Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Comeback: Drake Maye Carries Patriots Past Ravens In Dramatic Win, 28-24

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Pats come back from a double-digit deficit on the road, and Mike Vrable's team is now officially playoff-bound. It's a live stream, and 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? And I'm your host, Nick Cattels, born and raised in New England. I've been covering the patch for the past 16 years, also the co-host of the Greg Bedard Patriots

Starting point is 00:00:36 podcast with Nick Cattels and a sports radio veteran. Welcome to Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network, your team every day. On tonight's live streams, Stefan Diggs reminds everyone that he's still alive and, well, he's doing just great. Meanwhile, Drake May steps up in a huge spot with plenty going against him and looks like the MVP we saw before that bill's second half. But first, the Pats showcase resilience. Today's episode is brought to by Fanduel.

Starting point is 00:01:12 If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit Fandul.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. The Patriots are going to the playoffs. It is, as they say, officially official. From a four-win team last year to currently 12 and 3. You still have two weeks left, but you still control your destiny to a point. The Patriots now, if you look at this, they still have a shot at the number one seed with Denver losing earlier today. You still have a shot to finish out the AFC East with some style here the past, you know, the next couple of weeks. So everything right now is looking as far as how this postseason could be structured.

Starting point is 00:01:57 Everything after this football Sunday looks pretty good for the Patriots, but it would not have looked good if it wasn't for their resiliency. If it wasn't for them not dying or quitting, you're down 11 points in the fourth quarter. You're down 11. On the road, Drake May is getting heated up under constant pressure late in this game. The run defense is getting gashed. You can't get out of your own way against Derek Henry.

Starting point is 00:02:27 And thanks to John Harbaugh, who decided to sit Derek Henry, the remainder of the game, which I just can't figure out why you would do that. But hey, not my problem, not the Patriots problem. So the run defense is getting gashed. Your quarterback is running for his life on almost every single snap. You're on the road against a desperate football team that needs to win this game tonight. Obviously, Lamar Jackson leaves doesn't come back after halftime. That's incredible fortune for the Patriots that they. did not have to deal with Lamar Jackson, but I would tell you they gave up 10 points with

Starting point is 00:03:02 Lamar Jackson playing at quarterback in that first half. So it's not like Lamar Jackson was torching them, okay? But you have a lot going against you and you're down 11 points. How many times? How many times have we asked the question? How many times has the question been asked to all of us? Can Drake May author a comeback? Can Drake may prove to everybody, you know, you're down late in the game. You're down double digits. Can he have that type of win that everybody looks back at and points to and says, well, there you have it.

Starting point is 00:03:35 There you have it. There is a true franchise quarterback down by double digits on the road. Can he come back? Can he prove to the football world that he can be that guy? And tonight he did. Tonight he did. I don't know what's going to happen the next time. I don't know what's going to happen the next time the Patriots are down by double digits.

Starting point is 00:03:53 I don't know. But I can tell you tonight on a quarter. Equivocally, Drake May showed who he is and what he can do. Down 11 points in the fourth quarter, it felt like this game was over. After that fake punt, which I'll get to later on, it just felt like all the energy was gone. It felt like this team was going to lose. We're going to look back and say, man, that second half against the bills was brutal. And then they get some good fortune with the Lamar Jackson being out in the second half.

Starting point is 00:04:22 They can't take advantage. They lose to Baltimore. But that's not what happened because of their resilience. Mike Rable's been preaching since day one, effort and finish with this football team. We obviously did not see that against Buffalo in the second half. The final 30 minutes of that game, we did not see the kind of effort you want to see. We did not see the type of finish that you want to see. But in tonight's game, Sunday night football, national television, you saw effort, you saw finish.

Starting point is 00:04:52 Look at the fourth quarter. Look at the plays that we saw. the Ramandre Stevenson touchdown run, finish. Kalivan Chase on with the play of the game, forcing the fumble from Zay Flowers, all effort and finish from Kalevon Chase on, not giving up on that play, chasing Zay Flowers down from behind, punching the ball out, Patriots recover. That Calebon Chase on play, I'm telling you right now, Mike Rabel would want to hang that puppy in the Louvre because that's exactly what he's

Starting point is 00:05:23 talking about. That's exactly what he has been preaching. That play by Caleb on Chase on is precisely what Mike Frable wants his Patriots team to be. How about the stop from the defense? Before that Ramandre Stevenson touchdown run. Defense had a step up. They came up with a stop. They didn't have a great night. We all saw it, but they came up with a stop and they forced a turnover. A couple of big defensive possessions in that fourth quarter allowed you to win this game. Here's another example of the resilience that we saw from the Patriots. The ridiculous, the Travis Sham mockery that was that missed defensive pass interference call. Can you imagine if that call costs the Patriots the game tonight?

Starting point is 00:06:11 Can you imagine that when a defensive back literally tackles Kashan booty to the ground and there's no DPI call, can you imagine the Patriots lose this game and Drake May does not convert on that fourth and two to Stefan Diggs. Can you imagine if the Patriots lost this game because of that ridiculous non-call? Patriots would have been set up beautifully in the red zone, deep in the red zone of the Ravens. But they didn't quit. That non-call could have drained this football team. They could have gotten down. They could have sat there and said, what in the world? How is that not a defensive pass interference. That could have thrown off Drake May. It could have thrown off this offense. It could have thrown off this team, but it didn't. They got past that ridiculous non-call. Drake May

Starting point is 00:07:02 hit Stefan Diggs on the fourth and two. Mental toughness, resilience. They didn't quit. They didn't roll over and die because the officials had a gigantic miss that everybody saw. That was embarrassing. That was absolutely embarrassing. The NFL officiating all year long has been as bad as it has been in years. And I have no idea how on God's green earth, you don't call defensive pass interference. But hey, Patriots didn't cry. They didn't take the football and go home. They fought back. They fought back. They find a way to convert on that fourth down. they drive down the field and they score a touchdown. Awesome response.

Starting point is 00:07:50 Mental toughness and resilience from this team. How about all the injuries? I know Lamar Jackson went down, but Morgan Moses goes down. Fortunately, he came back, but he wasn't the same. Ther Munford went down. He came back, but he's still your sixth offensive lineman.

Starting point is 00:08:07 Trayvion Henderson goes down with an obvious concussion, doesn't return. Kyrie's Tonga goes down, doesn't return. Later in the game, DeMario Douglas goes down, Kishon Booty goes down. I mean, a litany of injuries throughout this game, and the Patriots just kept fighting. And that's already with a team that, you know, Carlton Davis and Marcus Jones and all of these guys that were questionable going into tonight's game, you're already dealing with a bunch of injuries and dudes that are not healthy. And then you continue to have guys drop like flies throughout this game.

Starting point is 00:08:45 But they kept fighting. They kept fighting. They kept showing that resilience, that toughness. Now the Patriots are set up. If they win next week, Buffalo plays Philly. If the Pats win next week and Buffalo loses, here we are, right? The AFC East. And Denver lost to Jacksonville today.

Starting point is 00:09:09 So that number one seed is still up for grabs. It's unlikely, but it's more likely right now than it was when we woke up this morning. But this was just a tremendous comeback. And you know who we got to talk about. You know who we have to break down here. We've got to talk about the quarterback. We got to spend more time on the quarterback. Don't go anywhere.

Starting point is 00:09:32 We have to soak in what we witness tonight from Drake May, especially in that fourth quarter. Drake May had a lot going against him tonight, but in the end, it simply did not matter. Drake May's talent overcame all of it. We'll talk about that next as we continue with today's Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Car shopping should feel exciting, not confusing, and with car gurus, you get the confidence you deserve. They cut through all the noise so you can actually see the best deals on the cars that you want because when it comes to a big purchase, you deserve the best deal. And Car Gurus makes that whole process simple by giving you real information, real deal ratings, and more listings than anyone else so you can shop the way that you want. Use Car Guru's deal ratings to compare cars quickly without having to guess whether the price is fair.

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Starting point is 00:11:12 today get locked on patriots with no interruptions members only discord access and more all for just five bucks a month or 50 dollars for the year go to lockdown patriots dot supercast dot com or check the link in the show notes to learn more also as you're watching we have surpassed 8,000 subscribers thanks to all of you and your support. I can't say enough about it. I appreciate every single one of you who might have joined us when I started here with lockdown back in April. Maybe you were here before then. You've given us the little test drive and you're cool with it and you've stayed and you've supported us. Thank you so much. Don't forget to click that thumbs up as you watch us on YouTube. All the likes help us out an awful lot. Don't forget to comment. I want your thoughts on

Starting point is 00:11:56 this comeback win tonight. Absolutely stunning victory down 11 on the road. the fourth quarter and they come back and they win this football game. I want your thoughts. So don't forget to like. Don't forget to comment. And don't forget to subscribe. The next goal is a big one. 8,500 subscribers. That's what we want. All right. The Patriots. I talked about this team being resilient and I talked about this team being tough, especially mentally tough during this game against the Ravens. And there is no better example of the resilience and the toughness than Drake May. My freaking goodness. The level of difficulty of that fourth quarter for Drake May was through the roof. The level of difficulty,

Starting point is 00:12:41 some of the plays that he made during the fourth quarter, many plays that were not even going to remember by the middle of this week, but were difficult, difficult plays to make. Drake may finish this game completing 70.5% of his passes. I know the whole 300-yard story has been a story. For the first time in his NFL career, Drake May surpassed 300 yards passing. He finished with 380 yards, two touchdowns, one interception. And there were moments.

Starting point is 00:13:16 There were moments in this second half. And there were moments in that fourth quarter, to put it bluntly, that were masterful from your quarterback, Drake May was masterful for stretches of that fourth quarter doing things that we've seen him do every once in a while. We've seen stretches of play where you go, man, oh man, right? I mean, this guy, to me, Drake May was the MVP before that second half against Buffalo. I think he's taken a slight step back in that race. But what you saw in tonight's second half and what you saw in that fourth quarter was MVP

Starting point is 00:13:55 Drake May at his finest, just masterful at times, the pocket movement, evading sacks, evading quarterback hits, finding ways to extend plays, the poise. Chris Collinsworth said it during the game during the fourth quarter, the tremendous amount of poise. Early on in this game, Drake May did not look comfortable. He looked like what the Ravens were doing defensively. It was bugging him a little bit. But as the game went on, he chilled out.

Starting point is 00:14:29 And he got better and better and better. And you started to see the poise. You started to see Drake May hanging in the pocket, knowing he's going to get hit. I thought Chris Collinsworth and the NBC crew did a great job. And Mike Tariko, they showed some replays where you saw Drake May. He knows he's going to get hit. He's standing in the pocket.

Starting point is 00:14:49 He knows he's going to get drilled, and he couldn't care less. He's still going to make a play. Hanging in and making plays. And look, I'll be the first one to tell you, the interception earlier in the game. You just, you don't want turnovers at all, but especially in the red zone. I think Kay Shan Booty needs to show a much higher level of effort and finish on that play. That bothered me, right? So you had the earlier interception in the red zone.

Starting point is 00:15:21 You had the fumble. I thought Drake May was careless with the football on that fumble. You need two hands on that ball. Just go down. If you got to go down, get your kick team out there and try for that field goal at the end of the half. But as I've said before, Drake May is going to make some mistakes. He's not going to be perfect. But what we have to remember is Drake May is also going to give you elite plays.

Starting point is 00:15:45 and you have to live with some of the mistakes. You've got to live with some of the turnovers. You've got to live with some of those turnover worthy plays because inevitably, when Drake May is at his best, he's going to do things that not many other quarterbacks in football can do. And we saw that again tonight. So the earlier pick and the fumble, you wish he was better in those spots. However, you watch him in the second half,

Starting point is 00:16:13 you watch him in the fourth quarter and you say, You can live with those mistakes if this is what he's going to give you. The bucket throw to Kyle Williams for the touchdown. That throw was absolutely freaking ridiculous. Off the chain, off the hook, whatever you want to say, outrageously good. The bucket throw to Kyle Williams was just awesome. And shout out to Kyle Williams because that was a tremendous catch. Kyle Williams, great catch right inside the pylon.

Starting point is 00:16:43 That was a spectacular throwing catch from Drake May and Kyle Williams. The fourth and two out route to Stefan Diggs that led to the eventual touchdown run by Ramandre Stevenson in the fourth quarter. That throws a risky throw, but Drake May puts just enough gas on that throw to get it by the extended defender, to get it into the hands of Stefan Diggs, and then Stefan Diggs does the rest of the work. with some nice yak. The fourth quarter from Drake May, that's the MVP we were talking about. That's the guy, right?

Starting point is 00:17:23 That's the high-level elite ability. He pulled the David Ortiz from back in the day with this team tonight. Hop on my back, fellas. I'm going to carry you to the finish line. We're down by 11. I'm getting all sorts of pressure on me tonight. I'm getting hit.

Starting point is 00:17:41 I'm getting sacked. I'm looking at third and long. I'm looking at fourth downs that I've got to convert. Doesn't matter. I'm going to find a way. I'm going to carry us to this victory. It was an uphill climb for Drake May, right? Your offensive tackles are getting cooked.

Starting point is 00:17:58 The Ravens defense is disguising and blitzing and making life miserable for you. You lose one of your most explosive players in Trayvion-Henerson, who has been absolutely ridiculous since the beginning of November. You lose him during this game. Your runoff, offense, can't get anything done. You can't run the ball. The Patriots in the second half, they did not even try to run the football, frankly. You had the Ramandre Stevenson, 21-yard touchdown run,

Starting point is 00:18:27 and that's the element of surprise. I don't think the Ravens thought Josh McDaniels was going to call a run play. You get that 21-yard touchdown run from Ramandre Stevenson, and you get the final run from Drake May that sealed the deal, ended this game, right? the Reed option keeper where he got, I think, 14, 15 yards. Those two runs got you between 35 and 40 yards. The Patriots finished tonight with 79 rushing yard.

Starting point is 00:18:53 They could not run the ball. This was all on Drake May. This was all on Drake May with the offensive line playing shaky, losing multiple players, skill position players. This was all on Drake May against the defense that was making it tough. But that's exactly what you saw tonight was exactly the type of finish that you love to see after that second half against Buffalo.

Starting point is 00:19:23 After that 30 minutes against Buffalo, which I thought was Drake May's toughest half of football this year, what you wanted to see was that second half and what you wanted to see was that fourth quarter against this defense given the circumstances that he was facing. he carried this football team he was tremendous in that fourth quarter he was tremendous Lloyd scrolls 4842 Kyle Williams is going to be great for us not to mention his block that let Stevenson get into the end zone yet he was down field Maryland saw the same thing Kyle was blocking his heart out on that play just you love it the effort in the finish wise daddy Williams is legit

Starting point is 00:20:10 as he grows, him and Henderson could be something special with May. I mean, think about Trayvion Henderson since the beginning of November. Think about some of these plays. Kyle Williams has been a little up and down, but you expect that from a rookie. It's kind of what happens, right? I mean, tonight he had the illegal formation penalty. But he goes back out there and he makes that type of play, which was just a tremendous, tremendous play.

Starting point is 00:20:36 That catch was out of control good. Out of control good. All right. More observations, including a bad decision from the head coach that the team fortunately survived. We've got a lot more to get to. Don't forget to like, comment, and sub. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. NFL Sundays move fast, one big play, and suddenly everything feels different.

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Starting point is 00:21:47 So if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, check out the website, Fandul.com. Yeah, visit Fandul.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. Fandul, the game moves fast, and so can you. Patriots are playoff bound. It is official with the win tonight against the ball. Baltimore Ravens. They are headed to the playoffs at 12 and 3. They have a legitimate shot at finishing the regular season at 14 and 3. Next week they play against the Jets. The Jets got smoked by the Saints this week. And then they play the dolphins to finish the season.

Starting point is 00:22:26 And the dolphins got smoked in Miami against Cincinnati when Quinn Ewer has made his first start in the NFL. So the Patriots are going to be heavily favored the next couple of weeks. And they frankly should finish this regular season. It's kind of crazy, but they should finish this regular season at 14 and three. Who had this team winning 14 games? Nobody. Nobody. Who had this team winning 12 games? Probably nobody. So let's get to some other observations. I'm happy that I can talk about what I thought was the worst decision that Mike Vrable has made since he's been the head coach of the Patriots, and that was that fake punt in the second half. Fortunately, the Patriots survived that decision by Mike Vrable.

Starting point is 00:23:15 I think Mike Vrable has been awesome this year. I think he's a very good coach. I've said it a million times. But that fake punt in the second half to me was an atrocious decision. You've got Tyler Huntley. You've got Tyler Huntley in that quarterback. To me, I want to punt that football and try to pin the Ravens inside their own 10.

Starting point is 00:23:40 I want to force Tyler Huntley and company to drive the length of the football field if they want to score a touchdown. Just last week we saw against the bills, right? You had two defensive possessions where because of special teams, 44-yard drive, 42-yard drive, Josh Allen finds the end zone twice.

Starting point is 00:24:03 That fake punt decision, that leads to a touchdown drive by the Ravens, All they're going to do is go 45 yards. And by the way, the Patriots wanted to run a fake punt earlier in the game, and Chris Collinsworth pointed it out. So the fact that you ran that fake punt later in the game was entirely predictable because you kind of gave the look earlier in the game. You're going to give Marte Mapu the football on 4th and 10

Starting point is 00:24:33 and hope he makes the right decision. Now, fortunately, he did make the right decision, because if he throws that football, who knows what's going to happen. But I did not like that decision at all. I thought that was a horrendous decision by Mike Vrable in that situation. So that's not great. But they fought through it. Let's go to something that was great.

Starting point is 00:24:57 Stefan Diggs. We've been talking on the podcast about how Stefan Diggs over the past few weeks, he had slowed down, he was playing less, he was getting done, doubled more. He wasn't showing consistently the type of juice that he showed the first seven, eight, nine weeks of the season. Well, it was prime time. It was national television. And Stefan Diggs stepped up. Nine catches for 138 yards, big play after big play, chunk play after chunk play, the fourth and two conversion, which was a gigantic play in this game. Stefan Diggs, I thought, was really good.

Starting point is 00:25:39 And this is the Stefan Diggs that Drake May needs. He needs Stefan Diggs to consistently be able to make some plays. And I thought Stefan Diggs, his compete level, so to speak, was at an all-time high tonight. He showed up, he showed up big for his quarterback. He showed up big for his team. So shout out to Stefan Diggs. Thought he was tremendous.

Starting point is 00:26:03 Patriots forced two fumbles tonight. Jalen Hawkins forces the first fumble from Derek Henry. That's a big play. The Ravens are at the New England 37-yard line. They're driving. And Jalen Hawkins, with the peanut punch, as they call it, forces the fumble from Derek Henry. Patriots recover. That's a big swing.

Starting point is 00:26:29 And then, of course, I talked about it a little bit earlier on the live stream tonight. Kela Vonn Chase on, the effort and finish. She chases down Zay Flowers, he has the peanut punch, and he forces the fumble and the Patriots recover. So just two monumental forced fumbles and recoveries by the Patriots defense. Patriot's defense was obviously not great tonight, but they came up with some big plays. They came up with a big stop in the fourth quarter, and they did just enough to walk away with the dub, just enough. now moving forward Patriots have to get back to what they were doing defensively on third down

Starting point is 00:27:11 the past few weeks their third down defense has taken a step back their third down defense wasn't good against Buffalo last weekend their third down defense was not good against Baltimore tonight the Ravens were seven for 11 on third down and with this defense with their red zone defense having issues Baltimore was two for three in the red zone tonight. If your red zone defense is as bad as the Patriots red zone defense has been, what you can't do is not show up on third down and allow teams to drive, right,

Starting point is 00:27:44 and extend drives. You've got to get them off the field. So we have to underline that third down defense. Now, it might get much better the next couple of weeks because of who you're going to play. But you get to the playoffs, you cannot, you cannot fail on third down. Like the Patriots defense has been failing on third down the past couple weeks. They have to fix that. Through most of this season, they were literally one of the best third down defenses in football.

Starting point is 00:28:11 They've got to get back to that. That has to be a strength. They also got chewed up on the run. Look, I thought the Patriots were going to lose this game. I predicted them to lose. Now, of course, I did not know that Lamar Jackson would play one half. But the reason why I was concerned about this matchup was because of the run game for Baltimore, and you saw that. Baltimore ran for

Starting point is 00:28:33 171 yards tonight. A buck 71. Now, here's the good news. Milton Williams can return next week. And hopefully Milton Williams returns because you desperately need Milton Williams back on that defensive line. And we'll see what happens with Robert Spillane. He's not placed on IR, so that gives me some hope that Robert

Starting point is 00:28:57 Spillane might be back next week or the week after to finish things up against Miami. but Robert Spillane and Milton Williams would absolutely help this defense. They need those two guys back, starting with Milton Williams, who has been the best defensive player on this team all year long, and I don't think there's anybody who's a close second. But look, what a finish. What a night. I mean, I cannot wait to watch the All-22 tomorrow morning.

Starting point is 00:29:24 I mean, this was a spectacular comeback. Your quarterback showed out played tremendous. tremendous football in the fourth quarter, played great football in the second half, and the New England Patriots are officially playoffbound. Big picture, you feel great about it. There are some things that they have to do better. They certainly could have done better in a few things during tonight's game. We all know that.

Starting point is 00:29:49 But you're down 11 on the road with a lot going against you, and you show that resiliency, and you walk away with the win. and now you are officially on your way to the playoffs. 12 and 3, unbelievable. That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Thank you for making us your first listen and for being an everydayer. Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C. Radio. And don't forget to throw a comment in on the YouTube channel, hit that like button and subscribe.

Starting point is 00:30:18 And if you need a last minute holiday gift or someone keeps asking what you want, make it easy. Ask for the Everydayer Club. Add free episodes of this show. exclusive Discord server access and more. Subscriptions can be gifted through Lockdownpatriots.supercast.com. Have a great day. Have a great day.

Starting point is 00:30:37 And we will see you next time. The Patriots are officially playoff bound.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Comeback: Drake Maye Carries Patriots Past Ravens In Dramatic Win, 28-24

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