on Spotify. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts. Just make sure that you're staying locked in to Locked On Patriots.

Once again, my name is Mike DeBate. I thank my good friend Thomas Murphy for his time, his insight, and his appearance on today's pod. But most of all, but most of all, I thank you all so much for listening and for making Locked On Patriots a part of your daily New England Patriots coverage. Until tomorrow, stay safe, stay well, continue to be the change you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone.