Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Grading the New England Patriots at the Bye: Mac Jones, Matt Patricia, Rookies and More

Episode Date: November 11, 2022

As the New England Patriots continue to enjoy their bye week, host Mike D’Abate and guest Steve Balestrieri of PatsFans.com provide their mid-season grades for the Pats performance on offense, defense, special teams and coaching. The duo also discuss the ares most in need of improvement heading into the second half of the 2022 NFL season.Find and follow Locked On Patriots on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-patriots-daily-podcast-on-the-new-england/id1140512627 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1c5ZxFmwg3WbfxAU3tR5Ve?si=k196wH-yRqifUcQQz8SjIQStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-patriots And follow host Mike D’Abate on Twitter, where he’ll be sharing the latest news about the New England Patriots and talking with fans.On Twitter: @mdabateNFLSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFLBuilt BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!PrizePicksFirst time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with promo code LOCKEDON. That’s PrizePicks.com – promo code; LOCKEDONSimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnNFL to learn more.BlueNileMake your moment sparkle with Blue Nile. Go to BlueNile.com and use code lockedon to save fifty dollars on your purchase of five-hundred dollars or more.BetterHelpThis episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at Betterhelp.com/LockedOn and get on your way to being your best self. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The bye week is the midway point in the season, and how are the New England Patriots making the grades so far? My Patriots Paisan and I will give you our thoughts on the Patriots grades. Stay tuned. You're about to be locked into the Locked On Patriots podcast. 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 from Foxborough Faithful, and thank you once again for making Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage

and also your first listen every day. Remember, Locked On Patriots is free and available on all platforms, including YouTube. So smash that subscribe button and, of course, download, subscribe to, and follow Locked On Patriots wherever you get your podcasts. And Pats fans, it is the bye week, but that doesn't mean it's not still crossover Thursday all throughout the Locked On Podcast Network's platform. And, of course, as such, our show today is presented by our friends over at PrizePix. PrizePix is so much fun, and it's easy to play. There's no competing with other players.

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We know that you will, too. And first-time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with the promo code LOCKEDON. That's prizepix.com, promo code LOCKEDON. And thank you all for taking time out of your schedule to visit Locked On Patriots today and spend a little time with us and getting some of your daily Patriots coverage. And the New England Patriots at 5 and 4 are ready to enjoy a bye week. The Patriots practiced on Wednesday. Not really a heavy-duty practice, folks.

Really more of a walkthrough. Just kind of a little tune-up before they take a much-deserved few days off before coming back next week and preparing to host the New York Jets at Gillette Stadium on Sunday, November 20th. But that is 10 days from now. And in the meantime, we continue to take stock in the Patriots' early part of the season, the first nine games for the New England Patriots, and try to give a little bit of an evaluation on exactly how they did throughout those nine games. Who better to join me today to help enlighten you on the Patriots' performance

than maybe add a little numerical or number grade to it is my Patriots' Paizan. He is a columnist extraordinaire for Patsfans.com and the co-host of not just one but two amazing Patriots podcasts, Patriots 4th and 2, and of course, One Patriots Place. My Pison joins me today, and I'm always, always happy when he does, Steve Balistrieri. Steve, thank you so much for joining me today. Welcome back to your weekly spot on Lockdown Patriots. Oh, my pleasure. As always, I look forward to us talking football every week.

So, you know, this is a time of year I miss living back up in New England because I could talk to you every day back then. Absolutely. And we definitely miss having you back up here. I certainly miss every time I walk through the doors at Gillette Stadium or walk near the practice field. I definitely miss you, my friend. But you're always there in spirit.

You're always there, you know, giving your wisdom and counsel the way only you can. And we're going to pull upon that wisdom and counsel today, Steve, because as always in Patriots Nation, it is desperately needed. A lot going on. A lot of issues with the New England Patriots, and I know that people are not happy with the output, which, you know, for lack of a better term, Steve, offensively and coaching-wise, I know the New England Patriots right now, fans are expecting more, and they have expected more,

and they're hoping they're going to get more in the second half of the season. Special teams and defense, not so much. I think a lot of people are very satisfied maybe even a little surprised by the output put out by those two units Steve is going to provide his grades on the Patriots units in just a moment but first my friend I wanted to touch upon this subject just a little bit because it's getting a little bit of traction in Patriots media and that is after the game this most recent game folks I apologize after the Patriots media, and that is after the game, this most recent game, folks, I apologize,

after the Patriots 26-3 victory over the Indianapolis Colts, we started to hear some of the Patriots in the locker room immediately after the game say that linebacker Shaquille Leonard of the Colts was calling out some of the Patriots' offensive plays before the snap was taken. This alerted some members of the media. You don't hear players usually be very vocal or verbal about something like this. Bill Belichick was asked about it the following day by reporters, and he essentially confirmed it and said it wasn't only Shaquille Leonard of the Colts that was doing it. C.J. Mosley of the Jets was actually doing this in the previous week. Now, what's ironic is the Patriots have won both games.

And I thought the offensive output was pedestrian at best, but it still was enough to get the job done. Now we're starting to hear from players, people that have actually played the game rather than people that actually write about it, like myself, that this is not all that uncommon for players to do. And Bill Belichick didn't seem overly alarmed about this either. He realizes that it's not something that should be sustained. The Patriots have to look to limit it or eliminate it, but it may not be catastrophic the way

it's being portrayed in some circles of the media. Steve, you've been around this game a long time, especially from the defensive side of the ball. You have a really great insight. What is your take on this? Should the New England Patriots be worried about it, or is this a little much ado about nothing? I think it's a little bit of both. And I know I'm like I'm sitting on the fence here.

And it has happened through the years. I mean, I remember Tom Brady talking about, I think it was the Jets as well, that they were calling out plays before the Patriots ran it. As Bill said, you know, I'm paraphrasing here, but, you know, really good, smart players will recognize tendencies and they'll do that. Sometimes they're right. Sometimes they're wrong. In this case, you know, the Colts and the Jets were right about what the Patriots were going to do. And on the flip side of that, I think that, you know, their offense has lacked a lot of creativity. And I know we'll get into that with the coaching. But at the same time, it seems like they're running a real basic call. So I would be a little bit alarmed about that if I'm the coaching staff, because they need to vary things a little bit more than they are now.

Because, you know, going back to that game, their first down running in that game, we know the Patriots want to run, and we know the Colts are a good run defense. I believe they're in the top five. But when you're 15 runs on first down throughout the football game, you're averaging 1.8 yards a crack. Well, is that just the offensive line, or is it because they know what you're going to run and have adjusted accordingly? I think, again, that's a little bit of both. The offensive line hasn't been good,

but I think that teams are onto what they're doing. Yeah, very, very well said. And I'm so glad that you mentioned the early penchant for running the ball on first down. It's giving the opportunity for the opponent to be able to sit on the run on early downs. When you do that, you become so predictable as an offense. And from a defensive perspective, it really sets you up to take a look at what teams are going to do on second, definitely on third down. If they do extend to fourth, which is very rare, but sometimes it does happen. It even gives you a little bit of an insight on as to what they're going to do there. So this is something where the Patriots maybe are making it a little bit easier on the opposition

and I think that's what Bill Belichick was stating in his comments you're absolutely right he did say that's what good players do they call out audible they'll be audible as well they'll they'll call what they see and they'll try to alert their fellow defenders that this is what's coming and this is what we should be ready for as an offense for the New England Patriots. They have to be ready to counteract that. They have to be ready for the defense picking up and seeing that and then being able to adjust and maybe make a play on the fly or two that might not be something they expected, but it's something they have to be at least prepared for. And I think that's where you're going to see a lot of efforts focused this

week, whether it be strategy sessions for the players or whether it be strategy sessions for the coaches. I think that's where you're going to see a lot of the efforts. Um, really I think focused for the Patriots to try to see if they can develop ways where they can make their offense less predictable. And even if some of their first looks are predictable,

try to see what they can do about making some of the next level looks a little bit more complex. So, Steve, as always, you kind of bring the mood down to the point where, and I mean that as a compliment, folks. You bring the mood down to a level where everyone's even keel and they see both sides of the coin. It's not dogs and cats living together mass hysteria on one side or yeah no big deal we'll get them and well you know in bill we trust there's a happy medium and you have to meet somewhere in the middle and speaking of meeting somewhere in the middle folks that's exactly what steve may be doing when he has

some of the patriots grades in mind because in just a moment we're going to look at the New England Patriots performance in all four phases that's right folks offense coaching defense and special teams you know we like to end on a high note so we're going to be starting with a couple that we think at least I think so but have a little underachieved this year we'll talk about the offense and we'll talk about the coaching staff in just a moment when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. But first, life is all about the great special moments and commemorating those moments is so important.

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So, make your moment sparkle with Blue Nile. Go to BlueNile.com and use the promo code LOCKEDON to save $50 on your purchase of $500 or more. That's BlueNile, B-L-U-E-N-I-L-E.com, code LOCKEDON to save $50 on your purchase of $500 or more. BlueNile.com, code LOCKEDON. Patriots fans, my good friend and Patriots pison, Steve Balistrieri of Patsfans.com joins me here today on the pod. We are discussing anything and everything related

to the New England Patriots performance in the first nine games of the 2022 season. Pats sitting at 5-4. Steve right now tied with the Cincinnati Bengals for eighth in the first nine games of the 2022 season. Pat's sitting at 5-4. Steve right now tied with the Cincinnati Bengals for 8th in the conference. Teetering on that windowsill of a playoff spot. They could go either way right now. And a lot of it is going to determine as to how they're going to perform when they host the New York Jets at Gillette in Foxborough

coming up on November 20th. But, Steve, the performance on both sides of the ball for the New England Patriots has really been an ebb and flow. There have been moments where the Pats have looked good on both sides of the ball. There have been moments where they've looked not so good. But overall, I think if you were to poll our listeners, the fan base, hearing a lot more positives about the defense and about special teams than I am about offense and about the coaching staff.

So I know we always like to end on a high note here on Locked On Patriots. So let's kind of get the unpleasantries out of the way first. We'll start with the offensive side of the ball, because I think this lends hand in hand with talking about the coaching staff but offensively right now Mac Jones missing three games due to a high ankle sprain definitely not an ideal situation if you're the Patriots you don't like to lose your starting quarterback disrupt your rhythm for any point in time that's not to say that when Bailey Zappi came in for those three games that he didn't look very good. He did. He looked comfortable. He looked poised, showing a lot of confidence, showing a lot of command, running a reader's digest version, I think, of what the Patriots offense wanted to be,

but it was working. And in that regard, I think a lot of people look at that as maybe a little bit of fool's gold when it comes to the Patriots offense. I think the running backs have been very good. I think the receivers have been about 50-50, and I think the tight ends have been fairly underutilized. But you see things us mere mortals don't see, Steve. When you're looking at the overall offensive performance of the Patriots throughout the season, how would you grade them right now? How would you rate this team? Offensively right now, they're not very good. I mean, let's call it what it is. You know, they're having issues at quarterback. Your quarterback does not trust his offensive line and protection. So, you know, his poise in the pocket and his decision making gets influenced by that. And so when your offensive line is struggling, it also affects your skill position players, not just the quarterback, but your wide receivers.

You know, your wide receivers know they have to cut their route short. They have to be looking for the ball faster than they probably normally would as the plays are designed just because your quarterback's under duress really quickly. And the same with the running backs. When your offensive line isn't getting any push, as we saw in the last several games, your running backs are getting hit in the backfield. I think it was two weeks ago that Ramondre Stephens, according to PFF, had 81 yards after contact. He only had 71 yards rushing. So what's that tell you? He's getting hit constantly in the backfield, but he's still making plays. I think it affects – it's a snowball effect.

And, you know, it all starts with the offensive line. But right now, if you wanted to put a letter grade on it, the offense is a C-minus, and maybe I'm being a little generous there. Yeah, I actually am writing currently, and will be probably by the time most people are listening to this podcast, my grade, my midway grade point report for the New England Patriots in the first half of 2022. And that's exactly where I arrived for the offense. C- with a C rising. I know I'm probably being a little bit overly generous there, but I thought the

offense looked halfway decent under Bailey Zappi. and that's not a knock to Mac Jones. I think the offense figured itself out a little bit more, took itself a little less seriously, to be totally honest with you, and I think it was met with positive reaction. They utilize play action, something that I don't see them doing with Mac Jones, and I'm very confused as to why, because we saw Mac run this type of offense pretty well last year, and it did have pretty good results. So why all of a sudden the changes? Not completely sure. I know there are reasonings, you know, for that, some of that, you know, which about the incorporation of the outside zone runs, maybe taking a little bit more of a vertical approach with Mac trying to test his ability a little bit more downfield. I'm not sure if maybe this is the year to try to do that. Maybe the personnel is a little bit lacking in certain areas. I know they've got Taequann Thornton. He can stretch the field, but I think New England has to be a little bit more prudent when it comes to that.

Stevenson is someone that I give the highest grades to. I think he's been phenomenal. To be honest, I think he's been their best offensive player so far. Receivers, tight ends, obviously things are progressing along there. I think the tight ends are a little underutilized, but we got flashes of that on Sunday against the Colts of what these guys can do in the open field when you utilize the seam routes. But Hunter Henry looked great on that 30-yard completion on a seam route. I'd like to see more of that. But ultimately, the offensive line, I think, really has been the most dismal part of what the Patriots have done this season. And this is disheartening for an offensive line that was coming in with a lot of expectation on

its shoulders. A lot of people thought maybe this unit could be something good. Cole Strange is starting to look every bit the rookie that he is. And I think he's played well up until this point. I don't want to dump on Cole too much because he's gone up against some very difficult guys. We talked about this last week, Steve, you go up against Quinn and Williams, you go up against the Forrest Buckner. You're going to take a lot of L's on that. There's no question about it. So before we start getting on Cole, let's remember, you know, what he's done and what, you know, the challenges that he's had, but ultimately you have to judge the position fairly. And that, that I

think has been a tough spot. And then of course, right tackle, uh, the revolving door at right tackle right now has been very difficult for the Patriots to overcome. Um, just too many moving parts, too many moving pieces. And that does lead me into my next question, as to where you attempt to grade the coaching staff. Obviously, Bill Belichick is always going to get the benefit of the doubt. His resume speaks for itself. And I know there are some fans out there that will question moves that he's made. But X's and O's, you're not going to do any better than Bill Belichick, folks.

You're just not. It's not a situation where he needs to go. Bill is the coach, and he will be here for as long as he wants to be. But the rest of this offensive staff right now, they have some explaining to do, for lack of a better term. When you look at this offensive staff, yeah, I mean, I don't want to steal your thunder. What are your thoughts on the offensive staff's performance so far under Bill Belichick? Yeah, in regards to Bill, I still think nobody in the league can game plan like he can. I had this exact conversation with somebody else a couple of days ago. And, you know, the person I was talking to was not a big Belichick fan.

And I was like, where would you think they would be right now if somebody else was at the helm? Do you really think they'd be better than five and four? Because I don't. Now, with that being said, let's look at the offense. You know, as you and I talked about many months ago, I thought they were going to groom Nick Calley to be the offensive coordinator in the future. And I thought they would ease him in to the play calling this year, and they haven't done it. And that to me is a surprise. Granted, you know, Matt Patricia, I know he's the whipping boy for everyone in new england and but he brings that element of knowing what defense is like to do to the offense um

he's been a head coach granted it wasn't successful but for the most part this year i haven't had a big issue with the play calling per se i don't have an issue with that some of the personnel groupings i i you know i still have a little bit of a head scratching note to that but um you know when when matt came back off his injury i thought they were going to continue to incorporate all the things they were doing with Bailey Zappi, putting Mack on the center, using play action, throwing more on first down. They haven't done that. He's been in the shotgun.

