Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Crossover - New England Patriots vs. Buffalo Bills on Wild Card Weekend - 1/13/21

Episode Date: January 14, 2022

It’s Crossover Time on the Locked On Podcast Network heading into Wild Card Weekend of the 2021 NFL Playoffs. Join hosts Mike D’Abate of Locked On Patriots and Joe Marino of Locked On Patriots for Crossover Thursday, as they preview this matchup between the New England Patriots and the Buffalo Bills from Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York on Saturday, January 15, 2022.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus. 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. New England Patriots fans, Buffalo Bills fans, was there ever a doubt that another matchup was in store for these two teams this year? And we get one not just in the middle of January, but also one in the midst of a playoff race. Two playoff matchups happening on Saturday night. Your New England Patriots and your Buffalo Bills have the nightcap.

815 Highmark Stadium, Orchard Park, New York. The New England Patriots take on the Buffalo Bills in wildcard weekend. The defending AFC East champions hosting the Pats. And this has the makings of an instant classic. Playing in the postseason for the first time in 58 years on Saturday. Last time these two teams met in the playoffs, December 28, 1963. The Boston Patriots playing their first playoff game, a 28-6 Pats victory at War Memorial Stadium against the Bills. This week, the number six seed Patriots taking on the number three seed Bills.

Again, Saturday night, 8.15 p.m., going to be a happening. It is crossover Thursday here on the Locked On Podcast Network, and that means I, Mike DeBate, Locked On Patriots host, is joined by my esteemed colleague and fresh new author, by the way, host of Locked On Bills, my good friend Joe Marino. Joe, been a hot minute since our last conversation, hasn't it, bud? You know, it really has, Mike. We joked in the pre-show that we are now the honorary co-hosts of Locked On Bills and Locked On Patriots

since we get a chance to do this now for the third time in seven weeks. Absolutely. Third time in seven weeks. And you know what? The third time is going to be the charm for one franchise, and it's going to be the bane of their existence for the other. A long offseason in store for the loser and perhaps some glory in store for the winner. And each side definitely believing that what they bring to the table is going to help propel them into a long playoff run. But Joe, obviously this has been a tale of two games when

it comes to these two teams and division rivals first matchup a 14 to 10 victory for the patriots in orchard park obviously the weather a huge factor that night patriots ran the ball effectively barely passed the ball got some timely defensive stops and were able to stop the bills in their tracks heading into their bye week. But when these two teams faced off the day after Christmas in Foxborough, a little bit of a different story there. Buffalo definitely utilizing their offensive prowess despite having some of their key weapons out of that game. Isaiah McKenzie absolutely torching the Patriots secondary. Josh Allen, I think, having one of his best games as a pro that day. And McKenzie absolutely torching the Patriots secondary. Josh Allen, I think,

having one of his best games as a pro that day, and the Buffalo Bills just were too much on all sides of the ball, including special teams, an easy victory for them in that matchup. So as we head now into the playoffs, as we head into the postseason and the Bills and the Patriots now look to hook up for the third time this year there pretty much is not a whole lot that these teams have done that the other is not aware of they know each other pretty well third time you face off against the team is always going to be like that but yet there will still be some areas in which the Patriots and the Bills look to change things up a little bit. One area I don't anticipate the Patriots changing up is trying to run the ball. The Patriots have

been quite effective in running the football on a consistent basis down the stretch for the better part of the season, whether it be against the Bills or any team. That was indeed the case in both meetings against Buffalo this year, especially in the first one. However, Buffalo knows that New England is going to do everything they can to run the football, open up, use the, excuse me, use the running game to open up play action, try to help Mac Jones be able to complete those passes in the intermediate areas of the field. That's when the Patriots are at their best and Buffalo will do their best to take that away from them if you're the Buffalo Bills you're Leslie Frazier you're looking at this game as a winner take all game it absolutely is what are you doing to help slow down the Patriots rushing attack on

Saturday night well I mean it's a tough assignment big physical offensive line Dam Damian Harris, 5'10", 216. Ramondre Stevenson, 6'2", 246. Brandon Bolden, 5'11", 220. I mean, this is the group you want for a game like this where temperatures are going to be around zero. And so they got that good fullback whose name escapes me right now. I mean, the Patriots are designed to be able to go into an environment like this and run the football and dare you to make tackles against their big, powerful running backs for 60 minutes. And, you know, I'm expecting the running backs to get going. I'm expecting John U. Smith to have some opportunities in the flats to create for himself. And so this is going to be about Leslie Frazier rallying his defense to stop it and tackle. I think that's what it really comes down to.

Will you tackle? Will you take good tracks in the football and get these guys down? And I'm sure that Bill Belichick is going to want to continue testing that over and over and over again. So if you do it in the first quarter, great. You got to do it in the second quarter, the third and the fourth quarter, because we've seen this Patriots team, even when they've been down recently in games, they still stick with that run. They still stick with it. They don't pick up the pace very often. And so you have to be prepared

for that. And so I think that's one of the key dynamics here for this Bill's defense against his Patriots offense, sell out to stop the run game, do it, and see if you can make Mack Jones in his first ever playoff game on the road the reason why they move the football and score touchdowns against you. I think that's what it really comes down to. And I think it'll be a little bit different this time around with Nelson Aguilar back in the lineup. And I don't think Aguilar is a game-breaking receiver, but he wasn't available the last two times that these two teams played, right? And Mac Jones was 14 of 32. The Bills spaced the field in such a way that they really funneled throws outside the numbers and dared Mac to throw in that area and really clogged up

the middle of the field. And when you have Aguilar on your team, it really changes the spacing because he's a legitimate vertical threat down the field that you have to account for. And that's going to really open up some of that spacing in the passing game. So I think there's a lot of things to be mindful of from both games, but each one has their own unique circumstances. And I think the weather being so cold and what the Patriots bring in terms of offensive line and running backs, as well as the return of Nelson Aguilar, it's a different dynamic here for this Patriots offense. Absolutely, and I think you make some great points when it comes to what the Patriots do well

and how they might be able to do it. Great point on Aguilar, by the way, and I'm glad that you mentioned him because you're right, Joe. He's not that typical game-breaking wide receiver that a lot of people expect the Patriots to employ. But what he does do is command the respect down the field to be a downfield threat. And for all of the negativity that Mac Jones receives in his game

for not being able to throw the ball or his arm strength being suspect or all the types of knocks that you're seeing against Mac, he was able to do it actually pretty effectively in the second half of Sunday's loss to the Dolphins, completed five of eight passes for greater than 20 yards down the field. So when Mac is able to dial this up, he can have some success. A lot of that is predicated on his receivers. Jacoby Myers, Kendrick Bourne, Hunter Henry continue to be his top three options. But if Aguilar can get open and use the vertical route, utilize the speed to be able to get open, all of a sudden it opens up a new dynamic and it can help the Patriots offense get going,

especially if they might be a little bit slow in trying to get the running game going. And in that respect, the running game would definitely help to open things up if the Patriots can get it going early. But if Buffalo is going to try to sell out to be able to stop it and force Mac Jones to beat them, that to me is the way they're going to be able to get it done. Staying on that subject for just a moment, one of the ways that Mac has been limited this year by opposing defenses is that outside blitz. And we saw Leslie Frazier dial these up on occasion and really confuse and really make things difficult for Mack in the backfield,

especially in the second game in Foxborough on December 26th. When you look at what the defensive game plan might be in terms of stopping Mack Jones, I know you kind of talked about this just a moment ago in saying force Mack into uncomfortable you know, uncomfortable passing situations. But do you expect more of the same when it comes to that? Or do you think that Buffalo may look to blanket the field a little bit more with defensive backs,

try to take away some of the passing lanes that Mac is trying to open up? I think you'll see a mix of both Mike and just kind of continuing that overall conversation on this Patriots offense. I don't think they care that you know exactly what they're going to be, right? We're expecting a very physical, committed run game. We're expecting some spot throws down the field. You mentioned what Mac was able to do down the field against Miami with some of those spot throws and their receivers coming down with some big plays down the field. And you're going to see the play action game. That's going to target the flats and, and really put their guys,

their, their weapons in position to, to work after the catch. And I think that, like I said, the Patriots are completely fine with everyone knowing that's exactly what they want to be on offense and daring you to tackle, to stay disciplined and they're not going to beat themselves, most likely, on offense. And so I think the Patriots script is pretty clear on offense, but that doesn't mean it's a bad plan or anything like that. It's just a matter of, we think we can just out-execute you, and over the course of 60 minutes,

there's going to be enough variance that will have a chance to win the football game and so with that kind of the that layer over the top of this being zero degree temperatures I think the Patriots are perfectly fine with their script and what their offense is and is not within these circumstances and kind of daring Buffalo to stay patient and continue to execute play after play. Yeah, very good point. Very good point. And I don't think Buffalo comes in intimidated by what New England may try to switch up or that Belichickian keep you off guard type aura that Bill Belichick typically has. The Buffalo Bills have seen that. And I think the same is

true on the other end as well. I don't think you're going to see a lot of intimidation on the Patriots side of things either because of Bill Belichick, because of his ability to prepare teams and keep them on their toes in terms of what to expect as opposed to what not to expect. So it's going to be interesting to see the New England offense be able to try to make things happen against the top ranked defense in the NFL. Certainly that pass defense is phenomenal, and they will try to make life as difficult for Mac Jones in Orchard Park on Saturday night as possible. Joe, we can't talk

about this game without talking about the Buffalo Bills offense, which has been phenomenal lately, especially down the stretch. And the one thing that I think has changed from the first time that we sat in these chairs and crossed over our first matchup in early December is Buffalo's running game I think has really come alive you talked about this a little bit the last time we crossed over right before Christmas and said that Devin Singletary is now going to be the type of runner that does have that dual threat capability and we're seeing that a little bit more that being being said, I think New England is still going to try to contain, you know, the passing game.

They're going to do everything that they can to make life difficult for Josh Allen. Good luck there. That is not an easy task. Bill Pelichek's got his hands full with that. But I still think the Patriots feel their best option is to try to put the ball into the hands of Buffalo's rushers. In your opinion, because you watch this team every single day and you've seen this running game evolve,

why might that be a mistake for New England on Saturday night? Well, the Bills' run game has really found itself this year. Top six in the NFL in yards, top six in rushing yards per attempt, as well as number seven in touchdowns. And certainly Josh Allen has a big part of that. But Devin Singletary becoming the lead back for this team over the last, I guess, 25 or 30 percent of the season or so has really mattered a lot. It's allowed him to find some rhythm.

And schematically, the Bills have really adjusted to more of a gap-style blocking as opposed to the zone-style. Ryan Bates has stepped in at left guard. And so you have some contributing factors here that have led to kind of the Bills' rush offense peaking at the right time. And so that's good news because that is something that has been a detriment to them in the past, especially in games where it's going to be zero degrees. And so the Patriots can certainly want to stop the run. And they've certainly had some issues doing that of late, uh, averaging 164 rushing yards per game allowed over the last six games. So they've had some issues there, but, um, you have to understand that this Bill's offense

wants to be two-dimensional. They want to throw it and they want to run it. And they want to find that balance, not necessarily in terms of 50-50, but the balance that they need to be a successful offense. And so the Bills can challenge you a lot of different ways with Josh Allen and the passing game and now with this layer of Devin Singletary. But I think what's important for the Bills in this game offensively is be mindful of the reasons that you were successful last time against New England, and just don't count it all on it all being true again. I mean, we have to remember Josh Allen made some heroic third and fourth down conversions in that game. Isaiah McKenzie played out of his mind.

And it's going to be important for the Bills to get the ancillary weapons in this passing game going, whether that's Dawson Knox at tight end, Gabriel Davis, Cole Beasley, even Emmanuel Sanders at wide receiver. This is going to be an all-of-the-above type plan here because I don't think it's any one thing. It's not just Josh Allen running it. It's not just Devin Singletary being a lead back or throwing the ball to Stephon Diggs or counting on Isaiah McKenzie to be, um, have another career game, right? I think that's all

things that the bills need to be mindful of and be prepared now to introduce those wrinkles that you can build off of the success that you had last time. I mean, we know Bill Belichick and his staff are fully aware of what, what went well for the bills last time and what didn't. And, uh, they're going to be prepared to handle those issues from last time. And so this is about the Bills kind of doing everything they can to stay ahead and execute at a level that, you know, can lead to a win on Saturday night. Yeah, absolutely. So well said, Joe. And I mean, I continue to be in awe of what Josh Allen has done over the last couple of seasons, primarily this season down the stretch when the Buffalo Bills may have been sputtering a little bit. And some were starting to question the validity of whether or not this was a top flight team in the league. Josh Allen struck them on their back and said, you know what, this is going to be our year.

We're still going to continue to show why we're so good on both sides of the ball and even on special teams. But obviously, Allen has the footprint or his thumbprint on the offense of this team. And you mentioned the last time these two teams played, he didn't have Gabriel Davis. He didn't have Cole Beasley. He still was able to pick apart the New England Patriots and had an answer for everything Bill Belichick and the Patriots defense tried to do against him. You want to force me to run? I'm going to run and I'm going to run it prolifically. You want to force me that to those short yardage check downs that two or three years ago, I might have taken the bait, tried to throw it downfield and played right

into your hands. No, I'm going to give you exactly. I'm going to take exactly what you're giving to me. I'll take the check downs. I'll advance my team and then I'll be able to open things up. And he did that quite nicely. So tremendous year. And Josh is playing at a whole other level right now. And really it's going to be a very tough task for the Patriots to be able to stop him. Not just because he's got guys like Diggs and Beasley and Davis, and now McKenzie, someone that you have to be concerned about Dawson Knox, one of the better tight ends, arguably one of the best receiving tight ends this year in the AFC. So difficulties all abound for the New England Patriots, but we'll get into how the Patriots

are going to combat that in just a minute, folks. For my Patriots listeners out there, don't think that they don't have some things up their sleeve. I'll get into that in just a minute. But before we do move on here, Joe, and we flip the script here on Crossover Thursday, as you head into this game and your analysis, and you take a look at the Buffalo Bills, the New England Patriots,

third meeting between these two teams, not a whole lot of surprises in store. Maybe, who knows, but I don't think there will be. At the end of the day, if the Buffalo Bills are to be successful on Saturday night in beating the Patriots, what is the one thing they have to do, the one takeaway that Bills fans will say, yep, that's the reason why they did this? What's the must-have for a Bills win on Saturday? Tackle. You have to tackle on defense. The Bills have not historically been a great tackling defense under Sean McDermott,

which is crazy given the defensive success that they've had really every season since he's come over in 2017. Number one defense this year. And Mike, I wouldn't tell you they're a great tackling defense. And so to me, that's what this game comes down to. I think I have a level of expectation for what Josh Allen and the offense should be, what the past defense should be, but you got to tackle. And Bill Belichick is going to put these big physical backs in space. You're going to get Johnnie Smith in space.

You're going to get Jacoby Myers in space. Are you going to tackle or not? And I think that's the absolute number one key. I know that there's a lot of other things that matter, not turning the ball over, special teams, converting in the reds, all that stuff. But for me, from the Bills' perspective, you have to tackle on defense. Yeah, absolutely. And again, tackling in the intangibles is what it comes down to, folks,

things that the New England Patriots have had their difficulties with in 2021 as well. And in just a moment, we're going to get to the Patriots' perspective on things. As Joe Marino, host of Locked On Bills, puts me, Mike DeBate, host of the Locked On Patriots podcast on the hot seat. More Pat's Bills wildcard weekend talk when this Locked On Crossover Thursday episode continues. Patriots fans, we are all looking for an edge these days. And I'd like to thank OnlineGambling.com for sponsoring today's podcast. If you don't know already, OnlineGambling.com is a website dedicated to giving gamblers the edge.

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Joe Marino of Locked On Bills joined by Mike DeBate, the outstanding host of the Locked On Patriots podcast. And he's going to give us his side of things, the Patriots side of things for Saturday night's wildcard showdown between a couple of AFC East rivals. And Mike, I want to start by just taking a journey through this Patriots season because it's quite interesting to me. They start pretty slow, two and four. Then they rip off seven wins in a row, which ended with wins over the Titans,

the number one seed Titans, and the Buffalo Bills. Then they finish one and three to close out the season. Overall, how would you explain where the Patriots are at entering the postseason, obviously not necessarily playing their best football? Yeah, I mean, this is going to sound like a cop-out, Joe, but I think I always fall back to Bill Parcells' comment, which is your record tells you what you are. And basically, I would say that 10-7 is a fairly accurate assessment of where the Patriots need to be. Now, the problem is, is they've clustered their good play and their bad play together

and very uncharacteristic for a Bill Belichick coach team that they're not playing their best football heading into the month of December and into the postseason. A couple of years ago, I wrote a column about the Patriots winter is coming. And of course, I took advantage of all of the Game of Thrones stuff that was going on at the time, Embrace Yourselves and all that, Belichick and the, you know, the Housel Westeros, and I was feeling it. But at the same time, it really was very appropriate because that's usually when the New England Patriots would enter their peak.

They started to play their tightest football. They started to play mistake-free football, really capitalizing on what other teams didn't do well and using it to their peak. They started to play their tightest football. They started to play mistake free football, really capitalizing on what other teams didn't do well and using it to their advantage. We haven't seen that the last couple of weeks, save for an offensive explosion. And I guess a defensive explosion against the Jacksonville Jaguars, which a lot of people thought was a get right game for the New England Patriots. I thought it was a get smart game more than a get right game, because I think that what they did was return to what the Patriots do well. That's use the running game to open things up for Mac and allow him to be able to utilize the short intermediate areas of the field and take shots and be able to advance the football on defense, continuing to put

pressure on the quarterback, use confusing looks and get to a level where you're making things difficult for their offense to operate in the type of system that they want to do. They weren't able to do it against the Indianapolis Colts, definitely weren't able to do it against the Buffalo Bills in the last meeting, and against the Miami Dolphins, we saw very similar breakdowns. So in terms of the New England Patriots season as a whole, I would probably say a tale of three tales when it comes to New England, starting off some initial issues with getting the team together and where they needed to be. They started clicking on a lot of cylinders and playing really solid football throughout that seven game winning streak. But to close out the season, we started to see them fall back into some of the pitfalls that had befell them earlier in the season uncharacteristic special teams mistakes something Patriots teams usually don't do we've seen a ton of those this year costly penalties you know timely

turnovers that go the opposite way that usually go the way of the Patriots they're going the opposite way this year. And of course, and as much as it pains me to admit, some growing pains out of Mac Jones, who's looked very much like a rookie in three out of his last four games. So the Patriots have a lot to clean up this week, heading into this matchup with the Bills. The good thing about it is, is that they did figure out a good formula early on in the season, but they have to return to it. If not, it's going to be a very quick night for them in Buffalo on Saturday night. Mike, I'm guessing in some ways you answered the question that I have for you now in what you covered in your last response, but when you do think about some of the struggles that the Patriots have had over the last four

games, as well as throughout the course of the season, it really kind of comes down to slow starts. In those three losses, the Colts, Bills, and Dolphins, the Patriots were outscored by 37 points in the first half of those games. And then when you think about this Patriots defense, which is phenomenal, especially against the Pats, 33% of their touchdowns, their passing touchdowns, have come in the first quarter. And opposing quarterbacks have a passer rating of 100 in the first quarter but 70.3 in every

other quarter I'm certain that's a lot to do with Bill Belichick making great adjustments to there down the stretch but needless to say whether it's a offense not starting on all cylinders or defense the same thing what do you think is contributing to some of those slow starts and how do they get that fixed on on Saturday when you know the Bills are aware of that and certainly they're going to want to try to get a lead and make this become a more Mac Jones centered offense well a lot of it is putting the Patriots on their heels early on this run defense of the New England Patriots has been suspect all season Joe that's really been one of their biggest problems is you can get to the New England Patriots and put them on their heels early if you run the ball effectively, and then at the same time, take shots on the secondary where

you're able to get big chunk yardage plays and keep the defense on their heels. Once the defense settles in and they're able to really hunker down and play the type of defense they're built to play, they're very tough to score on. That's why the New England Patriots philosophy for years under Bill Belichick has been bend, don't break. Yield yards in between the 20s, but once it gets down into the red zone, clamp down and really prevent these teams from being able to put points on the board. The problem is, is as of late, teams are putting seven on the board more than they're putting three on the board. So that's been a problem. And again, slow starts have been a very difficult Achilles heel for the Patriots to overcome.

On Sunday against the Miami Dolphins, you build yourself a 17 point deficit. Almost impossible to be able to come back from something like that, especially from two teams that know each other so well. Brian Flores is a coach that has coached under Bill Belichick for a number of years. So, you know, he knows his capabilities, his strategy and what he's going to be doing. It just was a recipe for disaster for New England. And even though they tried clawing their way back into that game, that slow start was really the biggest culprit to them not coming out on top or at least having a chance in the latter part of the game and then to tell you the truth they really did but it never really felt

that close it never felt like this game got to a three-point deficit because of the fact that the Patriots started off in a 17-0 hole so in that regard that's going to be their biggest challenge this week how do we find a way if we're the new England Patriots to try to keep Buffalo from putting points on the board early and often, especially with an explosive offense, the way they're capable of putting points up, that's going to be a big challenge for the new England Patriots. And there's some question marks on defense this week that might end up

playing a role in that. Mike, in the, the first segment we did together, I talked a lot about the Patriots offense and my expectations for them. And I'm curious what your expectations are for that offense on Saturday night. What's the script for success? And you kind of teased maybe there were some wrinkles that you had to talk about. And so I'd be curious to hear those as well. Yeah, I think in a lot of ways, what the Patriots need to do in order to be successful is to utilize the running game. And that means

Damian Harris, Ramondre Stevenson need to be on the same page and they both need to be capable of breaking for big yardage. Buffalo is going to do everything they can to try to control that. They know that's where the Patriots receive their energizing. That's where they get their offense on track in order to be able to utilize the type of things that they want to do well. And in the previous segment, I did talk about Mac being able to utilize the vertical routes and maybe take some shots down the field. I think they might be smart to do that. They need to be aggressive at this point.

One of the big reasons why Miami was so effective in being able to contain Mack on Sunday is because they were able to take away that short yardage the intermediate areas on the field and confuse Mack and prevent him from being able to utilize the area of the field that he's been so good at completing passes on when he had to take shots down the field Mack may have surprised himself a little bit by being a little more successful than I think most people would have thought. So if the Patriots are going to be, you know, competitive on Saturday night, that's what they're going to have to do. They're going to have to use the running game to continue to ground out

Buffalo's defense in the, in doing so though, they can't just be reliant on the intermediate areas of the field. Buffalo is way too good at being able to shut down prolific tight ends and receivers that don't give you a whole lot of yards after the catch Patriots have been very reliant on guys like Jacoby Myers or Hunter Henry at the, the tight end position. Last time, these two teams played Jordan Poyer, Micah Hyde. They did a phenomenal job of keeping the tight ends position. Last time these two teams played, Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde, they did a phenomenal job of keeping the tight ends in check. Keep this offense fluid in motion

and maybe try to keep them on their heels a little bit. The Pats may have a chance to be able to make something happen. But if Buffalo starts locking these targets down, it could be a long night for the New England Patriots offense. Mike, as I've navigated the conversation on social media and the buildup to this game, there's a lot of talk about Josh Allen and him playing in cold weather and how his statistical output is not as good, which we would expect to be the case. It's windy, it's cold, it's harder to play quarterback at a high level in the cold. And it feels like a lot of conversation is centered around that. And I kind of want to turn that back on Mac Jones,

a Jacksonville, Florida kid who played his college football at Alabama and is a New England Patriots starting quarterback. And with all due respect, we don't really regard him as a super toolsy quarterback in terms of mobility and arm strength. And so as you consider the weather dynamic as it relates to Mac Jones, I'm curious to hear your thoughts. It's going to be interesting to see how Mac is able to handle the elements and it is going to be frigid weather in Buffalo. From what I'm gathering, I don't believe the wind is going to be as bad as it was the last

time. That was some of the toughest wind I've ever seen guys, you know, in the modern football era go through. I'm sure not the most, but it's got to be up there. That was a really, really harsh wind in Buffalo back on December 6th. So while the wind may not be a factor as it was early December, the cold definitely will be a factor. If I'm Mac Jones, what I'm doing is I'm trying to take a page out of what Josh Allen did to the Patriots just a couple of weeks ago, right after Christmas, essentially trying to have an answer for everything that the Bills are going to throw at them. Now, Josh Allen is able to do that a lot better than Matt Jones, simply by experience. He's been there before. The size, the strength, it gives him an edge in that area. But I look at what Josh did in order to be able to neutralize the types of looks that he got from Bill Belichick this time and I alluded to this in the previous segment

when the Patriots tried soft zone against Josh the last time Josh took the quick check down he got the completions he got the easy yards when the Patriots were trying to rush five or more Josh Allen utilized what he needed to do and get the yardage per play I think he averaged over seven yards per play uh you know down the stretch when that happened so even though there's a situation where the New England Patriots and Mac Jones might be reticent to kind of take the training wheels off I think what they have to do is anticipate pretty much anything that the Bills are going to be able to do and take what is available at the time. If it's short yardage, take it. If you see the ability to make plays happen down the field,

even though it might not be your strong suit, you have to take it. Whatever type of opportunity is available, the Patriots have to hop on that. They need to be aggressive. You've been watching a lot of Cobra Kai lately, Joe, so I'm going to tell you, they need to strike first and strike hard and show no mercy in their type of output. Now, can they do it? Well, the jury's still out on that, but that's going to be the Patriots mentality. If they're going to be successful on offense and they're going to try to do that, especially with Mac in the cold, they're going to have to take as many shots as possible in the areas where they know they can be successful. Mike, I'm fascinated to get your thoughts on the Patriots defense for Saturday night, as this is now the eighth time that Josh Allen has faced off against Bill Belichick. And obviously early on, as Josh Allen was developing as a player, that was heavily slanted towards Bill Belichick having success. But I think we can all agree that over the last two seasons, that has changed quite a bit with many people believing Josh Allen's best game as a pro came the last time

these two teams played just a few weeks ago in Foxborough. And obviously the game with all the wind in Buffalo wasn't a great showcase for any quarterback. But last year and in that last game, the primetime game as well, Josh Allen did quite well against Belichick's defense. And so as this is now the eighth meeting where Allen has faced Belichick and we know how things have trended of late, I'm curious to get your thoughts on this Patriots defense and what they're going to try to do this time around, especially with the caveat

that the rushing defense for New England has struggled this season and the Bills rushing offense has kind of had a resurgence here. Is it a situation where New England says, all right, you can have all the running production that you want, but we're not going to let 17 dice us up through the air. I mean, it's a pretty, it's a pretty complicated question, but as we've grown a bigger and bigger sample size here of Allen versus Belichick and Dable versus Belichick I'm curious to think to hear your thoughts on what the Patriots plan might be this time around yeah it's going to be tough I mean there's no question about it what Josh Allen did to the New England Patriots the last time was demoralizing

for a defense because again as I stated previously Josh simply had an answer for everything Bill Belichick threw at him uh in that uh in that victory the soft zone again Allen taking the quick checkdowns making the completions uh when you when you're rushing five or more you know this was another difficulty for the New England Patriots and the Pats have never been known as a big blitzing defense. They're not built that way. But I think in this situation, they're going to have to try to put more pressure on Allen. They have to make that a priority for this game. New England was really worried about Josh's ability to scramble against their man coverage. They had their edge rushers try to get to him while also trying to contain him in the pocket. A lot of times they show the five man pressure, even dropping Kyle Van Noy from the rush into the spy at times.

That didn't work out so well. I think they need a speedier guy on him to try to spy. I'd look for maybe Kyle Duggar, who they didn't have the last time. Maybe Adrian Phillips in that role. I think that would probably make things a little bit better. But, you know, Allen, you know, scrambled twice, but those two plays went for 36 yards. Like you said, there were eight design runs for 29 yards for him in that game. So when you look at what they're trying to do, a lot of defenses that have played Buffalo over the course of this year have been a little more reticent to blitz Josh because he's doing much better job at picking that up. The offensive

line has done a better job at blocking, but also Josh has been able to pick that up and utilize his skill set to make it a strength instead of a liability. So a lot of kudos and a lot of praise to him for that. But if I'm the New England Patriots, you want to try to continue the zone coverage because I think they're going to have some difficulties in the secondary if Jalen Mills is out. That's a big hole on the opposite side of outside corner. Who takes the snaps in result of that alongside JC Jackson? That could be an area that could be exploited, but ultimately, if they're going to have any success at all,

they have to try to put a little more pressure on Josh than they did in the first time around because, again, if they do and they keep keep giving him the check downs and soft coverage, it's going to be, again, a long day because Josh is capable of eating up that type of defense. And he showed that last time these two teams played. This is going to be a fun football game. I kind of felt like through the questioning that we both gave each other that we had some honest thoughts about these teams, and at times we were both kind of on our heels saying, well, yeah, that's going to be tough to overcome based on the challenges that they present to each other. And so this is going to be a good football game.

Third time in seven weeks that these two teams have squared off. The implications are do it or don't. Season's over if you a good football game. Third time in seven weeks that these two teams have squared off. The implications are do it or don't. Season's over if you lose this football game. I have a Bills team that had super high expectations on them this year, and they wind up winning the division again. But if the Patriots knock them off in the playoffs, that's a pretty big trump card for a team that came into the season with a rookie quarterback,

and I think the expectations were a little bit more modest and they probably have a, what do we have to lose mentality, uh, going on the road in this football game, a hungry team that is not happy about the way that their season has ended. So, uh, just an overall fascinating matchup. It's, it's going to be, um, like Josh Allen said, a 12-round slugfest. This is going to be a fun game, maybe more for non-Bills and Patriots fans, but this should be a really quality contest on Saturday night. Yeah, without question. I mean, again, two teams that know each other extremely well.

I've said earlier, not a whole lot of surprises on both sides of the ball for these guys. But, you know, there's always tricks that are up the sleeve of both teams. And Belichick, I know, has a reputation of being able to dial things up, show them looks they've never seen before. It's going to be difficult to do that against Josh, especially when it comes to, you know, his prowess against the New England Patriots as of late. And of course, the experience that he's gained in big games and doing what he needs to do to win in terms of the defense. The Buffalo Bills still have the top rank defense in the league. That's going to be a tough one for the New England Patriots to find any type of traction

on. Rookie quarterback, tough defense that he's facing. On the opposite side, you're facing a quarterback that is really rounding into his prime, playing his best football against the defense that right now might be reeling with some key additions, key pieces that are not going to be available. Maybe Jalen Mills will play.

Christian Barmore hit the practice fields earlier this week, looking like he might be able to go. But if those guys are compromised, that's two big pieces off of the Patriots defense that could cause difficulty. So we're dialing up a tough one here in New England, but if they can somehow pull this out, it would be an amazing victory for the New England Patriots. And in my opinion, it's going to take a tremendous coaching job from Bill Belichick to do it. Well, Mike, regardless of the outcome Saturday night, it has been a lot of fun hooking up three times

to do a crossover episode with you. And that's the most we can do, right? They're not going to play in the preseason. So the most the Bills and Patriots can play in a season is three times. Fortunately, it happened within a seven-week span. And so it's been an absolute pleasure talking about these two teams with you. And, you know, I'm sure we'll hook up in the offseason for some type of conversation, kind of a state of the division type stuff.

But until then, it's been really fun breaking these football teams down with you. Absolutely, Joe. Always an honor to share the microphone with you. Great to always get a chance to reach out to Bills fans and also bring my fans here on Locked On Patriots an opportunity to get a chance to reach out to Bills fans and also bring my fans here on Locked On Patriots an opportunity to get to know a lot about the Bills. You're a true pro, a great friend, and I always look forward to doing these with you. And we'll continue this tradition again next year.

But in the meantime, enjoy the game on Saturday night. May the best team win.