Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - LOCKED ON PATRIOTS- 1/19/17- What Can We Gauge From The Patriots Week Seven Win In Pittsburgh?

Episode Date: January 19, 2017

Chris Simoneau of Scout.com looks back at the Patriots/Steelers matchup from Week Seven to get an idea of what we might see Sunday night. #patriots Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

That's for my crazy day. My packed commute. All those unread emails in my inbox. But I'm getting stronger, faster, and pushing myself further every day. I don't care if I'm not like everyone else. This punching bag is the best way to end my day. Fearless is knowing yoga isn't your style. That's the power of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Federal Employee Program.

Learn more about our healthy benefits at fepblue.org slash getmore. Good afternoon, I'm Chris Simino, Patriots Insider for Scout.com, and also your host of Locked on Patriots, your source for everything Patriots. Today is Thursday, January 19th, 2017. Today we're going to discuss the last meeting between the Patriots and the Steelers. Yes, I understand that Ben Roethlisberger was out for that game, but the Steelers did run their offense the way that they always run it. Put a lot of trust in Landry Jones, and he actually played pretty well.

In fact, he won a game at the end of the season, too, against Cleveland, who isn't all that good, but still, they can run their offense, so we can take a look at that and get an idea of what they're going to plan on doing. We're also going to get an idea of what the Patriots' offense wants to do to get the ball in the end zone versus the AFC North champs. Pittsburgh's defense has improved, but again, the personnel is the same as it was last time. Cam Haywood's out for the season. That's been a big hit for them. Patriots' personnel is pretty much the same, too, with the exception of losing Gronkowski,

but they added Deion Lewis and also Michael Floyd. So, you know, granted Michael Floyd and Deion Lewis don't come close to the level of impact that Gronk has, but they do add elements to the offense as far as weapons. So they are additions and something that Pittsburgh will have to account for. Before we get into all that though, we're going to update you on the most important part of this deal, which is in Patriots news, we're going to talk about injury news as we get closer to the showdown at Foxborough on Sunday night. Before we get started, I just want my listeners to know that I can be found on Twitter under the handle Chris underscore Simono at C-H-R-A-S underscore S-I-M-O-N-E-A-U.

If you have any questions for the show, be it about the Patriots, myself, Patriots Insider, or if you're looking to advertise here on Locked On Patriots, you can email me directly also at Simmono, S-I-M-O-N-E-A-U dot Christopher, C-H-R-I-S-T-O-P-H-E-R, the number 5 at gmail.com. So that's Sim, the number 5, at gmail.com. So that's simino.christopher5 at gmail.com.

If you're a member of Patriots Insider, you can contact me directly through the site via message. So you can get a hold of me in many different ways. I personally think that Twitter is probably the best way to get a hold of me. If you have any questions, you can do it right on the site. And also I can be reached on Facebook, too, just under the name Chris Simino. And you can find my face. Good luck. So enough of that.

Let's get into the good stuff here. Let's talk a little bit about the injuries for this upcoming game. Both teams are relatively healthy. The Steelers, you know, they have the nagging injuries just like the Patriots do. But it seems like most of their players are ready to go. The Patriots actually report came out yesterday that they went from last in the league player injuries in the championship week is when they basically took that report last year. They were last in the NFL in 2015 and they were fifth in the NFL in 2016.

So somebody's doing something right down there as far as strength and conditioning, and that's something we actually did talk about on one of the episodes of Locked On Patriots. So it does make a difference if your strength and conditioning coach actually knows what they're doing and mixes things up. So for the Patriots, they didn't have anybody on the did not participate list, so everybody did at least participate. Danny Amendola is still dealing with his ankle. That's something he's going to be dealing with until the offseason.

As with Martellus Bennett, he had a knee injury last week that looked painful, but he got back up and he kept playing, so I'm sure he'll be out there. Brandon Bolden also came down with a knee injury against Houston. Dante Hightower has a shoulder issue. He always seems to have a shoulder issue. That's part of the deal being a linebacker. Wide receiver Chris Hogan had a thigh injury. We saw that happen against Houston. Malcolm Mitchell's still dealing with a bad knee. It would be really nice to have him back, especially looking at how much

Michael Floyd struggled in his place last week. Malcolm Mitchell's a player. He's a red zone threat, and I think he's a guy that Pittsburgh would struggle with, so it would be very nice to get him back. So we'll see. That one's 50-50. And last but not least on the limited participation list was defensive lineman Jabal Sheard, also dealing with a knee injury. Patriots are going to need Jabal this week. There's no getting around that. They need Sheard.

They need everybody they can as far as defensive linemen and guys that can get after the quarterback because Roethlisberger is not 2005 Roethlisberger. He's still really, really good, and he's still strong and can get around the pocket, but he's not as nimble as he once was. He's more of brute now, more brute strength than he is nimble, and I think that the Patriots have the guys to get him down. I mean, like I said, I think Landry Jones is a very viable backup,

and I don't think he's even close to the level of Roethlisberger, but I do think as far as his footwork and getting out of the pocket, he could give the Patriots more trouble than Roethlisberger can at this stage because Roethlisberger, again, he's not getting any younger. But Roethlisberger is a stud. In my mind, he's one of the top six or seven quarterbacks in the game still. So, again, I know he's not as nimble as he used to be, but he's still going to give the Patriots some trouble,

and I do think they're going to need their pass rush to get there. It's not just rushing Roethlisberger. That's what everyone seems to forget, and I always see it all and, oh, it's about the rush. To a degree, it depends on who the quarterback is. If you rush them, they're going to make a bad throw. Some of these quarterbacks have ice in their veins, and right now, if you look at the last team standing, I think three of those four players have ice in their veins, and I know one of them's nickname is Matty Ice, but I don't really think he's very clutch. You Atlanta fans can get mad at me all you want.

That's fine. I don't think you guys really listen to this show much anyways. But I just think Matt Ryan of the four is probably the most shaky. But Roethlisberger is still dangerous. So even though I don't think he's quite as good with his legs as he used to be, he still worries me and he's just still a worried Patriots fan. So let's hope that Jabal Shia is ready to go. We need him in the pass rush. Alright, let's take a look at the Steelers injuries as I continue to ramble on here about Roethlisberger.

Steelers finished the season 11-5. Obviously, they made it to the AFC Championship, so they were doing something right. As far as did not participate, running back Le'Veon Bell did not participate in practice yesterday, but that was not injury-related. Kicker Chris Boswell came down with an illness, so that's not injury-related, but that's something to keep an eye on because if he's dehydrated or anything like that and he's not quite on his game, coming into Foxborough, ask Billy Cundiff how that works out for kickers in the AFC Championship game. Safety Sean Davis, rookie, good player.

Guy the Patriots really liked going into the draft, but Pittsburgh swooped in and took him. He's got a shoulder injury. Center, B.J. Finney's dealing with an illness, so it seems to me there might be something going around in that locker room. Wide receiver, Darius Haywood-Bey, illness. Quarterback, Zach Mettenberger, illness. So, as I said, there's something definitely going on in that locker room.

The last thing you want the week of an AFC championship is an illness to be coming around. And I'm going to say this too. When I look at Le'Veon Bell on this list as did not participate, and this is not injury-related, and then I see Ben Roethlisberger saying not injury-related, well, then what is it? I have a feeling

and people may not like this because I'm basically calling out the Steelers for lying I think Le'Veon Bell and Ben Roethlisberger came down with the illness too I think that might be what this is they're not going to list that on the injury report I mean it could have been a pre-existing thing that they weren't going to be there for practice today

but why would that happen? It's the AFC Championship nobody planned on being here at this point, so they should be at practice. If it's not injury-related and everybody else has an illness, I don't know. I think that the Steelers are pulling a fast one here. They better be careful, because look what happened with the Seahawks. They were about to get docked at the second-round pick for not announcing that Richard Sherman was hurt all year. Again, I think that it's very fishy that Le'Veon Bell and Ben Roethlisberger

are listed on the did not participate list. It's not injury related when the rest of the list, except for two guys, has an illness. It's something to keep an eye on. Limited participation, linebacker Anthony Chiquillo has an ankle issue. Tight end Ladarius Green, who's a pretty good player, he's been a good find for them this year. He's got a concussion, so who knows what's going to happen with him.

Safety Malcolm Mitchell also out this week. He had limited participation. Again, not injury-related. I just don't buy that at all. I don't buy it. Why would he be limited participation if there's no injury? Why wouldn't he be? It's the week of the afc championship

what did all these guys go and get in trouble no that didn't happen either they're sick and they're not going to say it because he's a starter full participation james harrison well we know he's hurt he's got a shoulder or triceps issue he's probably not hurt though because he's bionic and i'm sure he's not sick and he'll be able to play uh defensive end ricardo matthews has got an ankle issue and running back fitzgerald Toussaint is dealing with a concussion. Just real quick on James Harrison. I don't know. I just, that guy was washed up.

How all of a sudden is he back to being a pretty effective football player at the age of 38? I understand Tom Brady's 39, but Tom Brady's a quarterback who doesn't really get hit that much. James Harrison is a defensive linebacker slash defensive end slash linebacker who hits on every play. He's 38 years old. I don't know.

I just, I'm not going to sit here and try to accuse him of anything, but at the same time, you have to look at that and say, what the heck? So either great for him or he's pulling a fast one. But who knows? He could just be jeans. He could be one of those guys that took his body to the next level as far as working out when he saw that he had lost it. And then when he got a second chance at Cincinnati, realized what he had to do.

And now he's back to where he once was. But again, you don't see 38-year-old outside linebacker slash defensive ends built like James Harrison and have a resurgence in their career without any type of quote-unquote aid. So, I don't know. That's something to keep an eye on over the next couple of years as far as drug testing and things of that nature. Let's take a minute to tell you about one of our sponsors.

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Become a member. Be a Patriots insider. So one of the things that we wanted to do this week is take a look at the game between the Patriots and the Steelers back in Week 7. That was October 23rd down in Hines Field in Pittsburgh. Now, I understand that Roethlisberger didn't play, and I mentioned that in the opening of the show. But at the same time, Landry Jones is an NFL quarterback.

The Steelers still had Le'Veon Bell. They still had Antonio Brown. They still had the guys out there. And their defense was still what they are because that was the week that they lost Cam Hayward pretty much for the season. He didn't get hurt in that game. He got hurt before that, but that's when we found out that he was pretty much done. So the Steelers' defense essentially is what the Steelers' defense is now.

And before we get into all this, you know, I'm listening to a couple different radio shows around the New England area just because that's what we do and, you know, it's on. And I'm listening to Felger and Maz, which I'm sure a lot of you guys listen to. It's a good show. They have some valid points sometimes, but facts tend to be thrown around on that show, no matter if they're real or not real. And this is one of the things that I got a little agitated with when I was listening to them today.

So the first thing I need to address, for those of you who listen to my show and listen to their show, they said that the Patriots' interior offensive lineman really struggled against the Texans, and that's the reason why they couldn't stop the inside pass rush. Well, that's incorrect. The guards actually played terrific. It was on the center.

So that was on David Andrews. Now I know he's an interior lineman, but he's only one interior lineman. It's not fair to put that on Joe Tooney and Shaq Mason when they had maybe their best pass blocking games of their entire careers against a team that's number one against the pass. Okay, so I got to put that out there, that false narrative that the whole interior of the offensive line was bad. No, that is patently untrue. And I'm going to tell you right now, David Andrews will clean up his mistakes. And here's the other thing, too, that people seem to be wanting to ignore. The Texans have a better pass defense than the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Period. There's no discussion here. I keep hearing all the Steelers have more interceptions, and the Steelers had this, and the Steelers had that. The Houston Texans were the number one pass defense in football this season. The Patriots struggle against very good pass defenses that can get an interior pass rush. The only teams that can get an interior pass rush versus the New England Patriots are teams that have explosive rushers that, not like James Harrison, maybe James Harrison when

he was 30, but not the 38-year-old James Harrison. You have to have guys like, say, Justin Tuck when he was in his prime. Or a guy like Jadeveon Clowney, who's also starting to become a dominant NFL player that has the speed of a wide receiver and can make that play and get up the middle. Or tie up a blocker and allow a linebacker to get up the middle. The Pittsburgh Steelers are not built that way. They don't have as good of a secondary. I will say that I do believe the linebackers cover better than the Texans did because the Texans' linebackers were terrible in coverage.

I talked to Robert Land about that on our crossover show. We knew that that was going to be an issue. That's one of the reasons why Deion Lewis caught that first touchdown. It's one of the reasons James White caught that nice touchdown on the wheel route. The Texans' linebackers were terrible in coverage. The Texans' corners were terrific. They were terrific, and that's one of the reasons why they were able to take away Michael Floyd and Danny Amendola.

And they also took away, to a certain effect, Martellus Bennett, too. That's not going to be the case this week when they play the Steelers. The Steelers are not going to be able to generate as good a pass rush because the Patriots, A, have seen them, and I know that they had seen Houston earlier in the year too, but they didn't see them with Clowney playing the way that Clowney's playing now. Jadeveon Clowney, okay, let me put this out there for you guys to realize this, is a game changing NFL defensive end. That's it. There's no getting around this anymore. Next year when

J.J. Watt comes back, it's going to be scary. If he's healthy and Clowney's healthy, I don't care if their secondary is aging. I don't care if Wilfork's not coming back. You've got ridiculous bookends right there with those two, and it's going to be scary. So the Patriots kind of got lucky by not having to deal with Watt, but they still had to deal with Clowney, and they still had to deal with a lot of those good Texans defenders who are very, very underrated. In fact, one of my, I'll have to say, my most loyal listener,

you know who I'm talking about. You're listening to the show right now, I guarantee it. We talked. He goes in and puts comments on the show, and he even said yesterday he 100% agreed with my comment about McDaniel's game plan, but he thinks that Pittsburgh's defense is considerably better than Houston's, and I'm sorry. I just don't see that. I don't see it. I know Ryan Shea is here. He's a good player. I understand that Pittsburgh has some athletes that are starting to really come into their own and starting to play better. But they're still coming into Foxborough. They're still going on the road against a very, very, very talented offense.

And they just don't have the same ingredients that Houston did. Here's another thing to keep in mind when it comes to the Texans against the Patriots. Romeo Cornell. That can't be ignored. Bill O'Brien. That can't be ignored either. These two guys were in the same room with Belichick game planning for years. They know what he's thinking.

They know what the Patriots want to do. If they have the guys to do it, they're going to take it away. They know that the interior pass rush was the number one way to slow them down. So they used it because they had a talent that could make it happen. And they did it, and it almost worked. I don't care if the Patriots won by 18 points. That Houston defense played well. Brady struggled, and the main reason is because they figured out his kryptonite.

Houston has the guys to do that. Pittsburgh does not. They don't have the pass rushers, and they don't have a talent like Clowney. And I'm sorry, I know a lot of people out there are going to think, oh, you're crazy, Clowney doesn't make that much of a difference. Yes, he does. You call the Texans, you go call Romeo Cornell, and you ask him why that defense went from pretty good in the beginning of the season to the best in the NFL

at the end, and I know that points per game, they gave up 20 points per game, they weren't first or anything like that, and they were only like 10th or 11th, but they slowed teams down, and when teams tried to throw on them, they only held them to 200 yards a game. Pittsburgh didn't do that. So, let's get off the whole narrative of Houston's defense being overrated and the Patriots beating up on tomato cans and all that. I've heard enough of that. Houston won their division.

I know they were only 9-7, but they did it with issues at quarterback and issues all over the field, but their defense was awesome and better than Pittsburgh's. Okay, I'm going to get off my soapbox now. But again, that frustrated me because I felt like the Texans' defense wasn't getting any credit when they deserved it because they made a lot of plays on Saturday, a lot of plays that a lot of teams can't make.

So looking back at that game in Pittsburgh back on October 23rd, obviously it was Week 7. It was very boring. The Patriots played vanilla football. They were putting the ball on the ground. They missed extra points. They were shanking punts. They had a booted punt, and it looked like a good punt. It was a good punt, and then it got booted out of bounds by,

his name is escaping me at the moment for some reason, Brandon Bolden booted the ball it was awful, it was just an ugly game they had no pass rush they were dropping first downs I could go all day, they weren't good and the funniest thing with all that garbage, and I know that

Pittsburgh was on the man not having Roethlisberger but the Patriots won 27-16 and they held this team to 16 points. They had Le'Veon Bell. They had Antonio Brown. Again, I don't care who your quarterback is. When you have Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell on your team, you can make it work, and the Patriots did a good job of holding them down.

We did go over some of the studs and duds and take a look back. Le'Garrett Blount was the number one stud of the game. He carried the ball 24 times for 127 yards and two touchdowns. That's pretty big. I've been talking all year, as you guys know, about the fact that the run is important. Some people want to disagree with me on that, but they're wrong. I don't mean to be a know-it-all, but in this case, you need to be able to run to win a Super Bowl. You don't have to be able to run every play. This isn't 1932, but you do need to be able to run the

ball when you want to. People need to understand that you need to be able to run the ball when you want to and when you need to, and this team can do that. So again, Blount carrying it that many times. Last year in the AFC Championship, the Patriots lost mainly because their offense was one-trick pony. So they need to make sure they maintain their balance against the Pittsburgh Steelers again. And again, they did that the first time. And I think a lot of that had to do with they were just coming off, not just coming off of their,

it was the third game back from Brady's suspension. But during those first four games, they had to learn how to run the ball properly. And I think they were still in that mode of let's keep this going. And lately, they've kind of got away from that mode. They need to go back and look at this film and say, alright, we've got to run the ball on these guys. We're at home. Our offensive line is geared towards run blocking. We've got to be able to run. And that way, we can get them on their heels and then let Brady unleash it. The number two stud from last game was Rob Gronkowski. He had four catches for 93 yards and a touchdown.

That's a problem, okay? He was awesome in the run game too, a great run blocker. So no Gronkowski. I think this is the first week that we're going to see that it's not good. I mean, last week he could have helped, but I think that Houston did such a good job with that middle pass rush that I don't even think he would have been that big of a deal. Actually, that's not true.

They could have slid him across with some of those wham blocks and things of that nature. But not having a healthy Gronk is definitely going to have an effect on the Patriots' offense this week. Luckily, they have a lot of weapons. But, again, this is the first week you're going to look at it and go, okay, this is what happens when Gronk's not out there. Patrick Chung was the third stud that week.

He was really good. I remember they brought him down to help out and stop Le'Veon Bell, and he finished the day with 11 total tackles, seven of them were solo. He had two pass breakups, one in the end zone in the fourth quarter. It was a huge play. Chung, I said it that week, he's turned his career around with the Patriots in the second tour of duty. That was one of his best games. He was awesome. Malcolm Butler was really good that day too. He gave up a few plays. Obviously, Antonio Brown's the best receiver in the league, but he did a good job. He gave up

some catches and some decent yardage plays, but you're going to give a few up to Antonio Brown. The goal is to keep him out of the end zone and to limit his plays on third down, try to limit his first down. Honorable mention in that game also went to Tom Brady. He finished 19-26 for 222 and two touchdowns, but there were four drop balls in that game and Brady still finished with a 93 quarterback rating, so he had a pretty good day. So, you know, it was pretty good to see that. Again, you look at those statistics, you look at Blount's statistics,

and that's a recipe for winning right there. It's a recipe for winning because you take away those four drops, even if, say, it's only three of them, Brady's 22 out of 26, probably for about 260 yards and maybe another touchdown. So, you know, those drops are unusual. The Patriots don't do that all that much. So I think that's a good sign that Brady was very good against Pittsburgh in the last game, and he did it with basically just being a game manager.

So again, there wasn't a very exotic game plan on either side of the ball for New England offense and defense. They played straight-up football, although at times it looked like it was going to get away from them. They're superior in talent to take over, and they made plays, and they do what great teams do. Martellus Bennett wasn't much of a factor in the passing game. Did a good job in run blocking, which he's going to have to do again this week, again with the loss of Gronk. They're going to need Bennett to really step up and help out here,

and Matt Lengel, too. Lengel's going to have to block well. So they're a good rushing team, and they've continued to be a good rushing team even with the loss of Gronk. Not quite as good, but pretty good. They need to run the ball against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The pass rush, again, like I said, was awful, and when I look back at the All-22, it was just as bad on film as it was live. They got active, they made some moves. The pass rush improved, though, because of Trey Flowers, so that's going to be a totally different dynamic that Pittsburgh didn't have to deal

with last time. It was pre-Trey Flowers explosion. So let's see how that all works out because I have a feeling he's going to be in Roethlisberger's face all day. At the time, I said it's time to start blitzing more because the backers can get there. So since that time, the Patriots defense has been pretty much drop seven, send four. But you have no idea who those four are going to be. So they have made the adjustments, just not necessarily what I expected them to do,

but I do like what they've done because they have some veterans that understand what they're doing. And last but not least, Chris Hogan didn't play good against Pittsburgh last game, and he's also injured. So Hogan, they need him, and it would be awesome to get something out of him, but I don't have a very good feeling about him this week. And watch, he'll end up having four catches for 160 yards and three touchdowns. But you know what? Great if he does that, but I just don't see that happening.

So again, the game was very bland, and it makes you wonder if the Patriots looked at the landscape of the AFC this season and said, you know what, Denver doesn't have a quarterback. Indianapolis doesn't have a roster besides their quarterback. Who else is there? Baltimore was overrated, terribly overrated. Cincinnati let go of their second and third receiver, which was stupid, and they weren't even nearly as good of an offense as they were in 2015, and that's why they didn't make the playoffs.

The Texans, flawed, like I said, very good pass defense, flawed everywhere else. So the Patriots probably looked at the Steelers and said, you know what, they don't have Roethlisberger. We're going to win the AFC East. There's no question about that. Let's go win this game, and let's do it with playing vanilla. Let's not show them anything, because if they end up coming to Foxborough, we end up going to Heinz Field for the AFC Championship,

then we can open it up if we have to with some specialty plays and things of that nature. Well, guess what? It worked out that way. And don't put that past Bill Belichick. Don't put that past him, because he has faith in his team that they can win straight up without getting creative, and they did. And they did it because Roethlisberger didn't play. I do believe if Roethlisberger played that game,

New England would have been forced to show more. And I also think that Pittsburgh was forced to show more because Roethlisberger didn't play. So it's going to be interesting to see how that all plays out, but I think that's a huge advantage for the Patriots that they did not play. They weren't very creative in the first game. They just came out, did what they had to do, got the job done.

Who knows? Maybe they do that again. Maybe they figured out that going against Pittsburgh straight up is the way to do it. But I have a feeling we're going to see some wrinkles. So let's take a minute to hear from one of our sponsors. So it's time for the NFC Championship Games. NFL Championship Games. Sorry about that. Is your team one of the final four? Well, either way, SeatGeek's the easiest way to find tickets for these games.

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My listeners get a $20 rebate off their first SeatGeek purchase. What you need to do to get your $20 rebate on tickets, download the SeatGeek app that I was talking about, go to the settings tab and click add a promo code and the promo code LOPATRIOTS today. It's L-O-P-A-T-R-I-O-T-S. SeatGeek's going to send you $20 after you've made your first purchase. Again, download the Seat Geek app, go to the setting tab, click add a promo code, and to promo code L-O-P-A-T-R-I-O-T-S today. That's L-O Patriots today. Don't miss out. This is an awesome deal. And if you go to games and you're not getting discounts, you're missing out. I want to thank you all for joining us on this Thursday edition,

Thursday Championship edition of Locked On Patriots. Be sure to go to iTunes and subscribe to our show today, as in right now. Tell your friends about us. You don't really have to, though. We're getting talked about on ESPN. We're getting talked about on NBC Sports. We're getting talked about everywhere. You know

why? Because we love what we do. And we're going to keep you guys in the know on everything you need to know. Here at Locked on Patriots, that's what we want to do. We want to give you guys the most info you need to be the most in-the-know Patriots fan. So be sure to join us tomorrow. We're going to break down Sunday's matchup. This Sunday's matchup, not back on October 23rd, between the Patriots and the Steelers. We're going to take a look at the Patriots' offense versus the Steelers' defense and vice versa.

And then we're going to explain who has the edge and then make our prediction for Sunday night's 640 AFC Championship. This is pretty awesome. This is the Patriots' 13th AFC Championship in their history. Whoever wins this game between the Patriots and the Steelers will have the most Super Bowl appearances in the history of the NFL. So there's some bragging rights on the line here. Patriots fans, do you understand that?

Few fans that have been around for as long as I have been around New England and been around this team, when they stunk and they sucked and they were so bad for so long, they're playing in their 13th AFC Championship game on Sunday. Their 13th. It's simply amazing. And they have a chance to have the most Super Bowl appearances in the history of the NFL. Never did I ever think 20 years ago

that these words would be coming out of my mouth. So enjoy this run, Patriots fans, and enjoy these next few days because they're not going to last forever, and this is fun. So again, I'm your host, Chris Simino. Thank you all for joining us tonight, Patriots fans. Be sure to tune in tomorrow. Make sure you hear what my prediction is.

I think you guys know who I'm going to pick for a winner, but you have no idea what I'm going to predict for a score. Have a great night, Patriots fans. What you doing? Ran out of space on my phone, so I'm deleting some stuff. Bye singing dog. Bye goal.

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