They've been running almost, you know, exclusively on first down. And the offense has really struggled. And i'm not getting it i don't get that so and the offense has been struggling all year i mean other than a couple of games but you again you have to take into account who they were playing the lions have arguably the worst defense in the league and And, you know, they were clicking, and you give them high marks for that because we saw the Packers didn't click against the Lions last week. So you still have to execute. But at the same time, take them with a grain of salt, you know.

I think that the offensive coaching staff is right in that C-minus range. Yeah, I would agree with that. Yeah, I would agree with that. Yeah, I would agree with that as well. I think they have a lot better than they have been. Because, you know, the one thing that we all can bank on in the 20, what, three years that Belichick's been at the helm is they always put players in positions to succeed and i don't think it's fair uh to grade mac jones about how they've been doing that and is mac uh above uh criticism absolutely not he's made a lot of poor

decisions poor plays absolutely but at the same time you know it all comes back to are they putting him in a position to succeed and by and large i'm gonna say no yeah again i think in a lot of ways what you're seeing with mac is the penchant to and i keep saying that word but it really is kind of the best way to put it um to fixate on his initial targets and i think a lot of the reason why he's doing that one is, yeah, probably being a little bit gun shy. I think in there, there is an argument to be made for that. And if, look, if you're an NFL caliber quarterback, you need to be someone that is unafraid to be able to make those decisions or able to make them quickly. That's something Mac has got to work

on and work on internally and work him out. But at the same same time when you have a collapsing pocket a rapidly collapsing pocket around you on nearly every drop back it's going to make things very very difficult for you to do that so in terms of personnel groupings like you said it's really finding the right way to be able to find a happy medium to protect Mac and give him the opportunity to be able to find the time to make the throws that he's capable of making when he doesn't this is what results and you see it you know day in and day out where he's just running for his life on more than one occasion so in a lot of ways yes the coaching staff needs to take I think excuse me maybe a little bit more responsibility in that regard to uh you know to to make you know better moves better decisions but

the offensive coaching staff right now i think uh needs to step up their game a little bit in the second half and really find uh exactly what type of identity they want are they really going to commit to the outside zone run the way they wanted to are they going to make that a focal point and sprinkle in maybe some of the gap, maybe some of the pulling guards, things of that nature? Are they really going to go back to being more of a gap team? And I think if they do that, I think they're going to see a lot more and a lot better results. Maybe they were waiting for the bye to be able to reimplement that so they could kind

of tear down the wall and rebuild it. But yeah, I really think that a lot of people are going to have a lot to watch, especially in the first couple of games coming back from the bye. I don't want to move on from this subject without talking about the defensive coaching staff, especially the last couple of weeks. I love some of the adjustments that both Gerard Mayo and Steve Belichick have made in this regard. Play calling seems to be very, very sound, and these guys are ready. How would you grade the defensive coaching staff so far? I think the defensive coaching staff and the defense overall gets a B with a bullet.

I think they're getting better. I think they're finding roles for all these guys, especially the linebackers. I know a lot of people are still not sold on this linebacking crew. And, you know, maybe because they're, you know, a bunch of guys that aren't household names. But, you know, you look at the game last week, and granted the Colts offense is struggling more than the Patriots is. But when you get nine sacks and you hold the opponent 0 for 16 on third and fourth down,

you're doing a lot of things right regardless of your opponent. And, you know, all the linebackers were involved this week. Judon, Uche, you know, Mack Wilson, Rayquan McMillan, Anthony Jennings, Jelani Tabai. Juwan Bentley was, I thought, enormous in this game. I mean, when you get all of those pieces and they're all competing and they're all producing for you, good things are going to happen. And I think it started with the defensive line.

I think the defensive line is getting better. When they get far more back, I think they'll be even better than they are right now. And I think the secondary has surprised people with how good they've been playing. Absolutely. You're absolutely right on that. And I think the defense has definitely been the strongest unit on this team so far. But they've also had some strong performances by special teams lately. But it hasn't all

been pretty on that side of the ball either, folks. Steve and I are going to wrap up our discussion today of the Patriots' performance by talking a little more about the defense, and of course, we're going to bring in the other phase of the game that Bill Belichick says is ultimately important, and that is special teams. More on the Patriots' performance in 2022 when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast wraps up. But first, folks, I wanted to talk to you a little bit about our sponsor today, and that is our good friends over at BetOnline, your number one source for betting, football,

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Patriots fans, the incomparable Steve Balistrieri of Patsfans.com joins me here today providing some wisdom and counsel the way only he can regarding the Patriots performance so far. Steve, we've talked about the offense. We've talked about the coaching staff. We've talked a little bit about the defensive coaching staff, and we kind of left off there in the previous segment, and I'd like to pick up there if you don't mind, because the patriots defense has looked very good at times stifling almost elite level defense at various points throughout the season being able to contain run well on all three units and keep this team in every game that they play for the most part the only times that the patriots have mightily struggled on defense is when they're attempting to contain or marginally disrupt mobile quarterbacks.

I probably would have gone with an A, with a defensive output for the Patriots in the first nine games, but I stopped short of doing that because you just can't ignore that type of a gap in their resume and not address some of the performance-related issues there. When you look at this Patriots team, is this their only weakness on defense, defending mobile quarterbacks right now? And how does it affect their overall performance so far? Yeah, I think it's still a major issue for this team. I don't understand why it still is, but they just have this preponderance for leaving big gaps for mobile quarterbacks to run through.

We've seen it. It's not a new thing. This has been ongoing for a while. It's something they need to work on schematically. So that stuff doesn't happen because they have a couple of really big games coming up against Josh Allen and the Bills, Arizona. I mean, so, you know, even Minnesota and not so much Kirk Cousins

is a scrambler, but he can still move when he has to. Same with Cincinnati and Joe Burrow. I don't think Joe Burrow is not a scrambler, but he can still move when he has to. Same with Cincinnati and Joe Burrow. I don't think Joe Burrow is not a scrambling quarterback, but he's shown he can run if there's something there and he'll take advantage of it. So they really need to tighten that stuff up. And I thought with bringing in more mobile linebackers this year, Mack Wilson, Raekwon McMillan, I think this is a time, maybe even Josh Uche,

it's time for them to be able to step up and fill these gaps in. And if nothing else, leave one of them out there for a spy so that, you know, we don't have a repeat of what we saw against the Chicago Bears. Yeah. Need that go on. Baltimore. So that to me is a big issue. Other than that, I mean, if they're facing a team

with a quote-unquote conventional running game, I think they've held up really, really well this year. So that's something they'll have to work on. And again, I think they have the pieces in place now, and they're now just finding the right combinations because they have a lot of really talented safeties, and we've seen them all on the field as well. Yeah, without any question.

And I'm glad that you mentioned the linebackers, because I think this comes back to what you were saying in the previous segment about this unit playing toward the middle of the field, playing more from sideline to sideline, things that you didn't see a whole lot of last year because maybe the unit was a little bit too long in the tooth or maybe they just weren't the personnel of the type of defense the Patriots wanted to run. They have that personnel this year, and I think they've done a fine job with it. Boucher is someone that I think has really surprised an awful lot of people in a

good way, because what he's done is he's not only raised his game in the pass rush, but also proved that he's got a very intricate knowledge of what's going on on the field at all times. Bill Belichick revealed earlier this week that he's actually calling the plays on third down. That's big for a kid that is, you know, only a couple of years into this league and still trying to forge his own identity. Matthew Judon talked about that last week. And I think that in a lot of ways, it's something that really the Patriots can build on. And I think they can be an effective team moving forward in that regard. Very quickly, before we move on to special teams and wrap things up here, the secondary for the New England Patriots had a lot of scrutiny going into this. Obviously, not re-signing J.C. Jackson was a big hot spot with a lot of fans.

A lot of people were not happy about that. It's looking like a smart decision. I say that with every bit of respect for JCU. I loved covering up here. But obviously with his injury, it's looking like a smarter decision. But even prior to that, it's looking like the Patriots knew what they had or what they could become, even losing someone with his type of talent. Has this secondary surprised you?

Yes, I think it's been, you know, we heard a lot of gloom and doom. They don't have a number one. They, you know, they have a bunch of jags. You know, that was all, you know, all through the spring and summer. That's what we were hearing. And they've been playing much, much better. I mean, I think Jonathan Jones has turned into, I don't want to say a number one corner, but he's pretty darn close at this point.

You know, he was always a tremendous slot guy, and now, even though he's not the biggest guy, you know, he's really playing well out on the edge jalen mills you know he's been banged up but even uh last week against the colts he made a couple of really nice plays i i can't say enough about the two rookies jack and marcus jones i think those guys are destined for really big things in the nfl and you you know, it just, it's a, again, snowball effect. You, you have a couple of really good veterans and then you mix in this youth and speed that you have back there. Jack Jones is playing like a veteran right now. Yeah, he is. He absolutely is showing a veteran poise, a veteran presence that is beyond his years. And you forget that this kid is a rookie and a sixth round rookie, you know, to boot.

So it's not a situation where, you know, he's coming in to the game with, you know, an awful lot of pedigree or a lot of expectations on his shoulders. Definitely off the field issues definitely slipped him in the draft, but it has been worth the investment for the New England Patriots so far. One of PFF's top-rated rookies, and anytime you get that type of distinction, you know you're doing something right. I agree with you, Steve. The special team, excuse me, I'm getting ahead of myself. The defense definitely has been pretty good, but special teams has been also a unit that was going

to be under the microscope this year. For the first time in a long while, the Patriots special teams unit did not perform at an extremely high level in 2021. A lot of people were very surprised, not only at the lack of efficiency when it came to the punting unit, but also coverage units and the return game as well. Nick Folk has been just about as solid as anybody can be. That goes back to last season, continues this year. Folk gets the highest grades as far as I'm concerned. I give this guy a borderline A+. He's been phenomenal. Every time you need a kick or a big kick, he's usually there to make it. The rest of the units,

though, are interesting. I've liked what I've seen from the return game. The punting game has been a little bit of a challenge, and that surprises me. And the coverage units I thought have played better this year as well. But how has your assessment of this special teams unit changed from one year to the next? I think they're much better this year. Nick Folk, you know, it's funny. I was talking with Phil Perry from NBC Sports Boston yesterday, and I said to him, I said, I don't know what kind of water they're drinking at the folk household, but I need a couple of gallons of that stuff. And Phil started laughing. He raised his eyebrows. He was like, you and me both, because that guy's

just amazing. I mean, talk about resurrecting a career here. It's like, you know, whenever they line up for a kick, I don't even concern myself. I'm like, Nick Folk got this. Because it's like, it's as close to automatic as you can. Now, granted, he doesn't have the range of a guy like Justin Tucker, who I think is the best kicker I've ever seen in the NFL. But, you know, inside of 50 yards, 50 yards are inside of that. Nick Falk is right there with him, I think.

You know, what separates Tucker is he can kick it from 60. But I think Falk's been fantastic. You know, he was there last year. I mean, where would they be without Nick Falk this year? I mean, look how many field goals. He's kicked nine field goals in the last two weeks. Two games. Yeah. I really like the return game. I think it's just a question of time before Marcus Jones takes something to the house. Excuse me. The coverage units are a little better this year. They've had issues at times, but I really like to pick up a Brandon Schooler.

Yeah, I do too. Another rookie that's really stepping up to the plate. The only surprising thing to me is, you know, Jake Bailey has not been consistent this year, especially late in the game. Granted, the game's over. You're up 26-3, but a seven-yard punt that almost ends up in the game granted the game's over you're up 26 to 3 but right a seven yard punt that almost ends up in the crowd yeah i mean that that is

that's that was shocking to see that yeah without question i mean this is a guy that you and i have joked about putting you know moon shots up there a few of them i've even i've even teased you a few times uh during practice i'll send you a text down in florida and i'll say well jake just booted when it should be entering your airspace around 12 noon you know if you got if he kind of gets them up there like around 10 30 when the patriots have had early practices but yeah it's true you know i mean this is something that we're not used to seeing out of jake just a couple of years removed from an all-pro season in which he looked like the best or at near the top of the league at what he does.

Punting is such a, it's such an intricate art that, you know, you really can be at the top of your game in one moment and then just completely slip down the next. I hope we haven't seen a full time regression because we're still seeing elements of the fact that he can get the job done. Had a couple of decent punts on Sunday against the Colts, but then you mentioned the seven-yarder, and it's like, oh, wow.

I mean, it really is concerning to watch if you're a Patriots fan when it comes to stuff like that. So overall, I agree with your assessment in just about every aspect of the special teams. I think the special teams coverage units have been better. They're not perfect. They still need some work. But I want to give a tip of the cap to Cam Atchard, who I think has done a very good job of kind of riding the ship the way it was going last year. There were a lot of breakdowns in coverage last year.

They look lost at times. I think he's done a very good job of getting this unit back on track and against a lot of odds because a lot of people were calling for his dismissal last year. They look lost at times. I think he's done a very good job of getting this unit back on track and against a lot of odds because a lot of people were calling for his dismissal last year. He really went through a lot. And to his credit, Cam never stopped giving that type of positive energy and really cultivating all of that criticism into something on the field and putting that forth. So ultimately, Steve, I mean, we can grade all we want to, and we have done that today. And I hope our fans and our listeners have enjoyed some of what we've had to say. I know they enjoyed a lot of what you had to say. You always provide that level of wisdom and counsel the way only you can, but ultimately the Patriots

grades this season are going to be determined by what we see out of the next eight games for New England. A very tough stretch of the schedule coming up. You got two against the Bills, like you mentioned. You got the season closer against the Dolphins. You got the Jets coming up to bring things out of the bye. You got the Minnesota Vikings, the Arizona Cardinals on tap. A lot to do with the New England Patriots and a lot of tough teams on the horizon still. And the Pats are going to continue to ride that wave and see if they can turn a 5-4 record at the halfway point in the season into a playoff spot by the season's end. Not going to be easy, but I think the Patriots will try to take it.

Steve, what can I say? I thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule to join me here on Locked On Patriots. Before I let you go, my friend, please let everyone know where they can find you, interact with you, and what we can expect coming up as Patriots get ready to host the J-E-T-S Jets, Jets, Jets in Week 11. That's right. I mean, that is now a really, really big game for both teams. You know, the Jets are playing well above expectations early in the season.

That defense is really legit. They have an outside shot at still taking the division. You know, a lot of people would have laughed at that if you told them at the midway point of the season that Jets would have the same amount of wins as the Buffalo Bills. But that's turning into a really big game. I'm really looking forward to it next week. But this weekend, I'm going to be doing the same thing you and I talked about.

I'm just going to take it a little step further. I'm going to grade position by position and do their grades positionally at the midway point in the season. And, you know, we'll see where everything lies, but I think you've got to just an early sneak peek at where I'm going with all this. Absolutely. And you know what, we'll definitely be sure to tune in and we'll compare it side by side with this. No, we won't. Steve is going to take a positional positional look, and I think it's going to be a great opportunity for all of us here to see what the Patriots have done and where they might be going in the second half

of the season. Steve, it's always an honor, always a privilege. Thank you for joining me today. And we look forward to having you back here next week on Locked On Patriots. As we start talking about those jets in the meantime, folks, thank you all so much for continuing to make Locked On Patriots as we start talking about those Jets. In the meantime, folks, thank you all so much for continuing to make Locked On Patriots the daily part of your New England Patriots coverage and also your first listen every day.

Now that you've made us your first listen, please make your second listen our good friends over at the Locked On Sports Today podcasts. Everything that you could possibly want to know in the field of professional and college sports in under 30 minutes, and also the take of the day.

Locked On Sports Today is available on all platforms, including the Odyssey app, YouTube, and wherever you get your podcasts. On behalf of my good friend, Steve Balistrieri, I'm Mike DeBate. Thank you all so much for joining me here today and for continuing to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Until tomorrow, Foxborough faithful, stay safe, stay well,

be the change that you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone.