Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Lessons Learned: Patriots Performance vs. Seahawks - 9/22/2020

Episode Date: September 22, 2020

As we continue to analyze the New England Patriots 35-30 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night, questions continue to arise.. What’s wrong with the Patriots defense? Do they need another offensive weapon? And, the most polarizing topic continues to be whether the Patriots made the right play call on the final play of the game. Joining host Mike D’Abate to discuss these topics is Steve Balestrieri of PatsFans.com. The duo take a deep dive into the Patriots defensive performance versus Seattle, identify the areas which require improvement, provide their insight on whether the Pats will add another receiver, and put the debate over the final play call to rest.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get $10 off your first order.MyBookieINVEST IN YOUR INTUITION. USE PROMO CODE LOCKEDON AND DOUBLE YOUR FIRST DEPOSIT. NEW PLAYERS GET UP TO $1,000 IN FREE PLAY - DESIGNED TO ADD MORE EXCITEMENT TO THE SPORTS YOU LOVE AND THE GAMES YOU BET. YOUR WINNING SEASON BEGINS TODAY...ONLY AT MYBOOKIE!NFL Game PassThis season, get football on your time with NFL Game Pass. See all the action from every game with full game replays.Go to nfl.com/gamepass to start your free trial today. KeepsIf you’re ready to take action and prevent hair loss, go to Keeps.com/lockedonnfl to receive your first month of treatment for free. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all of you, Foxborough faithful. You are now locked into the Lockdown Patriots podcast, your daily home for news notes and analysis infused with the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. Today's Tuesday, September 22nd episode of Locked On Patriots is presented by Visa. Help support your local businesses, whether they're your corner stores, coffee spots, or favorite shops.

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Tuesday, tidings to all of you out there in Patriots Nation. My name is Mike DeBate, your host of the Locked Tuesday, tidings to all of you out there in Patriots Nation. My name is Mike DeBate, your host of the Locked On Patriots Podcast, which of course, is a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

And folks, because it's your team every day, that means your questions, comments, and feedback always welcomed, strongly encouraged. Feel free to share that feedback anytime

by reaching out to me and following me on Twitter at M-DATEFPC. And while you're out there traveling through the Twitterverse, please be sure to follow the Locked On Patriots account as well at LO underscore Patriots. Pats fans, we are now more than 24 hours removed from the Patriots' appearance on Sunday Night Football, a 35-30 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. The image of that game is starting to shrink in our rearview mirror, and now we're about to turn our attention toward the Las Vegas Raiders, who are sporting a 2-0 record and looking like a pretty formidable opponent coming up for the Patriots on Sunday, especially after a 34-24 victory last night over the New Orleans Saints.

Derek Carr tossing three touchdown passes, running back Josh Jacobs rushing for almost 100 yards, and tight end Darren Waller receiving for over 100. Make no mistake about it, the Raiders will be every bit a tough opponent for this team. But before we turn our attention to the Silver and Black, we're still not quite done breaking down the Pats and Seahawks just yet. There were some lessons to be learned on the field of battle on Sunday, and here today on Locked on Patriots to help me take a deeper dive into this Week 2 contest on the 2020 NFL schedule is my good friend and Patriots Paizan Steve Balistrieri of Patsfans.com, and we will discuss why the Patriots' pass rush and secondary might not have played as bad as some would have

you believe. We'll also talk about the Patriots' run defense and how improvement is much needed in that department. We'll then flip the script to the offensive side of the ball, and despite Cam Newton putting up a very good performance for the second week in a row, is he still one weapon short of taking this Patriots offense to where it needs to be in order to contend in the AFC? Might we see the Patriots dip into the trade market, or even the free agent waiver wire to add a receiver or possibly a tight end? And last but certainly not least,

our good friend, the Green King of Sting himself, Thomas Murphy, joined me yesterday here on the pod. And Murph was both animated and adamant about his stance on the Patriots' final play call. Murph firmly believes that the Patriots' best call in this case was going to be play action, meaning he vehemently disagreed with Josh McDaniel's decision to run Cam Newton on the goal line. Well, it just so happens that Murph's nearest and dearest friend might just have something to say about that. And you know what they say, folks. Variety of opinion is the spice of life.

And that is exactly what our resident voice of reason, the great Steve Balistrieri, will put on the line today, here on this Teaching Moment Lessons Learned Tuesday episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast. But first, for most of us Locked On listeners, especially if you're like me, 2020 hasn't exactly been a year in which you've traveled as much as you'd like. But that doesn't mean you still don't have to get where you need to go. And unless teleportation becomes a viable option, the best way to do that is in your very own automobile. Take pride in your ride.

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patriots fans as we continue to analyze the pats 35 to 30 loss against the seattle seahawks on sunday night questions continue to arise what's wrong with the patriots defense do they need another offensive weapon and the most polarizing topic continues to be whether the patriots made the right play call on the final play. Yesterday, Thomas Murphy joined me here on the pod to lend his green wisdom and counsel on the subject. Well, here today to help me continue to break down Sunday's action, and most importantly, lend his voice of reason, is my Patriots Paisan. Patsfans.com's columnist extraordinaire Steve Balistrieri joins the pod today. Welcome back to Lockdown Patriots, my friend.

Well, thanks for inviting me, Mike. It's always a pleasure. And yes, we will discount what the big green man overreacted to yesterday, as he always does. And now we'll talk about looking at it, you know,

in a calm manner. I like it. Fighting words and shots fired here on Locked On Patriots on a Tuesday. Gotta love it, Steve. And we will give you a chance to prognosticate on your platform because, by all means, I think it's something that our adoring fans here need to hear. So, but, you know, Steve, the Patriots may have lost this game on Sunday night, but there really is an aura of positivity that seems to be surrounding this win.

There was a lot to like in what we saw, particularly from Cam Newton and the determination of this offense to keep coming back, despite being down by both 11 and 12 points during various points in the second half. But there were some areas that did catch our sharp eye and maybe even provide some lessons learned. So let's start on the defensive side of the ball, my friend. And a lot of fans in the Twitterverse want to blame the Patriots' secondary and, to a lesser extent, the pass rush for allowing the Seahawks

to, quote-unquote, let Russ cook. But I think the secondary and the pass rush just ran into an excellent, exceptional talent on Sunday night. They simply got beat in a chalk-it-up, tip-your-cap-type manner. The Patriots' pass rush had one of those games where they were getting to the quarterback, but they couldn't quite rein Russell Wilson in, enough to force him into either being sacked or making poor throws. The stat that really jumps out at me

in that the Pats pressured Wilson on over 40% of his dropbacks. That's a pretty good number, but there were always too many of those almost there moments. In other words, they just barely got to him but weren't able to do enough to contain him. And they paid the price for it,

especially in the secondary. I'm hearing the term busted coverage being thrown around the Twitterverse a lot. And I think that's wrong. I think the coverage was there. I think simply they needed to be a little bit more physical, a little bit better. But I think all of this talk about the secondary blowing coverage all night long is a little bit premature. Steve, they surrendered five touchdown passes.

That's clearly not good. But this game's outcome, do you believe that this was the result of just a great offensive effort by Russell Wilson, or was last week when I did my tease to the game, you know, I did the matchup with the Patriots secondary against the Seahawks passing game. And I said, it can be summed up in two words, Russell Wilson. And I, you know, I've watched the Patriots play him numerous times. I thought that 2014 Patriots defense was among the best we've ever seen from Bill Belichick, and he still carved them up in that Super Bowl. So I had the opinion that he was going to have a great game. Now, let's just say, I didn't think he was going to have that great a game. I mean, he threw almost as many touchdown passes, five, as he did in completions, which was seven.

So that is not something that, you know, you can easily discount. But at the same time, I fully expected him to have a big game. You know, you talked about the pass rush. They did get a lot of pressure on him. But, you know, as we've seen in the past, he's not an easy guy to bring down. He's very mobile, and again, you just have to chalk all this up to him having a superlative game because I go back to that touchdown pass to Metcalf, and he was hit just as he released it from Chase Winovich,

and that pass, any different than the way it was predicted would have been incomplete. It was perfectly thrown. Perfect. I agree with you. And, you know, I think the Patriots' pass rush, especially with the secondary, I think because Russell Wilson was so accurate and so pinpoint on Sunday night,

it's making the pass rush and the secondary look a lot worse than it truly was. You mentioned the pass against DK Metcalf. Winovich beat the left tackle, forced Wilson to throw off of his back foot. Russell just delivered a dime. I mean, he just dropped a bomb right on Stephon Gilmore. DK Metcalf was in a perfect position to make that play. Gilmore was right there for coverage I don't know where people are saying this is busted coverage or whatever he never had more than one or two yards separation on that play DK just simply had the ability uh to uh to beat him physically and if you want to get on Gilmore for being not physical enough then I think you can make the

argument but with Metcalf it's just it's a bigger physical receiver and he was able to make the play and a great throw by Russell Wilson without any question. But Chase Winovich to me stood out on the pass rush. I thought he had a very good game despite some of the difficulties that the Patriots had. He was usually the one that was closest to Russell Wilson, trying to bring him down, trying to get pressure. He actually had six quarterback pressures in this one, but Wilson, again, was just too good. I go back to a play that Murph and I talked about yesterday, and that was the touchdown pass to Chris Carson. Chase beat the left tackle again, clean. He's right in Wilson's face, but Wilson, again, is just able to drop that

bomb right into the hands of Chris Carson. Adrian Phillips was completely caught off guard, unprepared for that. That's where the secondary does need to tighten up. If there is an area that I think they needed to be better at on Sunday, it's, as Murph said yesterday, enact a lack of yak. You know, the Patriots are conceding many of those short throws to cover up the big plays, but they need to do a better job of making adjustments to limit the yard after the catch. And I think in that respect, if they can get that type of pass rush from a guy like Chase Winovich and that, you know, that Patriots defense, then they might be able to challenge and make better efforts.

So all in all, you tip your cap to Russell Wilson, who I think beat them more than the Patriots beat themselves on Sunday night. But Steve, if there was a larger slice of this blame pie to be served out there, I think it has to go to the run defense on Sunday. Just quite frankly, in my opinion, it needs to be better. They did a poor job of setting the edge. I don't think they showed that same force up the middle. That same force that they showed two weeks ago when they played Miami prevented Miami from being able to get those yards up the gut. Seattle exploited that, and they have the talent to do it. Miami just simply did not have the talent to do it.

And we've heard Bill Belichick say several times, you can't hope to be successful in stopping the run if you don't set the edge. Steve, is this something that the Patriots can improve on this week scheme-wise, or is this really a personnel issue at heart? Well, I think it's a little bit of both. I think, you know, we saw, and I wrote about this on Sunday night right after the game, you know, we knew that the front seven had lost a lot of people, and they were going through a big change. You know, they've gone to a lot younger crew. They're going through a big change, and they went to a very lighter package,

and they were basically inviting Seattle to run to keep the ball out of Russell Wilson's hands, but I don't think they were prepared for the type of running game that Seattle brought upon them. They were averaging over five yards of carry. They had 154 yards in the game and it just opened up the entire field for Wilson to do what he does. And it just compounded the issues that they had. And I think, you know,

it's a symptom of what we knew they were going to go through. And it's, it's a growing thing. You know, it's a symptom of what we knew they were going to go through. And it's a growing thing. You know, they have a lot more new personnel out there. And they have to find the right combinations and, you know, groups of packages that are going to work for them. So well said. Completely agreed. I mean, when you look at what the Patriots system is built on, where they love to exploit the team's weakness, is having their defensive line too gapping to occupy the blockers while the players at the second level make those plays.

And my opinion on Sunday, and Evan Lazar wrote about this very accurately a couple of days ago for CLNS Media. The Patriots defensive line just simply let the Seattle blockers reach the second level. They didn't have much resistance from the linebackers. It was just too easy. And I think a lot of that showed in some of the difficulty the Patriots had defensively all night long. It really allowed the running game to dictate what Russell Wilson was able to do.

Juwan Bentley, I think, had a better game than people are giving him credit for. I know he's getting roasted amongst a lot of Patriots insiders and fans that are saying that he has to be better. He didn't record a run stop. I do believe he needs to be better in that regard. He needs to be that forceful run defender at the second level of the defense for the Patriots to have that type of a success, but they need other guys to step up and be able to take on that role. And Sunday, you just simply didn't see that. So I agree with you. I think it is personnel. I think that Cowart maybe at this point was exploited a little bit on Sunday. I still think he had a solid game, but they're missing that presence in the middle of the interior defensive line,

and maybe they are missing a guy like Bo Allen a little more than we like to give them credit for. And getting back to Bentley, you know, he didn't have his best game by far. I thought he could have been a lot better, but at the same time, I thought the coaching had something to do with that because I didn't think they put him

in a very good position to be successful on Sunday night. And so I have to ding the coaches a little bit on that because I go back to that Russell Wilson scramble for 21. And of course, Patriots Twitter, as it always

does, overreact. And they were like, oh, Bentley, you know, he has lead feet. Well, how many middle linebackers can run with Russell Wilson? Not too many. And, you know, having him as the designated quote-unquote spy, I thought it wasn't the right personnel to have out there for that. Absolutely agreed. And I'm so glad that you mentioned that. Murph and I talked about this a little bit yesterday,

and I want to give Matt Chatham credit for pointing this out too very early on Monday morning on Twitter. Bentley is a very good young middle linebacker. He really shouldn't have been in that position to begin with. You hit the nail on the head. Most middle linebackers can't stay with wide receivers in the low area. They can't be expected to catch Russell Wilson. It's simply not what they do. It's not their job. They need to, you know, play in the middle of the field and have complimentary pieces around them.

Hopefully that will be something that the Patriots can figure out because it is something that I think opposing offenses will be able to exploit. And the Patriots have a number of great offenses that they'll be facing this season still to come on the schedule. So something to keep a sharp eye on, folks, as we march toward the deeper part of the 2020 NFL season. Speaking of offense, the defense may be taking a hit, but the offense for the Patriots has been praised for the most part. And in just a moment, Steve Balistrieri and I will talk about that New England offense and what their performance on Sunday means for this team going forward. Despite that great performance by Cam Newton and company, do they need another offensive

weapon? And for the definitive word on the subject, did they make the right call on the final play? This and more when the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. But first, Patriots fans, you've heard the phrase often imitated but never duplicated. All you need to do is take a look at those six banners hanging from the Gillette Stadium facade and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. Only the best can provide the best.

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Patriots fan Steve Balistrieri joins me here today, continuing to break down the Patriots' 35-30 loss against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday Night Football. And Steve, I don't know about you, but I don't think it could have been scripted any better for a scenario. Not the outcome, but a scenario. One play from the goal line, Patriots, Seahawks, all the marbles are on the line. Do you run the football? Do you pass the football? How do you go

about trying to get your best player into the end zone? And obviously the call that the Patriots made did not work the way Pats fans hoped. It didn't result in a win. But a lot of people, including our good mutual friend Thomas Murphy, are lambasting the Patriots a little bit for taking the easy way out, putting the ball in the hands of your best player, knowing full well that everyone on the other side of the field knows what's coming. There are a lot of arguments to say that maybe the Patriots should have shown them a different look. Maybe they should have lined up. Maybe play action was indeed the way to go. But to me, the essence of this is it's hard to ignore with the level of success the Pat, the Patriots had in running that same play. No one had proved that they could stop it yet.

And you're essentially allowing, again, your best player to strap the team on his back and lead them to the promised land. Steven, your assessment, did the Patriots make the right call? Well, and I think you hit the nail right on the head, Mike. I mean, you go back to that play. No one has stopped that yet. Granted, we're only two games into the season, but they've run that play several times and no one stopped it. And what better way than to put the game in your best player's hands on your offense, someone who hasn't been stopped, than, you know, to get one yard. I think it was

absolutely the right call. And, you know, all through the game, whenever McDaniels tried to switch things up, the same people, including our mutual friend, and I love him to death, Murph. How many times did I hear Murph say in the game, well, Josh is getting too cute. Well, if he tried to pass down there rather than let Cam run it in, then we'd hear the, you know, voices all say, well, McDaniels got too cute. When you have Cam, let him,

let him run it in from one yard out. The same thing that Pete Carroll got called out on in the Superbowl with Marshawn Lynch. I think it was absolutely the right call. I just think, again, you have to tip your cap to the Seahawks because they blew that play up. They sensed it was coming, and they blew it up, and they got penetration all along the line, and that was the thing that people were forgetting about.

They got penetration there, and they were hitting Cam in the backfield. That hadn't happened yet. Yeah, very well said, and I said that yesterday with murph as well and look i understand where he's coming from with play action it's the unexpected the unknown catching teams off guard maybe it would have worked maybe it wouldn't have i think you make a good argument that if josh mcdaniels did make a play call like that was he overly getting too cute in a moment that needed some stability that needed something reliable and something that you could hang your hat on and know that you know what we gave it our best shot with our best player and

maybe at the end of the day josh and bill look at that and say it was the best play that we thought you know was going to give us a chance to win in fact i think bill said that in his post-game press conference we had one play we met with the play that we thought gave us the best shot to win and it didn't work out i am glad that you gave credit to the seattle defense though on that one particularly three players i thought stood out obviously lj collier was the one that ended up wrangling him in and getting uh you know cam down but i thought uh lano hill as a safety uh did a great job of preventing um jacob johnson from pulling the block. That was a key. And I think Bobby Wagner was right in the middle of that as well. He was the one that facilitated this and started

everything with the coverage, getting guys into position and getting guys into place. So again, it's just a matter of the Patriots running into a very talented team on both sides of the ball. And I think that's what you saw on Sunday night. Not so much the Patriots beating themselves, but really getting matched and getting beat by a very good Seattle team. And that may be one of the reasons why Patriots fans are looking at this as a glass half full type loss where they can build upon this and make improvements. Steve, that leads me quite nicely into my last question for you today.

And Cam Newton obviously had a very good game. He's looked solid through two games here leading this New England Patriots offense. He's shown leadership. He's shown poise, intelligence in the pocket and decision making. That's something I don't think he's getting enough credit for. Cam is making excellent decisions, knowing when to avoid sacks, knowing when to take them, not worrying about the stat sheet, making completions that allow his team to be in the best place he possibly can.

But a lot of what Cam is doing is masking some of the difficulties that the Patriots have on the offensive side of the ball. The running game is obviously not where we need it to be. Some of that was because of James White's absence on the field on Sunday. And look, there is no question that, you know, they were playing with heavy hearts. I'm sure they all were, as we all were watching it, knowing what James is going through in his family right now. But there's also some deficiencies in the way I'd received on the wide receiver core. There's also some difficulty on the tight end core, all due respect to our good friend Klazzy Claire, who I know loves her tight ends, but Ryan Izzo's playing pretty well, but Cam needs some assistance

in terms of being able to spread the wealth on offense. Julian Edelman had 179 receiving yards, but this kid, even though we think he's a gladiator, I mean, his neck is hurting, his leg is hurting. You have to hope that he's able to hold up. And right now he seems to be, but it's just, it's a lot to put on him. We've heard rumors about the Patriots maybe in the market for another weapon. Cam Newton was asked about that this morning on WEI. He responded by saying the answer to the Patriots needing offense is in the locker room. And that puts a lot of faith in his teammates. And that's really exactly what you want your leader to say. But we heard rumblings even yesterday about possibly talking to Matt Patricia and the

Lions about Marvin Jones Jr. and some of the players that might be out there on the block. Steve, in your opinion, do the Patriots need another weapon on offense to be brought in, or can they weather the storm until guys like Damian Harris comes back to shore up the run game and also be able to compete at the next level with some of the wide receivers that they have on this team? Yeah, I really think, Mike, that they do need to add one more piece, especially a wide receiver. I mean, you know, they need somebody on the outsides, preferably somebody with some speed.

I know Damian Burt had a pretty good game on Sunday night. But they really need somebody to take the onus off of Julian Edelman. And they're very thin there. I mean, if any of these guys were to come up lame or get hurt during a game, they're really quite thin there. I know they're getting back, you know, Gunner, hopefully, soon, sooner than later, we hope. And Damian Harris, obviously, in the the running game but they really need somebody a tight end to step up and hopefully that's Devin Asiasi and they start getting him involved in the passing game because as you know a quarterback's best friend is a tight end especially when you know teams start bringing the heat on on your quarterback and that's something they really, I mean, you know,

Izzo caught a couple of passes, but they really need more production out of that spot. Yeah, I would agree with you, especially at the tight end position. I know Dalton Keene has been experiencing some difficulty health-wise. He's been a scratch the last couple of games. You hope that he's going to be able to get into the game at some point. But Devin Asiasi was someone who really looked solid in camp by all the reports that we were receiving.

To see that he hasn't been utilized all that much in the passing game is a little concerning to me, especially when you look at some of the relationships that Cam has had with previous tight ends that have played with him. One of them that was on the opposite side of the field on Sunday and Greg Olson, you'd have to think he's going to start utilizing that connection. So maybe we see a little bit more of that starting this Sunday against the Raiders and going on from there. But I agree with you on the wide receivers. I usually try to say that the Patriots have enough in their locker room to be able to withstand some of the difficulties that they're going through right now. I do think they need another body.

And maybe it's Jones Jr., maybe it's not, maybe it's someone else. I know the fan base is still clamoring for guys like Allen Robinson and OVJ. I don't see those happening, but someone with the pedigree of Marvin Jones, I think could come in and help to really provide just another target, another reliable target for, you know, Cam Newton to be able to work with. And I think all in all that should propel the Patriots to being a fairly formidable team on offense because Cam looks great right now. And if he can get some of his players around him to be able to elevate that are not named Julian Edelman, I think this could be a really fun offense to watch this year. Steve, what can I say? I thank you for always taking the time out to join me here on Locked

On Patriots. Your wisdom and counsel was definitely needed. Your opinion on the last play of the game is absolutely noted. I know Murph is going to be a little bit steamed when he hears it, but I think you laid it out in a very clear and concise manner. That's why we call you the voice of reason. Folks, you should already be following Steve Balistrieri on the Bird app, but please do so at SteveB7SFG. All of the great work that he provides is always proudly found on patsfans.com steve where can uh or how can our listeners uh and um anybody that's listening to us for the first time find your great work and what can we expect from the great pen of steve balistrieri within the coming days

well uh i should have something posted here very shortly uh on pans.com, which is my report card for the game. And then I'll be doing a podcast with Murph later on this afternoon. And we'll go from there. And I know that also on Pass Fans, our Patriots fourth and two podcast, we'll be recording a video here shortly. Absolutely. And always, always great work from Steve,

whether it be on Pats, you know, whether it be on patsfans.com or Patriots fourth and two, which unfortunately due to some issues on my end last week, folks, I wasn't able to accept the gracious offer for them to host, you know, me being a guest on that podcast. I look forward to hopefully doing that shortly. But do not let that stop you from watching it. It's one of the great Patriots podcasts out there.

It's a listen and a watch that I never fail to miss, and you shouldn't either. Steve, again, stay safe, stay well. Thank you so much for coming on today. We look forward to talking football again with you next week, as we always do. Take care, my friend, and have a great week. You too, Mike. Thanks again. And just like that, Patriots fans, we're almost at the midway point in the week.

There's still a tiny glimpse of the Seahawks in that rearview mirror, but we're about to turn our attention to the silver and black of the Las Vegas Raiders. I know a lot of you out there have questions about the Raiders. You also may still have some lingering questions about the Seahawks and what the Patriots' performance on Sunday means for their performance this Sunday. Well, the good news is that right here, tomorrow on Locked on Patriots, we are once again opening that midweek mailbag and giving all of you the chance to be the star of the show. Submit your questions for the midweek mailbag and giving all of you the chance to be the

star of the show. Submit your questions for the midweek mailbag via Twitter to me at MDABATEFPC or to the Locked On Patriots account at LO underscore Patriots. Those questions that are chosen will be featured right here on tomorrow's pod, and I will do my best to answer them to your satisfaction. So to ensure that you do not miss tomorrow's midweek mailbag episode or the great Patriots Raiders coverage we have coming to close out the week here on Locked on Patriots, be sure to download us wherever you get your podcasts.

Follow Locked on Patriots on Spotify. Subscribe to Locked on Patriots on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe to us on Google Podcasts. Just make sure you're staying locked into Locked On Patriots on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe to us on Google Podcasts. Just make sure you're staying locked into Locked On Patriots. Once again, my name is Mike DeBate. I thank my friend Steve Balistrieri for his time, his insight, and his appearance on today's pod. But most of all, I thank you all so much for listening

and for making Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Until tomorrow, Patriots Nation, stay safe, stay well, always be the change you wish to see in the world, and have a great day, everyone.