Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Live and Learn: Patriots Make Progress in Week Three - 9/29/2020

Episode Date: September 29, 2020

As the New England Patriots begin to prepare for Week Four of the 2020 NFL Season, it is not quite time to put their victory over the Las Vegas Raiders in the rear view mirror, just yet. There were some lessons learned on the Gillette Stadium field this past Sunday. Joining host Mike D’Abate to take a deeper dive into those lessons, is Steve Balestrieri of PatsFans.com. The duo discuss the success of the Pats’ run defense, the emergence of N’Keal Harry in the receiving corps, and the potential roster decisions to be made by the Patriots in the coming days.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. cbdMdRight now you can try the amazing duo of CBD Freeze and CBD Recover topicals and everything else cbdMd has to offer. They’re offering all our listeners 25% OFF your next order at cbdmd.com when you use the promo code LOCKEDONNFL at checkout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all of you, Foxborough faithful. You are now locked into the Locked On Patriots podcast. Your New England Patriots are 2-1 on the 2020 NFL season. And it is Tuesday, September 29, 2020, here on your daily home for news notes and analysis infused with the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. Lockdown Patriots is presented today by Pepsi, made for football watching. Thanks to a lack of natural athleticism or commitment, or overbearing sports parents,

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where we still have one sharp eye on the Patriots' win on Sunday over the Las Vegas Raiders. We also have a curious eye focused on the future and Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, the defending Super Bowl champions, which your New England Patriots will be taking on in Kansas City on Sunday at 425 p.m. Eastern. And as Patriots fans, I know you're all looking forward to the matchup with the defending champs. To say it's going to be an exciting matchup is probably an understatement. But if there were any of you, and I don't think there were too many, but if there were any of you that

believed that this was going to be an easy matchup for the Patriots, I encourage you to go back and watch last night's Monday Night Football matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens. Kansas City pulling out the 34-20 victory, but it was the way they wanted, especially on offense, that was truly impressive. Just amazing game planning by Andy Reid. This game featured a red zone underhanded screen pass to a fullback, a goal line pass to an offensive tackle, and even a reverse pass out of the Wildcat formation.

Patrick Mahomes, masterful once again. I think his best game of the 2020 NFL season so far, throwing for 385 yards and four touchdowns, over 500 total yards of offense for the Kansas City Chiefs, and they look primed to give the Patriots all they can handle on Sunday afternoon. They definitely caught my sharp eye last night, but you know who else's sharp eye they caught? Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. As he usually does on Tuesday mornings, Bill once again spoke to the media today, and he was watching this one from home, pretty impressed by what Andy Reid had in his bag of tricks. Bill was quoted as saying, Andy's always got a couple of new wrinkles. I don't think you see too many games where he doesn't have something new. You've got to be

ready for that. He does a good job of doing things you haven't practiced against, things you haven't seen before, and getting them called at the right time and getting them executed well. You don't know what they're going to be, but you know they're going to show up somewhere along the line, and you just have to be alert for them. And folks, I assure you, Bill is not just talking up his opponent here. He understands the offensive prowess of what the Kansas City Chiefs bring to the table. He realizes that his defense is going to have to have their best game on Sunday. They haven't had it yet, but they're going to need to bring it out in order to give the champs a game. And one of the best ways for the Patriots to do that is to take a look at the tape of what they did on Sunday because their defense had a pretty good game plan, putting the clamps on an offense that can beat you

in a number of different ways. I'm not saying Las Vegas' offense is equal to that of Kansas City, but each of these teams has a more than capable and versatile quarterback, a very good ground game, an excellent tight end, and wide receivers that can beat you in a number of different ways. Now two weeks ago against Seattle, the Patriots faced a very good offense that had pretty much the same type of attack. They didn't fare so well against Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks, but they made adjustments, key adjustments, that helped them control Josh Jacobs, Derek Carr, Darren Waller, and the Las Vegas Raiders.

