Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Costly: New England Patriots BEAT Bengals, 26-20 | Massive Injuries
Episode Date: November 23, 2025The New England Patriots won their ninth straight game, but it wasn’t without some seemingly costly injuries, questionable decisions, and inconsistent execution.Drake Maye helped lead his team to vi...ctory after a very uneven start, including a pick-6 that made it a two-score deficit. Maye got help from Hunter Henry and the Patriots Defense did just enough against Joe Flacco to escape with the win. But, injury questions hover over the team with Jared Wilson and Will Campbell both being carted to the locker room, never to return.Nick Cattles breaks it down in the postgame.Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOPatriots?sid...Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL#patriots #newenglandpatriotsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! PelotonLet yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com.PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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The Pats walk away with a win in Sinty, but it wasn't easy, and it looks like it'll end up being very costly.
We're live for a post game, and this is Lockdown Patriots.
You are Locked-on Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcasts Network, your team every day.
What's happening?
I'm your host, Nick Cattles, born and raised in New England, been covering the
pass for 16 years. Also the co-host of the Greg Bedard Patriots 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 today's post game, we'll discuss a decision by
Mike Vrable that I disagreed with and why. Also, the injuries are piling up and some might just be
severe by the looks of them. But first, the pats find a way and respond to adversity, ending up with
their 10th win of the season.
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How did the Patriots win this game?
How in the world did they win this game in Cincinnati, 26 to 20?
Well, I start with Drake May.
Drake May responded.
And that's why this team walked away, maybe even limped away,
with a win in Cincinnati.
Drake May's response after a bad start speaks volumes to his mental toughness
and his ability to battle that adversity and show resiliency.
Now, numbers-wise, nobody's going to be going bananas over Drake May's 62.9% completion
percentage.
294 yards.
He still has not reached 300 passing yards in a game, which is kind of crazy.
The one touchdown, the one interception of course.
course, that interception was a pick six, had Hunter Henry wide open in the middle of the field
and missed him. But the ability for Drake May to come back after what was one of his worst
starts to a game in quite a while. I mean, he was all over the place. He has been incredibly
accurate all season for the most part. But when you look at how this game began, I mean,
he just had some throws that were weird. Travion Henderson wide open in the flat for a checkdown. He
air mails him. You saw him airmail Hunter Henry, as I just mentioned, who was open, tried to
layer the throw, but I mean, just airmailed it, overshot him, resulting in a pick six.
He was throwing behind guys. He was throwing over guys. And it seemed like Drake May for the first
time, as far as accuracy went, he just couldn't find it. You need to go back to, you know,
the rainy game that we all witnessed. And,
Tampa on that first drive when Drake May was kind of floating it over intended receivers.
And he was scattered.
The accuracy wasn't there.
And he just did not look like himself.
And Trent Green, the color commentator on the game today, kept saying it.
He doesn't look like himself.
He doesn't look comfortable.
But then he found it.
He battled back.
And he made several huge plays, including a number of big plays on third down yet again.
Second quarter, fourth drive of the game for the Patriots, third and four, shotgun
Formation, Drake May scrambles, gets six yards, moves the chains.
Third and two, on the same drive, shotgun formation, finds Hunter Henry on the crossing route,
12 yards, first down, move those chains.
That drive ends up in a touchdown.
So you convert on not one but two third downs thanks to Drake May.
Third quarter, second drive of the second half, second and six, an absolute dime by Drake
May down the sideline to Matt Collins, chunk play 25 plus yards.
Third and 12.
Shotgun formation.
Drake May extends, finds Hunter Henry for 10 yards.
Now, if he doesn't find Hunter Henry for 10 yards there,
you're looking at a 55-yard field goal attempt or a punt.
But because he is able to extend that play, find Henry, get 10 yards.
You get the 45-yard field goal attempt by Andy Borogales, which was good.
The Patriots go up 20 to 13.
The fourth quarter.
Final drive for the Patriots.
Third and 10, shotgun formation.
Find Stefan Diggs, who for most of this game was on the back of a milk carton,
but he comes up with a huge catch for 14 yards.
And that drive ends up with a 52-yard field goal again by Andy Baragallis,
which puts you up 26 to 20 at that time.
So some huge plays from your quarterback yet again,
some huge plays on third down from that quarterback.
You were down 10-0 in this game.
May was spraying it all over the football field,
but he settled down, he battled the adversity,
and he found ways to make plays and win this game.
And it's really all on May, isn't it?
I mean, you watch this offensive operation,
and this has been the case for most of the year.
Stefan Diggs, one of his top guys,
quiet all day until that huge third down.
The run game again wasn't good.
24 carries, 71 yards against this Cincinnati defense.
One of the worst run defenses in football, you could argue, the worst run defense in
football, and you get 71 yards on 24 carries from your running backs.
Just not nearly good enough.
Hunter Henry, critical.
Critical today.
I don't know what this offense would have looked like if it wasn't for Hunter Henry
destroying some of the linebackers of Cincinnati.
Hunter Henry finished with seven catches, 115 yards and a touchdown.
So thankfully, Hunter Henry showed up big.
Andy Boragallis showed up big.
Early in the year, I was like, uh-oh, we're watching Borogales miss extra points,
miss a field goal or two, and you start saying to yourself,
if not into the world like I did on Twitter,
the Patriots might have a kicking problem or they do have a kicking problem.
Andy Boragalus, since the very early part of this season, has been absolutely freaking nails.
Four for four today on his field goals, including that 52-yarder.
He was tremendous.
Your rookie kicker was excellent today.
Thanks to your rookie kicker and your second-year quarterback, you survived.
And the defense did enough.
I know we watch this defense.
We say it every week.
There are some parts of this defense that's just, they're so.
frustrating to watch at times.
But the fact is, your defense held Cincinnati to 13 points.
The pick six is on Drake May.
So that is seven points gifted to Cincinnati.
You take that seven off the board.
Your defense held them to 13 points.
And I thought that the Bengals would score 20 points in this game.
My prediction for this game was 3120 Patriots if Joe Flackle was the quarterback.
Now, we'll get to this later if the Patriots could have scored inside the five-yard line.
my prediction would have looked absolutely wonderful, but they couldn't, so it didn't.
But your defense held this Bangle's offense to 13 points. You can't complain about that.
Cincinnati was three for 13 on third down. So again, the Patriots defense played very, very well on third down.
Carlton Davis, you want to talk about showing some resiliency? I thought he showed some resiliency.
not one, not two, but three pass breakups on that final drive for Cincinnati, Marcus Jones,
with the big pass breakup on fourth down to end this game to seal it for the Patriots.
Marcus Jones, of course, also had the pick six responding to Drake May's pick six.
It was far from perfect.
The run defense looked leaky again.
The pass rush with four guys was again almost non-existent, and you absolutely unequivocally
missed Milton Williams today.
You missed his impact.
We knew that you would miss his impact.
You missed his impact.
That defensive line left a lot to be desired for most of this day,
giving up a 21-yard run at the end of the half,
which ends up in a field goal for Sincere, that's inexcusable.
It's inexcusable execution.
But they got the win.
They got the win.
Thanks to May.
Thanks to Henry.
Thanks to Boregalis.
to the defense doing enough in their third down defense and Carlton Davis and Marcus Jones
on that final drive, you walk away with a 26-20 win and you are now 10 and 2 on the season.
We have a lot more to cover, a lot more to cover during this post game.
I think everyone, I think everyone can officially stop talking about the tremendous injury
luck that the Patriots have had. We can stop talking about that.
after this game. We'll talk about that next. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown
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I got tired.
I got tired of hearing people in reading about the tremendous injury luck of the New
England Patriots over the past few weeks.
And my friend Greg Bedard is public enemy number one when it comes to this.
He's gone on radio and talked about the magical touch of Mike Vrable and how everybody
that gets hurt comes back quickly.
And I just, I got tired of it because it's not as.
as if you were walking into the playoffs.
I mean, you had played 11 games.
You still had six games left.
And to me, it was way too early to be squawking about the tremendous injury luck.
It is a game of attrition.
It is a battle of attrition.
And I think now at this point after today's game, we can take all the injury luck talk
and we can shove it right into the garbage can because that injury luck talk is
officially DOA at this point. Jared Wilson, early in this game, gets hurt, carted to the locker
room. According to post-game reports in the locker room, Jared Wilson had a walking boot and a
crutch. Not a good sign, folks. Not a good sign when you have a walking boot and a crutch.
If that wasn't bad enough, you lose your starting left guard. Will Campbell goes down.
and he's carted to the locker room.
And I don't know about you,
but I would not look at Will Campbell as an emotional guy.
I don't think he's a drama king, you know, worried about the cameras.
I don't think he's going to overreact to injuries.
And as soon as that injury happened, when they went to Will Campbell,
he was lying on his back on the field.
He looked emotional.
And I was concerned right away because I don't think Will Campbell's the type of guy
who's going to be lying down on the field looking emotional unless he knows something significantly
just went wrong.
And then the TV goes to break.
We find out on Twitter, social media, that players were kneeling around Will Campbell.
We get back from the commercial break.
We see Will Campbell being carted to the locker room.
He has the towel over his head, which is the universal signal of, I'm crying my eyes out.
Stefan Diggs said in the post game,
hopefully it's not as bad as we think.
It feels like this is a devastating injury for Will Campbell,
which stinks.
It stinks out loud because Will Campbell's been good.
We've talked about it.
Will Campbell has been good at left tackle.
He hasn't been spectacular,
but he has been above average.
And he has been at least steady.
And now who knows what's wrong with the knee,
because the Patriots did announce it's a knee.
I'm not going to speculate.
But just the reaction from Campbell, the reaction from his teammates,
it doesn't feel like it's going to be good news when we find out officially what happened to Will Campbell today.
Mike Grable would not talk about any of these injuries in the post game,
did not want to touch them with a 10-foot pole.
But now you got Vedarian Lowe at left tackle.
And we saw Vadarian Lowe last year,
and we didn't love Vedarion Lowe at left tackle last season.
So this Will Campbell injury could be a gigantic injury for this football team.
And now the left side of your offensive line, we'll see what happens with Jared Wilson.
But again, judging from Jared Wilson in a walking boot with a crutch, that usually means it's a significant injury, folks.
And Will Campbell and what's DeFon Digg said after the game and Will Campbell's reaction,
that also looked like a pretty significant injury.
We could be, and I underline the word, could be, we could be talking about.
about the starting left side of your offensive line being done for the season.
And if not for the season, maybe Jared Wilson can possibly come back.
If slash when you get to the playoffs, maybe he can find himself back on the field.
But it feels right now in the moment that both Jared Wilson and Will Campbell are going to be out for a significant period of time.
And that is just crushing.
The left side of your offensive line, the blind side for your quarterback, if they are out for extended period of time,
that that is going to be an issue that hopefully you can survive and get through,
but it ain't going to be easy because nobody's going to sit there and ask for Vedarian Lowe
to be your starting left tackle.
Ben Brown has been good in spots, but his third snap today,
he gets pushed in the backfield creating pressure on Drake May immediately.
So now you're looking at, I think, Vedarian Lowe and Ben Brown for quite a ways here,
quite a ways. And that's going to put a lot of pressure on your tight ends. And the tight ends,
both Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper have been inconsistent when it comes to blocking and in
pass protection. And so now this is going to put even more pressure on Hunter Henry and
Austin Hooper to protect Drake May. It's going to put even more pressure on your running backs
and Ramandre Stevenson and Trevion Henderson. It's going to put more pressure on those guys
to protect your quarterback and pick up blitzes.
This is a trickle-down effect, the domino effect when you lose
to starting offensive linemen the same day, on the same side,
that's going to create a mess.
And Drake May has to continue to stand tall and show the pocket poise that he has shown.
He has to be able to navigate the pocket because I'm telling you right now,
If Vidarian Lowe starts becoming a turnstile, and Ben Brown is a question and pass protection and everything's going on here, I'm telling you, it's really difficult for any quarterback, no matter how great the quarterback is or how great the quarterback is playing, it's very, very difficult for the quarterback to not be thinking about the pass rush in the back of their head if they don't trust the guys in front of them.
And if you are without Campbell and Wilson for this extended period of time, and you've got Lowe and Brown,
on the left side, Drake May has to try as hard as he possibly can to not allow that to seep
into his brain. He's got to trust his guys. He's got to trust his tight ends and his running
backs to pick up blitzes if they come at him. So there's going to be some pressure. There's
going to be some pressure on Drake May. And there's going to be some pressure on Josh McDaniels.
Because now if you are dealing with two backup offensive linemen on the left side, you've got to find
ways. You've got to create ways to get rid of the football quicker. We haven't seen a ton of
quick game this year from the Patriots, and that's been surprising. But I think you might see
some more quick game from Josh McDaniels moving forward if you do have these offensive line
questions. This is going to be a big time, big time challenge for Josh McDaniels. This is why
your offensive coordinator is huge in this type of situation. Alex Van Pelt last year, I thought,
failed the football team by not protecting his tackles enough.
Well, now Josh McDaniels will have that opportunity.
Find ways.
Find ways to move the ball.
You don't have a great run game.
You've got some offensive line injuries now.
It's going to be up to Josh McDaniels to find those ways to move the ball,
to protect his quarterback, to get the ball out of the hands of Drake May,
even quicker.
Don't let this become a disaster.
And if it wasn't enough with Jared Wilson and Will Campbell getting both carded to the locker
room today, Kyrie's Tonga also got banged up, has a chest injury.
And so now you don't have Milton Williams for at least the next three games, as we know,
because he's on IR.
You were going to bank on Kyrie's Tonga to take a decent amount of those snaps.
We'll see how healthy Tonga is, but he was banged up today.
Brendan Schuller was seen in the locker room walking around with a boot on.
and I know he's a special teams guy.
We don't talk about special teams a lot,
but Brendan Schuller is one of your best special teams players,
along with Marcus Jones.
So Kyrie's Tonga, Brendan Schuller,
Jared Wilson, Will Campbell,
Morgan Moses left for a couple of minutes.
Thankfully, it was only an illness, and he came back.
I'm sure he got an IV in the locker room.
He was able to come back, thankfully.
But no more.
I don't want to hear about injury luck.
It is done.
Shoot it into the sun.
I'm done with it.
If anybody sits there and talks about the injury luck for the first couple months of this season by the Patriots and for the Patriots, I have zero patience for that.
I'm done with that conversation.
It ends today.
This is what happens when you don't have a buy week until week 14 for the second straight year, by the way.
But this is what happens when you've got to try to get through 13 consecutive weeks without a buy, which is absolutely insane to me.
And that would be insane for any team.
But this is what happens.
All right, we've got more.
We've got more.
Stay tuned.
We'll be right back quickly here and talk about the Pats having an opportunity to run away with this one because they did.
But they kept coming up just short.
We've got to talk about the Red Zone offense.
We've got to talk about a Mike Vrable decision that I disagreed with.
All of that more coming up next.
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subscribe. All right, we got to talk about the red zone offense. I wish I didn't have to,
but if I didn't talk about the red zone offense after this game, it would be malpractice on
my part. The Patriots red zone offense today was disgusting. And we have to appreciate the
context that not only was your red zone offense horrific, it was against one of the worst
red zone defenses in football. What was?
we saw from the red zone offense today was inexcusable. It felt like the Patriots had 30 snaps from
inside the five and couldn't get into the end zone. First drive of the third quarter was an
absolute killer. Drake May is looking at a third in 11 throws a dime, throws a dime down the
field to Pop Douglas, 37 yards. Beautiful throw. And you're like, yes, right? You were stuck third
and 11 first drive out of halftime critical drive want to put points on the board you had a really
bad end of the half you allow a 21 yard run to chase brown you allow to 16 or 17 yard catch to t higgins
and of course Cincinnati hits a bomb of a field goal it was a bad ending to the first half you go out
there in the second half you're looking at a third and 11 you're like man oh man the patriots don't
convert this third and 11 Cincinnati gets the football back they're going to have all this
momentum. May with a great pass to Pop Douglas, really, really good catch by Pop who was able to
keep his concentration somehow. You get 37 yards. And then you have a first and 10 deep shot down
to the left sideline, Kishon Booty. You get the obvious defensive pass interference call
on Cincinnati, which set you up first and goal. Here's what happened after that. First and goal.
looked like a quarterback back option run kind of deal went nowhere nothing play second in goal under center
you swing it to traeion henderson he gets four yards he gets you right about at the one yard line third in
goal i formation play action bootleg pass broken up by giles harris versus hunter henry fourth in goal
one yard line under center incomplete to k sean booty you get another defensive pass in a ferrence call so
you just had four shots at the goal line pretty much inside the five you couldn't get in but you're gifted
another set of downs i shouldn't say gifted you're given another set of downs because it was an obvious
hold and an obvious dPI on cincinnati first and goal i formation terrell jennings no gain
second in goal under center i formation play action henry gets a touchdown called back mac hollons
offensive pass interference second and goal i thought this was a really good play called by
Josh McDaniels, the shotgun play action shovel pass to Hunter Henry, which gets you to the one
yard line. Meanwhile, the Patriots spend their second timeout of the drive, which is unconscionable.
They spend two of their three timeouts on the first drive of the second half.
There was confusion in the huddle. At one point, you had 12 in the huddle. Thankfully,
it looked like the official wasn't really paying attention. You go back out there.
It's third in goal. You have eye formation. Remandre Stevenson.
no gain. Fourth and goal. Shotgun formation. Another run goes nowhere. And I'll tell you,
I disagreed with Mike Vrable not kicking on that fourth and goal. I absolutely love Mike Vrable's
decision making on fourth down this year. I think he has done a tremendous job. But you had
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
You had eight shots to get into the end zone and you couldn't do it.
And at that point, I say to myself, we can't score.
You can put us at the one and we can have 25 plays and we won't get in.
Yeah, it really stinks to kick a field goal from the one yard line.
I get it.
But given the context, the fact that you had eight straight snaps and you couldn't get in,
I would have kicked a field goal.
Number two, if you're not going to kick the field goal,
you have to put that play.
That fourth and goal, you've got to put it in the hands of Drake May.
You cannot run up the middle yet again for no gain.
You have to put that play in the hands of your quarterback.
You've got to trust your quarterback.
So I didn't like the decision to go for it,
and I didn't like the play call on fourth and goal.
And then you had another goal line disaster.
In the fourth quarter, your third drive of the second half, first and goal under sensor,
play action, bootleg, incomplete pass goes nowhere.
Second in goal, shotgun formation, Travion Henderson to the half yard line.
Almost got in.
And then third in goal, you tried this FACTA tush push, which didn't happen.
You got absolutely nowhere.
And this is against, again, one of the worst red zone defenses in football.
Brutal.
Lack of run game.
Your offensive line wasn't getting any.
push. I thought there was some lack of creativity from your play caller and Josh McDaniels.
I mean, you've got to finish these drives. You're moving the ball down. I had the Patriot
scoring 31 points today. And if they could actually finish tribes, they would have scored 30,
you know, 31, 35 points today. If they could have scored from inside the five,
just a really rough day for this offense down in the low red zone. And now you got Vedarian Lowe
and Ben Brown probably on the left side for the foreseeable future of your offensive
line, that's not going to make it any easier.
Do you spread them out more?
I mean, if you're Josh McDaniels, you might want to spread out the defense a little
bit more, go empty.
Like, I would love to see at least one snap from inside the five where you go empty
formation and you have Drake May try to run it in.
A little quarterback draw from the shotgun formation.
Spread out the defense and give May a shot.
Because this, you know, these condensed formations and trying to run the football,
It's just not working consistently.
It's really not working on a consistent basis.
I know you've got two touchdown runs against the Jets on Thursday night football,
but this red zone offense has been mid the entire year.
And today, it was brutal to watch, man.
It was absolutely brutal that you could not push Cincinnati around and score.
I don't know if you run more motion.
I don't know if you need more trickery, but you've got to figure this out.
If your quarterback is getting it down to the five-yard line,
you've got to finish those drives.
Christian Gonzalez also gave up a touchdown to a guy by the name of Mitchell Tinsley,
not Mitchell Trabisky, Mitchell Tinsley.
I didn't even know he existed.
He scored a touchdown on your best corner in the fourth quarter, not idea.
The Carlton Davis defensive pass interference against Higgins.
Again, nice job by Carlton Davis to bounce back and have three past breakups in that final drive.
Fantastic resiliency from Carlton Davis, but there's another flag on Carlton Davis.
Now, fortunately, the Patriots only had four penalties today.
So from a discipline standpoint with flags, it's been much better the last two weeks.
This one wasn't easy.
And this one could end up being very costly as we wait to see what the final diagnosis is of Will Campbell and Jared Wilson's injuries.
But a win is a win.
And you are now 10 and 2.
You are currently the number one seat in the AFC.
You have lots to clean up after this one.
The biggest question, obviously, is health.
But you are 10 and 2.
You've won 9 straight and you've got one more game Monday night football a week from tomorrow night against the New York Giants.
You've got one more game to get to your buy and hopefully exhale and figure some of these things out.
But a win is a win.
10 and 2.
First time the Patriots have won 9 more games straight since I think of what, 2015.
So a win is a win, and you're the one seed right now.
But man, you cross your fingers and hope these injuries are not as bad as they looked
and hope the Patriots can figure out this red zone offense stuff
because they had a golden opportunity to boat race Cincinnati today
and they didn't take advantage of it.
All right, that wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots.
Thank you for making us your first listen and for being in every day.
Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C. Radio.
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of your Sunday and we will see you on Tuesday.
