Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots - October 23, 2019: Crossover with Locked On Browns

Episode Date: October 23, 2019

It’s Crossover Wednesday! Join hosts Mike D’Abate of Locked On Patriots and Jeff Lloyd of Locked On Browns as the duo preview Sunday’s matchup between the New England Patriots and Cleveland Browns from Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And hello, Cleveland, and hello, New England, and welcome to Crossover Wednesday here on the Locked On Podcast Network. I am the host of Locked On Patriots, Mike DeBate. I cover the Patriots for fullpresscoverage.com, which is where you can always find my written work, and you can reach out to me on Twitter at M-D-A-B-A-T-E-F-P-C, and be sure to follow Locked On Patriots on Twitter at L-O underscore Patriots. Mike, it's a pleasure to join you here.

Obviously, Jeff Lloyd from Locked On Browns at Jeff underscore L-J underscore Lloyd. Obviously, really close with the former host here. Heard really good things about what you're doing so far with the show. I know it's always tough to do because obviously the Browns already played two Monday night games. These crossover Wednesdays are a little bit tough when you're almost a little bit less than 24 hours removed, but looking forward to talking about this. And, you know, this is a game for us, you know, Browns wise, we've had,

you know, etched in stone since the schedule came out. Look, you don't know, you know, the measure of the metal. If you're in the AFC and it's been this way for darn near 20 years is how do you stack up against the new England Patriots? So we're going to get going to that here a little bit, Mike, first and foremost, we'll start here. This Patriots defense, look, Tom Brady and this offense for years has done some really, really exceptional things. This defense right now, uh, through seven weeks, the highest point differential ever.

I was doing a show earlier with one of the guys from PFF. They are currently the number seven overall scoring player in fantasy football. A defense through seven weeks, Mike. What is going on there? Well, it is an amazing, amazing thing. And first of all, Jeff, definitely. I want to thank you for the kind words. And it is my honor to be joining you on the microphone today as well to break down this

game. This has been one I've been looking forward to. A lot of people in New England have as well. So with that being said, the Patriots defense, I opened my show to yesterday on Locked On, and I said that this team is being called the boogeymen. And that's self-professed. Kyle Van Noy and Dante Hightower kind of took the ball with that and started professing their defense to be the boogeymen. And they actually did on Monday night make, and I still can't believe he was able to say this. They made Sam Darnold think he was seeing ghosts.

And all right, I know it was figurative and I know the social media had a ton of fun with that, but this is a formidable defense. Look, the reason why they're doing this is because they are stout in all three phases of the defense. The front seven has been phenomenal. They've had guys like especially Danny Shelton coming in. Who Cleveland fans know well. This is a guy that came in last year. Was not a big contributor to the New England Patriots. As a matter of fact he was a healthy scratch more often than not.

He lost some weight this year. Worked on the playbook. Really really put his nose to the grindstone. And got to be such a key contributor on this on this defensive line and he's been tremendous at nose tackle you put him alongside guys like adam butler and laurence guy who have been absolute studs they have been able to clog the middle and contain the run on the defensive end sides they've gotten great production out of guys like chase winovich guys like john simon uh these guys have been able to rush the passer, get after,

and even drop back into coverage a little bit with the linebacking core. And the linebacking core has been phenomenal. Jamie Collins, again, another name that Cleveland fans know very well, really making a case for Defensive Player of the Year, in my opinion. He has been a real key catalyst in waking up the linebacking core, which was already formidable last year. When you take a look at guys like Dante Hightower, Jawan Bentley, Alandon Roberts has been huge in being able to stuff the run. What they're doing is not necessarily confusing people with all these different types of schemes.

What they're doing is very simple, but they're doing it in a very efficient way. They're stacking the box. They're allowing the linebackers to run free, get after the passer. And what that's doing is that's allowing the secondary then to play lockdown man coverage. Stefan Gilmore has been phenomenal at corner. JC Jackson has been very good in the second year player coming in. He's grown by leaps and bounds, the safety position with Devin McCourty and Patrick Chung's been injured a little bit out here and there, but Daron Harmon has stepped up nicely. They've just been so stout in all three phases of the defense. So it's been very, very tough for teams to be able to score

points. And because they're forcing turnovers, they're putting points on the board. Yeah. It's, I mean, it's scary in its task task especially when the browns are coming into this with two and four and you talk about you know have that little you know rudkers trio in the secondary where obviously you have no questions about and obviously a lot of it can be done just with looks when these guys know each other like they do uh you know and obviously so there's three former browns um and again new england and bill belichick they've always known how to make jamie collins you know basically the queen if you're going to go with the chess piece you know and i talked about this earlier today in the show i did is

the thing with jamie collins and one of the reasons they you know did trade him and move on from him in new england was you had your questions about you know where he was as far as you know love of the game and this happens from him in New England was you had your questions about, you know, where he was as far as, you know, love of the game. And this happens, look, some of these guys played the game just because they're really good at it and it's their best opportunity to make a ton of money. But Bill was always smart with, you know, a player who maybe you had questions about how engaged they were, was always mixing up what they did. So they didn't have a choice. You know, you were either cut or you were engaged. And that's where Jamie Collins, who was so versatile, which we never truly saw in Cleveland.

And, you know, there were weeks where Jamie Collins was a great line. And then there were weeks where he wasn't. But we never saw the player that Jamie Collins has ever been in New England where it was, okay, wow, this week he was effective as a pass rusher the next week oh look at that he took a good tight end out of the game or oh wow now he's really you know we always think I'm running back out of the passing game because he's really good with that we never got to see that product of Jamie Collins um offensively we're rolling in here um wounded dog I would say is a little bit of what's going on with the offense right now. Nick Chubb has been fantastic, fabulous.

And just so you know, Mike, my normal co-host that I have on almost every day, Pete Smith, we argued Sony Michelle and Nick Chubb ad nauseum for months. And I was a Sony guy. Pete was a Nick Chubb guy. I think we got the better of that deal. Sony's found, obviously, a way to be a solid contributor for New England in that respect. But getting back to the offense here, you know, the Browns are now in the advantage where they're coming off the bye. They've gotten some tough luck as far as, you know, teams coming off the Thursday night game, teams coming off the bye.

You know, having to play the short week, which the Patriots are going to do this week. What is the biggest concern, you know, defensive wise about, you know, because there isn't really been a lot of great stuff this offense has put together yet. There's a lot of skill with this Browns yet. There's been issues from the, you know, from the calls from up top, down to the coach, the stuff on the field.

It's not ever really hit the ground running yet other than Baltimore. We haven't seen the best this Browns offense can be. Who knows when that will exactly come. But what is, what's the first thing you try to take away? What do you worry about? I mean, obviously the defense is playing very well in New England. What is the concern? What are you trying to take away? Well, if I'm the Patriots defense, you have to try to take away the run because Cleveland, as you said, has run the ball very effectively this year.

Nick Chubb, especially averages 5.3 yards and 114 carries the season fourth in the league with 607 yards, six touchdowns. The Patriots defense has played phenomenal and we've gone into that ad nauseam, but if there is one area that they are able to at least, or the Browns, I should say, are at least able to make a little bit of headway, it would be in the run defense. Don't forget Frank Gore topped a hundred yard mark when the, uh, the, the Buffalo bills played the new England Patriots a few weeks ago, just, uh, you know, a couple of nights ago when we saw Le'Veon Bell in the jets and that was a disastrous game for the New England Patriots a few weeks ago, just a couple of nights ago when we saw Le'Veon Bell

in the Jets, and that was a disastrous game for the New York Jets. But people forget that he had 70 yards on just 15 attempts. So if I'm the Browns, I want to establish Chubb early and often. And that might be one way for the Browns to avoid the turnovers that have plagued the team and really the Patriots have preyed upon. So if I'm the Patriots, I'm looking to contain Chubb. I'm looking to make sure that Nick Chubb is not the guy that's going to hurt me. The New England Patriots, I think they need to be a little bit better up front and not allow Cleveland to control the ball on the ground. Based on the way the defense is played as a whole, it's hard to imagine the Browns having success if Chubb is held in check. So at that point,

I'm thinking if I'm the Patriots, that's the guy I need to keep, and that's the guy I need to lock down. It almost sounds ridiculous thinking about what this team was going to be early on this year and saying you may rather have Baker Mayfield try to beat you through the air than have Nick Chubb beat you through the ground. But I think the way the season's gone and the way the Patriots' defense has gone, I think that's the key. So that's a concern of mine.

If I'm a New England Patriots coach or anybody on that staff, that's what I'm looking for in the room this week. Yeah, and this is something we've actually harped on in the show, and it's weird to say when you have Baker with all the success he had as a rookie and Jarvis Landry and obviously the Miss Richard Higgins Antonio Calloway had a suspension issue um you lost David Njoku but you kind of got that part receiving wise replaced with Ricky Seals Jones who's done a fantastic job and was a kind of a big surprise as far as what you got out of him

but the moment you lost David Njoku Ricky Seals Jones was the only guy in the room that could do something at the tight end position as a receiver. And he's shown that, but you know, and it's weird for us to say with all of this deep amount of skill they have is you need to get everything going through Nick first, because you know, if everybody's going to have their eyes on him and he's been,

Nick Chubb, he's just a pleasure to cover. He's just the consummate pros pro. They had him mic'd up for the Raven game. If he said four words, maybe the guy just goes about his business and does his due diligence and just works hard. And I completely agree. It's's you know getting it going so at least you have the thought of now where are you concerned about okay well we got to try to take him away which should ease up the coverage hopefully but it it's just crazy that we're humans like this is the way it is but nick chubb is the key to the Browns offense. As he goes, so goes that offense.

Yeah, absolutely. And then, and especially when you think about how well the Patriots are playing in the secondary and the interceptions that they're able to come down with. And we saw this in the Monday nighter. We've seen it routinely over the course of this year. The secondary is able to force turnovers and they're able to get up into coverage and be able to pick off quarterbacks, especially young quarterbacks. And not that I'm trying to hit Cleveland below the belt here, folks. I'm certainly not, but no quarterback has thrown more interceptions this season than Baker Mayfield.

He's got 11 of them. So, again, that's why if I'm the New England Patriots, the guy that I want to control is Nick Chubb. I think that the Patriots secondary can match up with some of the offensive weapons, and they do have great offensive weapons in Cleveland. Obviously, Odell Beckham Jr., there's no question about it. He is an otherworldly talent. Jarvis Landry is excellent. Ricky Seals-Jones subbing in for David Njoku.

You mentioned him as well. These are guys that can definitely hurt you, but the Patriots do have the personnel in the secondary to be able to match up or at least try to neutralize that. If Nick Chubb can get in and get going, that may open up things for Cleveland in play action. Very similar to the way the New England Patriots run their offense, and we'll get to that in a minute, I'm sure, but to me, again, that's the key for the New England Patriots defense

because on the defensive side of the ball, when it comes to the passing attack of the Cleveland Browns, I like the way the Patriots are able to utilize that matchup. Yeah, well, you know, for everyone listening, we're going to slowly flip it up here, obviously, and go Browns, the Patriots offense. The one thing and this is something that really hasn't happened through six games, and it's going to have to happen this week for the Cleveland offenses. There's got to be some shots downfield. We talk a lot, you know, on the show when people get confused, you know, where Baker's, you know, trying to hit a home run, you know, trying to hit a home run is trying to escape an empty pocket or trying to find any way of success where Tom Brady for years has said, look,

it ain't here. I'm going to throw the ball to Bill Belichick. I'm going to throw it at somebody's feet and we'll live to fight another down. Baker's been a little, you know, trying to do too much, essentially trying to hit the home run, but there's been not much deep vertical stuff. And that's something they really need to do. And look, I don't know if it's going to succeed but this could be the week where they try to try it and that's kind of what you brought in

13 and odell beckham jr for so it'll be interesting how it plays out but they got to take a couple of deep shots here because they've got people stacking their coverage and not taking a lot of responsibility for deep zones the Browns got to do something to at least challenge those zones to make things a little easier for Baker. Absolutely. And I completely agree. And it's great that we were able to get some of the offensive skills and the offensive strategy of the Cleveland Browns.

We're going to flip the tables in a little bit and we're going to go into the offensive strategy of the New England Patriots and how that formidable Cleveland defense is going to be able to contain Tom Brady and company however before we do so I just wanted to remind you that any athlete will tell you you can't succeed unless you're in the game sounds simple right it is as a true football fan you already know just as sure as the seasons change Tom Brady will keep the Patriots in the game. And we expect him to do that on Sunday. Every weekend, our favorite gridiron warriors put their skills to the test. So why aren't you doing the same?

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here with Jeff, who is the host of Locked On Browns. And Jeff, we talked a little bit about the Cleveland Browns offensive strategy and how they're going to try to attack what has been a very, very stout Patriots defense, top-ranked defense in the league. Cleveland boasts some defensive stars of their own, and the New England Patriots offense has not been lighting the world on fire. Despite them putting up a first in the league at 31.9 points per game, they've struggled to move the ball at times, and they tend to go in spurts.

So if you're the Cleveland Browns right now, and you're taking a look at what Tom Brady and the New England offense brings to the table as a as a Cleveland defensive strategist, what are you looking to take away most from the Patriots? And where do you see them being able to make plays and maybe even force the Patriots into some turnovers? For the first time since week two, the Cleveland Browns should be returning their starting quarterback duo. It was weird how it all went down. They practiced after the Monday night game against the Jets. Next thing you know, Denzel Ward, Greedy Williams were nursing hamstring injuries. A lot of Browns fans have gotten a little upset with both players.

And look, a hamstring, it's a killer injury. There's no way to rate it. Yeah, it sucked to lose these guys for four weeks. But, I mean, it was just the situation in the hand that they were dealt. They will both be back this week. Denzel Ward, you look at Julian Edelman. That should be a much better matchup than TJ Carey or Terrence Mitchell. Greedy Williams was extremely well grading as far as, you know, the folks over at PFF.

And it really showed very well through two weeks getting him back, whether it's a Josh Gordon, whether it's maybe a Muhammad Sanu, who's now part of this fold. It's going to be a big addition. It's going to add a lot to their secondary. First things first, though, and most importantly, what I'm looking at is I'm looking at that offensive line. Um, miles Garrett, obviously bill Belichick, you know, he always speaks well of any opponent he's going to face, uh, spoke well of miles Garrett today. Um, miles Garrett, it's weird and it's crazy because when he, you know, he, there's a lot of games where he might be the most athletic player on the field and it could be the case this, this week. Um, obviously, you know, bill is, you know, no sucker.

He knows what he's doing. And there'll be a lot of focus there. But they did a great job lengthening this defensive line. Larry Ogunjobi does not get spoken of a lot, but he is a really, really good interior defensive player who has grown more into a pass rusher as opposed to being quick off the snap in, you know, obviously run play. Sheldon Richardson, you know, he's played outside.

He's played hand in the dirt. He's played stand up, playing on the interior. Very quick player. I would say we haven't gotten the full return on Sheldon Richardson yet, but, you know, has a history here with the Patriots and played him a bunch. I'm sure he's looking forward to this matchup. Olivier Vernon has been a really nice addition completing this defensive line. Look, if there's one thing and the only knock you can literally say

about Tom Brady, the guy's 42, he's still good looking. His wife is banging. He's got more rings than most people almost have fingers at this point. One thing that he doesn't have is much mobility. He's got quick and he's great with his step up. But, you know, but other than that, there's not much mobility. Let these young guys go after him and with better coverage with Greedy and Denzel returning this week. And look, it's going to be a little bit of a mixed bag because you're not sure if you're going to get Josh Gordon.

You have no idea where Muhammad's to new on a short week's going to factor into this. I'm sure there's going to be some, you know, gimmick looks, or at least, you know, Muhammad's going to be lined up somewhere where it's going to give off a

gimmick look. Cause you know, Bill is the ultimate chess player in that respect, but that defensive line, go get 12. It's not like it's a great offensive line. They're not that maybe one of the weaker points of this team, and it kind of shows in the yards per carry as well.

Go get 12. That's the recipe on defense is go get 12. And look, you know, if you can get it early and you can get it often and other things, click the Patriots won't care if they're only seven in one, they truly won't. They're smart enough to go fight another day. But you get Tom hurt and Tom hot early and you don't get after Tom early.

It's going to be a long day for anybody. Yeah, without question. And I'm glad that you brought that because that does lead me into my point in terms of what i'm looking at from a patriots offensive standpoint and what's giving me fits in this game and that really is the cleveland pass rush and that really has been their their stalwart of their defense this secondary really has been riddled with injury and there's no question about that. And they've done a fairly decent job, I think, of keeping the ship afloat during injuries to guys like Denzel Ward, Greedy Williams.

You mentioned this. It's definitely a concern of theirs. The Patriots opened the Jets game with one of their most impressive drives of the season before falling off thereafter. A lot of that is due to some inconsistencies on the offensive line, the Patriots offensive line. I mean, they're getting a little bit better. It's been makeshift.

Don't forget, they're missing Isaiah Wynn. They're starting left tackle. They're missing David Andrews. They're starting in Pro Bowl center, one of the team captains. Teddy Karras has stepped into that role, done a nice job, but they're still missing Andrews. Marcus Cannon's been banged up on the right side. So they have some moving parts and some new guys that have been slowly working their way into this offensive line. And look, Dante Skarniecki, who is the Patriots offensive line coach, is among the best to ever coach offensive football in, I think, in really in NFL history.

He's been phenomenal. But there's only so much that you can do with the talent there. So the Patriots beefing up on some of their skill positions. They brought in Mohamed Sanu. That should add some depth to the receiving core, even if, like you said, he's not quite up to speed for the Cleveland game. You might get some tricky looks or whatever from Bill Belichick. We know that Mohamed Sanu is not above dropping back and throwing a pass.

He's thrown some touchdown passes. We've seen him do it before. I don't necessarily know if they're going to be looking for the trickery in this game, but you never know. Just when you think that the Patriots are not going to do something, they usually do it and vice versa. Julian Edelman has been banged up. And I've said over and over again on Locked On Patriots, every time the guy makes a catch,

you see him get up and wince. It looks like he is in a lot of pain, but he's still playing hard and he's still toughing it out and gritting it out. And it's amazing what he's been able to do. Rookie undrafted free agent, Jacoby Myers has had quietly three very good games in a row. And that continued on Monday night against the jets. This kid is the real deal. He's got great field position and great field presence. He knows how to get open and he knows how to make catches in the open field. So if he can get some action in the slot, that could help, especially a guy like Philip Dorsett, who's nursing a hamstring

injury. The Patriots are going to have to try to avoid the pass rush. That is the most important thing. The offensive line needs to do a good job of protecting him, him being Brady. Because if Tom Brady is protected, I do believe he's got the weapons now to be able to challenge the Cleveland secondary. If the offensive line struggles to protect Tom Brady and that pass rush can get after him, this could get very, very interesting in Foxborough on Sunday. And Cleveland could start smelling blood in the water if things start going bad on an offensive end for the Patriots. Look, it is a huge one. It's a key one. For me, one of the biggest concerns, and I think the wide receiver core, it's good.

You don't really know essentially what's coming. But for me, it's the headache that is James White. And the Browns linebackers, Joe Sjobert has been a phenomenal coverage linebacker for the last two years. This year, that is one thing where his game has been lacking, which is surprising. And I am a huge Joe Stan. Give him an extension tomorrow. I'm not going to grade him off of a few games this year as opposed to the sum of Ben has been his career. But James White, I mean, he's just

literally a PIA as far as what he can do and what he brings. And it's not like it's fooling anybody. You watch it on film all week and that's where you truly get a merit of a player is you know exactly what they're going to do to you,

but yet still they eat your lunch and you can't stop it. That's absolutely true. It really, really is. And again, I do believe that you hit the nail right on the head when it comes to that. The Cleveland Browns are definitely going to need to utilize those looks in order to make sure that the Patriots are not able to need to utilize those looks in order to make sure that the Patriots are not able to advance the ball. And James White is very, very good at being able to get open in the backfield and catch passes.

We've seen him do that. Sonny Michel not as adept to doing that. Now, Sonny has been, and you mentioned Sonny Michel earlier, and that, you know, you guys probably did get the better of the two. I would probably agree with that. And I am a Sonny guy. I actually scouted him as a potential pick for the Patriots when he came out in the draft a couple of years ago, because he is that type of back that Bill Belichick loves.

His decision-making has been a little suspect and that's where you can look to contain Sony. He hasn't necessarily been great at receiving in the backfield. He worked on that during training camp. We saw him in the Monday night game, try to make a reception, terrible drop. And you didn't see that again. That's the easiest way to get into the bill. Belichick, Tom Brady, doghouse is dropping something wide open or one or two higher TD. Exactly. That's it. And all of a sudden it's like, no, okay. Not going there anymore. Not going to do that. Sony does have some quickness coming off the block. He is able to, if he can find the hole, he can get yards and we've seen him do it and be effective, but he hasn't done it consistently.

So that's going to be a key for the new England Patriots is trying to advance the ball with the run game, get the running game going early because that opens up play action for the Patriots. And if you can open up play action for this new England Patriots offense, it really changes the complexity of the game. Tom Brady can start picking his targets, usually utilizing the short pass and play action, advancing the ball. And then all of a sudden, the next thing, you know, the Patriots were at your, their opponent's 30 yard line. And the next thing they know, they're right down there ready to, uh, to, to, you know, punch it in from the goal line. So that's going to be a big

key and again i think you did hit the nail right on the head look for white to be a big part of the offense if the patriots are going to advance and going to have an easier time on sunday it's it's going to be interesting they're just a diverse group and they kind of do a little bit of everything. Well, this Patriots offense, and even though they are behind what their defense is doing right now is nobody is sleeping on Tom Brady and the Patriots offense.

Well, I'm sure there are some national pundits that are trying to, you know, poke poke holes in the proverbial armor of the old grizzled 42-year-old veteran. But in all actuality, there's always a ton of respect throughout the league. And I know that regardless of his age or whatever, the experience that Tom Brady brings to the table is definitely paramount. And look, there is a lot of talent on the Cleveland side of the ball as well.

Miles, you mentioned Miles Garrett. And Bill Belichick always does praise his opponents. It's a hallmark of what he does. I can assure you from having covered the team that it does come from a, a definitely a, um, a sincere place. A lot of people roll their eyes when he criticizes when he'll, he'll praise every team that he plays, but Bill Belichick sees things in players and in teams that the average football fan and the average media person does not see. I always said I use the analogy that Bill Belichick has forgotten more football than I'll ever know in my lifetime. So, you know, if he does, I'll come in with this one real quick.

What I always say about Bill Belichick and obviously with his roots here in New Jersey, with the Giants and brief tenure with the Jets. Bill Belichick will beat you on Sunday. He'll come back next Sunday with your 53. He'll give you his 53, and he'll beat you again. Playing chess when everybody else is playing checkers, and that is the moniker around here. And I can assure you, like I said, having watched this team cover this team, yeah, it's pretty accurate, folks. He's very, very good at what he does.

And again, you're hearing Mike debate of Lockdown Patriots, Jeff Lloyd of Lockdown Browns. And this has been a blast so far, Jeff. And we're going to give our keys to the game and our predictions in just a moment when we wrap up our crossover Wednesday year on the Locked On Podcast Network. But before I proceed with that, I wanted to take a moment just to address all of you guys out there. And ladies, you'll appreciate this too.

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Again, that's B-L-U-E-Chew.com promo code MLB to try it for free. BlueChew is the better, cheaper, faster choice, and we thank them for sponsoring the podcast. Jeff, it has been a blast sharing the microphone with you here with Lockdown Patriots crossover with Lockdown Browns. It's about that time, my friend.

We're going to offer our key matchups, our keys to the game and our final game prediction. So I turn the microphone over to you, my friend. From a Cleveland Browns perspective, what can we expect and what is your prediction for sunday's game the key is going to be for the cleveland offense i i think the defense and this has been the case for you know almost all of this you know obviously you know san francisco cashed him in the run game i don't think new england has the offensive line to gash in the run game and obviously you know new york lanes offensive line to gash in the run game. And obviously, you know, New England has their struggles in the run game to this point.

So I'm not too concerned on the defensive side of the ball. The play calling needs to be right. It needs to come in in a timely fashion. There's so much where Baker's getting to the line of scrimmage with five, six seconds. And if you're continuing to see looks of disguised coverage, how do you do that? How do you combat that? With more time, you run motion, you force people to tip their hands.

They need to get more into that. This was huge with what made Freddie so successful in 2018, which led him to getting this head coaching job. Move people around. Make things easier for Baker to diagnose. They've got to get chunk plays other than the run game. You can't just rely on Nick Chubb to get you two 30-yard runs a game to be enough to make a difference. This is why you brought Odell Beckham Jr. here.

They need to go to the deeper vertical more challenging routes where even look i mean look at worst you get a pass interference if anything you need to challenge these guys and look i know the coverage grades of these patriot defenders and they are through the stinking roof. But guys who cover this well, how do you challenge them? You make them vulnerable. You make it big play. You know, any slight mistake, even if it's a hand on a hip or whatever, it's, you know, it's a huge shift in field position. It's a huge shift in momentum.

Baker, we'll see how he, you know, did he take the bye week and, you know, relax and try to get himself back to his comfort zone and not try to hurry everything. Just needs to get back to a better pace offensively. Like I said, the defense, I'm okay with where they're at. I really am. And especially with you're going to get Denzel and Greedy back here, you're going to have a full compliment on defense.

And this is the deepest compliment they probably had as far as roster players on defense that they trust in probably years now. I can't just say you're going to go win in New England and win. I normally pretty positive in my predictions. I think the game is going to be a lot closer than the current 12 and a half points, 12 and a half points. 12 and a half point spread says it currently is right now. If they do what they're supposed to do on offense.

But that's the key right now. And it's weird because I didn't think I'd be saying, you know, anywhere at all. The point of this season is, well, if the offense does this, we always figured it would be maybe the defense or the special teams where two rookies are manning their posts and doing it well. If they can do what this offensive talent-wise and, you know, the skill players they have, if they do what they're supposed to do, they can play with anybody. So I think they can keep it close. Obviously, you know, you had mentioned earlier whether or not you can get New England into some turnovers, which could maybe cause something, which could maybe turn it into a Browns win. But it's really tough to ask this team right now at 2-4 and kind of just trying to figure it all out with a new coaching staff and a head coach who's never been a head coach anywhere before

to go in and knock the head off the dragon, so to speak. I think it'll be a good showing, though. Yeah, I absolutely agree. I think that the Cleveland Browns right now will present a test to the New England Patriots on Sunday. And even at the record of 2-4, Cleveland still possesses a lot of talent on both sides of the ball. We've gone over the talent that they have on the defensive side of the ball,

whether it be with Denzel Ward in the secondary or whether it be with Miles Garrett up front. It's a situation where they do have defensive playmakers, especially a formidable pass rush that can force turnovers. If they can get after and put pressure on Tom Brady and utilize that pass rush, which has been very good this season, then they could look to do just that. If I'm the New England Patriots, to me, there are two keys to the game.

One is Nick Chubb. And yes, I know Nick Chubb is a Cleveland Brown, but they need to contain him. The Patriots defense needs to be able to stop him and not prevent him from gaining yards on the ground. You don't want to give Baker Mayfield and that wide receiving core an opportunity to open up the field, allow him to start maybe hitting short passes and play action, and then go for the big

chunk plays down the field because they do have the receiving core to do that. Odell Beckham Jr. is one of the best in the league at being able to get open downfield and make things happen. So the Patriots, if they can contain Nick Chubb and not allow him to gain huge yardage on the ground, then they can control the tempo from a defensive standpoint. On the Patriots' offensive standpoint, my key to the game is James White. And, Jeff, you alluded to this earlier. James White is so much of a key in what the Patriots do offensively. And especially with Rex Burkhead banged up, we don't know if he's going to be able to go. He's missed the last three weeks.

Josh Gordon is still dealing with knee and injuries and also an ankle injury. He's a name Cleveland Browns fans know very well as well. But these guys are banged up. So utilize a guy like James White in the backfield. You may even see him carry the ball a little bit. If Sonny Michel struggles to get open, James White is still a very adept runner. He's more of a threat catching passes out of the backfield and opening things up for the Patriots play action. But he's still a guy that can run the football.

So if he's a focal point of this offense and they can get him going, that opens up a lot. And it takes a lot of pressure off Tom Brady. It allows him to be able to pick his targets. And if Brady's able to sit back with time in the pocket and pick his targets, could be a long day for the Cleveland Browns. But again, it depends on the offensive line. If the O-line struggles, the Patriots are going to have to utilize a guy like White to get quick passes.

Brady gets the ball out of his hand quickly, and they can make things happen in that way. I see that being more of a likely scenario than Brady getting major protection from the offensive line and having tons of time in the backfield. Hasn't really happened much this season at all. And against a very formidable Cleveland pass rush, I don't see it happening on Sunday. That should be the key. And I think, you know, their initial thought process was, well, you know, when they drafted greedy Williams is all right.

Now the coverage should be tight enough. The defensive line should eat. And now for the first time after four games in five weeks, they're hopefully going to get to see the fruition of it. You know, hopefully Steve Wilkes or understand that, you know, greedy Williams and denzel ward or better man covers coverage guys than they are his own um and this may be the week to show that and it'll be interesting because we haven't seen either of these two corners now in well over a

month uh so that should hopefully be a key but you know i mean again you're going in and you're it's a measuring stick you're going to play the team that everybody expects every year year in year out is at minimum going to play for you know the afc championship so uh you know but look it's you know it's time you can't you can't run from this uh you know you're going to face big brother you're going to face the you know the elite of the elite in your conference you know browns need this if anything at, they need a good showing. They need a positive showing. Second half schedule is certainly formidable and it looks pretty good on

paper, but you can't have your second blowout within three weeks. Yeah. And I think so. And I do, again, I do agree that this is probably going to be a closer game than the 12.5 point spread that's currently put out right now. I think these two teams are a little more evenly matched than maybe initially thought. I think a lot of people are looking at the win-loss columns and saying, oh, okay, 7-0, 2-4, yeah, this is it. This is what the spread is going to be.

I look for a closer game than that. So that being said, we've arrived at the time, my friend, very quickly. What is your game prediction this Sunday in Foxborough? Well, I can never go with, you know, a normal score that everybody sees because, you know, I guess it just got, you know, Browns wise with going for two and miss missed extra points if it was something like new england 33 cleveland 26 somewhere in that range my guess is i would say you know unless everything breaks right for cleveland you know new england wins by you know touchdown or less yeah i would probably agree with you i think i have i think i'm going to

have the patriots by seven points in this game i have them winning by a touchdown not going to give the final score prediction just yet i usually reserve the right to do that on my friday episode so i'm going to tease my audience a little bit and have them tune in on friday as they always do for that but uh yeah i think the patriots take this one by a touchdown but i think this is going to be a closer game than people think. And the Cleveland Browns are going to present a challenge to the New England Patriots on Sunday. And I'm looking forward to this. Again, this is one, like you said when we opened the show, been circled on the calendar of a lot of Cleveland Browns fans.

I got news for you. Patriots fans had this one circled, too. They're looking forward to seeing Baker, Odell, and the Cleveland Browns come into town as well. So this is going to be a fun one in Foxborough on Sunday. Oh, no doubt about it. And then you get the, you know, obviously to add in the fact that it's 430 game. You got obviously, you know, Jim Nance and Tony Rollo in house. Definitely looking forward to it.

No doubt about it. Oh, without, absolutely without question. Jeff, again, it has been a blast sharing the microphone with you today. Thank you for inviting me into your home to come in and talk to some of your listeners today regarding the Patriots. And I assure you that it's been our honor at Locked On Patriots to have your wisdom and counsel grace our airwaves. And you've definitely enlightened my listening fan base a little bit on what the Cleveland Browns are going to bring to the table

on Sunday in Foxborough. So thank you very much, my friend. Oh, absolute pleasure, Mike. And look, I mean, you know, it's, you know, some of these episodes I do when I go in a little more confident, I go in a little more cocky, but I mean, you can't literally go in and mess with the best, you know, New England is a great humbler, my friend. I definitely agree with you. I can I can understand that. But rest assured that there is a lot of respect on this side of the microphone as well for the team that you guys are putting out there. And I think the Cleveland Browns are better than that two and four record. And I think they're going to show that as we move into the second half of the season.

And we definitely hope that you have enjoyed crossover Wednesday here with Locked On Patriots and Locked On Browns. As always, please join us each and every day on the Locked On Podcast Network via your preferred podcast provider. For Jeff Gloyd of Locked On Browns, I am Mike DeBate of Locked On Patriots.

Thank you for listening. Have a great day and a great week, everybody.