Now, yesterday on the pod, my good friend, the green master of disaster himself, Thomas Murphy, joined me to discuss the Patriots' prowess both in the secondary and, of course, in the pass rush. Both of them were on display on Sunday. One thing we didn't talk extensively about was the improvements the Patriots made in the run defense, which made a big difference in this game. And to help me take a deeper look into those adjustments, today I am joined by Steve Balistrieri of Patsfans.com. And my Patriots paisan and I will be discussing that adjustment

along with the Patriots passing game on offense. Didn't receive a whole lot of press on Sunday. To be honest, they weren't called upon to do a whole lot. But there was one receiver in particular that keeps making improvements week after week and is making a pretty solid case to be one of the featured parts of this New England Patriots offense. But even though we continue to analyze Sunday's win over the Raiders, we have to keep a sharp eye on the future, and Steve and I will do just that. We'll discuss the potential roster moves that the New England Patriots might be making this week. Don't forget, now we're in week four of the regular season. That means

players like Yodney Kajust, Bo Allen, and Damian Harris are eligible to come off of IR and be placed on the active roster. Who will come off, and how will the Patriots manage that? Especially with Harris. After all, the running game is coming off of its best complete showing of the 2020 season. Rex Burkhead, Sonny Michel, J.J. Taylor all making big-time contributions. James White is also in the mix here, folks, as well. Might he be looking to make his return this week against the Chiefs? And last but certainly not least, we'll discuss the defending champs as well

and how the Patriots might look to contain or at least marginally slow down a quarterback playing at a very high level right now in Patrick Mahomes. So a full spectrum on today's agenda, always fun and informative when Steve joins me here on the pod as we continue our look inside the 2-1 New England Patriots on this Tuesday episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast. But first, getting from point A to point B is always an essential part of our daily routine. And let's face it, even those of us who are the best in shape and only walk and run so far, that means you need your vehicle to

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and to help me break it all down is my Patriots Paisan. Patsfans.com's extraordinaire columnist Steve Balistrieri joins me today. Welcome back to the Locked On Patriots podcast, my friend. Thanks for having me, Mike. As always, it's a pleasure to join you and love talking football with my

friend. Absolutely. I couldn't think of a better way to spend a Tuesday and you now have a weekly spot here on Locked On Patriots along with our good friend Thomas Murphy. I, for one, could not be more honored to share the microphone with you guys. Always, always fun. And I'm glad that you're with me here today, my friend. Steve, the Patriots' victory over the Raiders on Sunday

got the fan base feeling good again. We're being honest. They actually took the loss to Seattle pretty well also. But a solid home win always helps the psyche. And we saw that with the Patriots kind of rebounding, especially with this running game. And we'll get into that in a moment. Our good friend Murph joined me here yesterday on the pod, as a matter of fact. And we talked about that running game, some of the defensive standouts.

But one area that we really didn't delve into that deeply was the Patriots run defense I thought the Pats made some adjustments from their loss to Seattle the most effective of which was keeping their personnel in the secondary against the Seahawks we saw the Patriots bring Brandon Copeland up Juwan Bentley into the middle they really tried to overcompensate I thought to try to stop Carlos Hyde and Chris Carson especially. Seattle was running the ball very effectively throughout that game. That allowed Russell Wilson to make them pay for it through the air when they dropped personnel in the defensive backfield. And they went heavy to try to stop the run.

On Sunday, Josh Jacobs got off to a hot start running the ball. But the Patriots stayed patient, and they continue to keep at least five defensive backs out there on most of their plays. Steven, your estimation, do you believe this was the reason why the Patriots had greater defensive success on Sunday against the run, knowing that they had to kind of give way a little bit to the run to protect that pass protection that really is the bread and butter of their defense? Yeah, I think part of the – I agree with part of that.

I mean, you know, when you look at things, it didn't start off well. I thought the Raiders controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball in almost the entire first quarter. And I thought that they were really pushing the Patriots around a little bit on the defensive line in the early going, and Jacobs was getting some nice holes to run in. But I do agree with you. They made some adjustments, and I was a little surprised by, I was about to say Oakland,

Las Vegas' decision to kind of get away from the run while it was still working. I thought they kind of got away from it a little bit. And once they, I thought once they kind of, you know, decided to shoot a run for more of a passing game, I thought the Patriots had made their adjustments and they started to take over the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Because then we saw later in the game when they were trying to run, they weren't getting that big push, you know, up ahead. The bats had a couple of nice runs, but they got them on their own

because you saw, like, in the first quarter, you kind of look at that push and you see the Raiders' offensive linemen, you know, three or four yards into the secondary, and you weren't seeing that as much in the second half. I thought they made some really nice adjustments. I thought the front line played very, very well on Sunday. Yeah, I agree with you. I thought they did as well.

And again, I think that a lot of the confusion or maybe the disheartening that you're describing, and I feel the same way about the Raiders abandoning the run, because I do agree that it was working, especially when the Patriots personnel tended to be in favor of nickel and dime defenses with again, the five or more defensive backs almost daring them in a, in a way. And I'm not quite,

but in some aspects, daring them to say, we're going to live with the yards in the ground in favor of playing those nickel and dime defenses to protect against the past. I thought Lawrence guy again, had another great game. There were, you know, times where he anchored so well against the double team on the interior that gave a guy like Juwan Bentley time to close things down from the edge,

make tackles behind the line of scrimmage. That's something you didn't see Juwan get a chance to do against the Seahawks previously. And I think the Patriots' defensive adjustments allowed them to be able to do that. So if they can prevent offenses from completely taking over the game, and folks, we'll learn into that in a minute because they are facing an offense that is capable of doing just that this coming week.

But if the run defense does look shaky at times, folks, it's because the Patriots are going with that look of having many defensive backs on the field. And they're going to try to, to utilize the bread and butter of their defense as well as they possibly can. Steve flipping over to the offensive side of the ball for the Patriots. The running game is getting a lot of the headlines, as it should. That New England Transit Authority, you know, a moniker that I'm giving them is actually coming to fruition. It's doing pretty well, you know, for the Patriots thus far.

But the passing attack on offense was pretty quiet on Sunday. I thought one part of that receiving core that I'm seeing continuously get better each and every week is Nikhil Harry. He may have only had two catches for 34 yards, not a stat explosion, not one of the better games for Cam Newton passing the football either this week, but I think Nikhil was looking much more comfortable in the system with each passing game. I thought Evan Lazar of CLNS Media put this very eloquently. He's doing his job within the structure of the scheme, and he's figuring things out. From what I've seen from Harry thus far, he's blocking pretty well in the run game,

and when he's targeted in the passing game, I think he's showing a lot better route running technique than we saw him run last year. So I'm impressed. But Steve, when you look at Nikhil Harry, do you believe he's emerging into the type of receiver that can be featured in this offense? Yes, I do. I'm a firm believer in this kid. You know, last year was kind of a wash for him. I mean, he missed a lot of training camp. He missed the first eight, nine games of the season. You know, he's coming in at a bad time. You know, you got to remember when he came in, they were undefeated. So, you know, he's coming in at a bad time. You know, you've got to remember when he came in, they were undefeated. So, you know, things were going kind of good for them at that point.

And that's when, you know, the offense actually began to fall apart for them last year. But, you know, he never really had that confidence last year. He was playing catch-up. And then, of course, you know, the famous, you know, Tom Brady frees out if he doesn't have confidence in what you're doing. He's not going to throw you the ball, and he only got, what, 24 targets last year. I think he's got the confidence now. He feels more comfortable in his skin and in his offense. And I think he has the confidence in Newton.

Newton keeps talking about him. On Sunday, he said, Doe boy has grown in front of everyone's eyes. For him to gain confidence in himself, I think it's a start. And I think what he's doing, and I think today's game was an indication of what he could be. And, again, I mean, you go back to that, this game with Oakland, he was opening the end zone.

I thought Newton made a bad pass. It was behind him. I think if he throws that in front of him and that's a touchdown, he holds on to that. And then, you know, we're talking even more about Harry. But I think he's going to be very, very good in this offense. And, you know, at first they were just trying to get him some confidence and get him the ball.

They were using those short screens. And now we're seeing that evolve into they're sending him down the field more. And I think his confidence is going to grow even more because of it. Absolutely. So well said. And, look, one of the big keys of a receiver gaining confidence, believe it or not, folks, is playing without the ball in your hand. I think you're seeing Nikhil Harry do that very well.

And I alluded to that earlier when I mentioned the fact that he's blocking well in the run game. It also shows another dimension of what this kid is capable of. But, Steve, I thought you were eloquent in the way you described his progression from last year to this year. We saw errant throws from Cam Newton to Nikhil Harry with the safety closing in on him even on Sunday. Cam did not have his best game without any question. He was still serviceable. I thought his timing, his rhythm were pretty good, but some erratic decision making and maybe some questionable ball placement really did, I think, derail some of the offensive prowess they could have shown

through the air on Sunday. It was nice to see the running game pick up that slack, but it was also nice to see a guy like Nikhil Harry still being able to get downfield, being able to get open and make catches when he needed to. Cam, again, he admitted to missing Demir Bird for a touchdown right before he scrambled for the 21 yards. probably could have hit demir downfield and that would have been a surefire td but it's nice to see the progression and i think you will see more of that this week especially against the chiefs defense that might be right for the pickings when it comes to running the ball using play action and that opening up the passing game. So Steve, valuable lessons learned on Sunday. And again, as I just alluded to, they're going to have to put those new pearls of wisdom into action

very quickly. A big game against the defending champs is on the horizon. And in just a moment, Steve Balistrieri will continue to occupy his spot on the hot seat as we discuss some imminent roster decisions facing your New England Patriots. And what can the Pats do to prepare for the offensive juggernaut that is one Patrick Mahomes. Find out when the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. Patriots fans, I know you're familiar with the phrase often imitated but never duplicated. After all, six Super Bowl titles in two decades, no other NFL team in the modern era can even come close to making that claim. Only the best can provide the best. And the only ones who can provide the best, healthy, low-calorie, and delicious treats that you know and love,

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Steve, the Patriots running backs again looked pretty good on Sunday. As I said in the previous segment that New England Transit Authority moniker. Yeah, folks, I'm shamelessly trying to plug it but you know whatever well i digress we'll uh we'll get into that at another time uh but that name is looking pretty accurate they're they're moving the ball very well on the ground they got solid performances from rex burkhead sony michelle even jj taylor got in on the action and deserves a lot of credit but this is the week that the running back core could get a little more crowded. And the decisions surrounding this unit could get a little more complicated. James White, who has been understandably absent for family reasons, could make his return this week. Along with Damian Harris, who started the season on IR after finger surgery, he could be added back to the active roster.

In fact, Ivan Fears in his statements to the media this morning said that they were all waiting on health info from all of the players on the core, indicating that they seem to be at least hoping for Harris's return. If New England wants to keep all of these guys, all five running backs, they would need to be on the 53-man roster. Steve, how do you see this working out with the Patriots running core and how they may look to utilize their roster to keep these guys around? First of all, do you think they'll keep all five? And second of all, it's not just Harris they need to work back in. There's guys like Yadni Kajus that are eligible to come off of injured reserve this week as well. So how do you believe the Patriots are going to try to manage some of the questions that they have surrounding this roster,

particularly at running back? Yeah, it's going to be, this is going to be a very difficult, but as Bill Belichick said, it's a good problem to have decisions. Because, you know, when you have five running backs like they have, I don't think you can conceivably believe that they can put J.J. Taylor on waivers with the intention of putting him back on the practice squad, because I don't think he'd make it now. I think other teams have seen enough of him, and we've seen how electric he can be. And I thought, you know, going back to this game on Sunday, you know,

they kind of seemed like they were struggling and when they put Taylor in, he kind of gave them a lift and got them going and that, you know, set in motion, everything going forward. So yeah, it's going to be interesting. I think they're going to try to keep all five. I really do. Because I think if you try to put this rookie on waivers to bring him back to the practice squad, I think somebody's going to snag him. Especially with all the injuries that are going on right now, I wouldn't be surprised to see, you know, some of these other teams just scoop them right up. So it's going to be interesting. I believe that they're going to

try to keep all five of them. How you keep them all actively engaged, I don't know. I think, you know, we're probably going to be looking at Taylor being inactive if he stays on the roster, you know, on game day because he's that rookie. But they've definitely utilized him. A guy like Kajus, you know, again, it could be interesting to see how they move forward with this. I mean, I know they brought James Ferentz off the practice squad. Maybe they moved him back.

Corey Cunningham's another guy who's been inactive. So maybe they decide that, you know, they're going to put Corey Cunningham on waivers with the intention of, you know of keeping him on the practice squad. I don't know. It's going to be a very difficult decision because when you're looking at it, they have a lot of names that are able to come back, and David Andrews is right around the corner himself. Absolutely.

It really is. It's a good problem to have, and Bill Belichick has reiterated this. But it's also a very difficult problem to have as well. When you have a number of guys that can work well in your system, talented players that if you do let them go and they end up catching on with another team, you know the vultures are going to be right there saying, oh, Bill, let this guy go. But in a lot of respects, I mean, how do you make that decision? And it's so difficult to do. You're going to have to let go of talent in order to bring talent back in. So an unenviable spot for Bill Belichick and the Patriots brain trust this week. But again, you'd rather have a wealth of talent to choose from than have not enough. I guess it is a better problem to be dealing from a position of wealth. But I agree with you. I think they keep five running backs. I, the days of trying to stash JJ Taylor on the

practice squad are far gone. Even if for some reason he slipped through waivers, you still have to think that at some point teams are going to try to poach him off of the practice squad. I don't even think he'd make it through waivers though. I agree with you. I think some team would definitely pick him up. So interesting times and we'll continue to keep our sharp eye on the waiver wire and the transaction wire, most of all, to see how the Patriots handle this, but great insight, Steve, as always. And speaking of that sharp eye, my friend, we'll close today with a question that is on the minds of every Patriots fan right now, especially after watching Monday night football.

And that is, is there even a conceivable good way to defend Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas city chiefs? The best way I think in my opinion, and I saw Evan make a comment on this earlier as well, is to have those SIM pressures and just basically trying to hold up in man coverage and trying to see if there's a way that you can slow this team down. One good factor of this is it's always interesting to see how Bill Belichick game plans against the Kansas City Chiefs and tries to take away what your team does best.

Just when you think the Chiefs are this unstoppable juggernaut, Bill Belichick kind of reminds them that there are teams out there that can defend against you if you're smart enough and you have that personnel. Steve, as you try to look ahead to the Kansas City Chiefs, although it's very early on in the week, how do you see the Patriots trying to go about defending Patrick and the Kansas City Chiefs offense? And do you think the personnel on the Patriots' defense is up to the challenge this year? Ooh, the second part of that question, that's a loaded question, isn't it? But to answer the first part,

I think they've showed in the past they could slow them down. I don't think you're not going to stop them, but you can slow them down by playing exactly the way you said. You have to be physical. You have to contest everything. You have to be trying to reroute these guys and slow up their timing. And that being said, you're going to have to live with giving up a big play here and there

because you will because some of those guys, and they have such an abundance of speed, somebody's going to get open. And when that happens, you know, you're going to give up a big play. But I think if you sit back and zone, and we saw that happen time and time again against this Chiefs team, and a little bit last night when the Ravens tried to sit back and zone, they'll eat you alive in no time. And it's just like, okay, instead of a 40-yard play,

you're going to give up three 25-yard plays back-to-back-to-back. So, yeah, I think that's the way you have to approach things. They have the secondary guys to do that. I'm just worried about, again, we've talked about this in the past our linebacker crew um because the chiefs now have a running game and with that running game they can dictate a lot of what happens out there did they have the personnel to do it i'm gonna say no at this time i would like to be pleasantly surprised

yeah i would probably agree with you on that. I think the jury might still be out, believe it or not, as much as it pains me to say that when it comes to the personnel that they have on defense to be able to slow them down. Although we do see a lot of growth from the Patriots defense, especially the way they played over the weekend. Maybe they're going to be able to get the pressure that they need. The sim pressures, I think we both agree, that's probably one of the best ways to try to take Mahomes out of his rhythm. They have to well-time the blitz, too.

We saw Baltimore blitz them last night, and it became predictable after a certain period of time. And I think in a lot of ways what that did was it opened up a lot for Patrick Mahomes to have a big second half. And you saw that we might need to see the offense get off to a faster start more so than usual, keep pressure on the, the, the Kansas city offense by countering it with some pretty good offense of their own. And I think the Patriots can score some points against this team, but again, you have to stay physical, control the time of possession. That's going to be so key to defeating the Kansas City Chiefs.

It's easier said than done, folks, but the Patriots have to try to do that. And as we progress here on Locked On Patriots this week, we'll be taking a much deeper dive into how the Patriots might go about doing that. But Steve, what can I say? Thank you so much for joining me here today on Locked On Patriots.

Always lend optimal wisdom and counsel. We needed the voice of reason. We got it today and you always provide it, my friend, as only you can. Please let our listeners know where they can find you on social media. What do we have to look forward to from the great pen of Steve Balistrieri in the coming days? Oh, thanks again for having me. I greatly appreciate that. And again, I can be found on Twitter at SteveB7SFG. I write for PatsFans.com this morning.

I put my Patriots report card for the game against the Raiders up there this morning. So I hope folks check that out. But, yeah, I'll be looking at myself. I'm starting to deep dive on the Chiefs and trying to put together some key matchups and figure out a way if the Patriots can pull off a big, big upset on Sunday. Yeah, and it would be a big upset. And it's usually difficult to say the Patriots are really strong underdogs,

but heading into Arrowhead is going to be a daunting task for this Patriots team. Are they up to the challenge, folks? Only time will tell, and we'll continue to find out as the week progresses. But, Steve, thanks again. Stay safe. Stay well. We look forward to talking ball with you again next week here on Locked On

Patriots for your now weekly spot. All kidding aside, my friend, it's always an honor to join you on the microphone. Thanks for coming on today and have a great week, bud. Thank you. Just like that, Patriots Nation, we are almost at the midpoint of your work week,

which means that the visions of silver and black of the Las Vegas Raiders are slowly starting to shrink in the rearview mirror. We're on to the red and gold. And no, folks, I'm not talking about Hulkamania, brother. I'm talking Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelty, Tyreek Hill, and the high-octane Kansas City Chiefs. And tomorrow, we will start to turn our attention to those Chiefs. We will also take an expert look at the most recent NFL news surrounding COVID-19 and the

positive tests that we're seeing in Tennessee and how it might affect the entirety of the NFL, including your New England Patriots. Dr. Jessica Flynn of the Boston Sports Journal will join me here on the pod tomorrow as we take a look at this developing story. So to make sure that you do not miss a single second of the action, download Locked on Patriots wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us on Spotify. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts.

Subscribe to us on Google Podcasts. Whatever you do, make sure you are staying locked into Locked on Patriots. Once again, my name is Mike DeBate. I thank my good friend Steve Balistrieri for his time, his insight, and his appearance on today's pod. But most of all, I thank you so much for listening and for making Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Until tomorrow, stay safe, stay well, continue to be the change you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone.