Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots - September 12, 2019: AB and the Pats Perspective

Episode Date: September 12, 2019

As the New England Patriots move forward amidst the allegations levied against wide receiver Antonio Brown, host Mike D’Abate is joined by Brianna Pirre of the Fangirl Sports Network to discuss the impact of Brown’s situation on the team, as well as previewing Patriots/Dolphins on Sunday.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

and hello to all you foxborough faithful and welcome to your thursday edition of locked on patriots your daily home for news notes analysis and the occasional opinion on your six-time super bowl champions the new england patriots locked on patriots as always is a part of the locked on podcast network i am your host mike debate and i cover the Patriots for FullPressCoverage.com, which is where you can find my written work, and you can also reach out to me on Twitter at M-D-A-B-A-T-E F-P-C. And while you're

at it, please be sure to follow the Locked on Patriots Twitter as well, at L-O underscore Patriots. Yesterday's crossover show with Travis Wingfield at Locked on Dolphins made an effort to focus on Sunday's game against the Dolphins. But I'm sure by now all of you have heard the news regarding Patriots wide receiver Antonio Brown. And I will be addressing that news of the past couple of days today.

And my guest, Brianna Pierre of Fangirl Sports Network, and I will be providing some insight from the Patriots' perspective on all this. But first, just to recap briefly, we all know that Antonio Brown officially signed a one-year deal with the Patriots on Monday. But that era of good feelings was short-lived, as Tuesday evening gave way to a report from the New York Times, which had also been reported by TMZ as well, that Brown's former trainer, Brittany Taylor, with whom he assumably had a previous relationship, had filed a lawsuit claiming that Brown sexually assaulted her on three different occasions

from June 2017 to May 2018. And the suit further stated that one of these incidents was indeed forcible rape. So through a statement made by his attorney, Darren Heitner, Brown is vehemently denying these allegations and reportedly plans to countersue his accuser, and he's been implying lately, especially within this document, that the suit is an attempt of extortion. So that's essentially what we know at this point with regard to the Antonio Brown situation. Everything else, details will follow, but that's pretty much what we know to date. Despite the rumors that he might be disciplined by the team or even placed on the commissioner's exempt list, Antonio Brown was at practice in Foxborough yesterday, and at least for

the time being, it appears that it's business as usual for the New England Patriots. But there's never a dull moment when it comes to this team. And this morning, I'm honored to be joined by Brianna Peer of Fangirl Sports Network to discuss, again, the situation from a Patriots perspective and questions like, what is the mood of the Patriots fans throughout all this? What does it mean for the team on the field? And, of course, the question on everybody's mind is whether or not Antonio Brown's days in New England are numbered. We're going to cover that and a lot more today, so stay tuned, and I will be welcoming in

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My guest this morning always offers a candid and unique perspective on all things Boston sports, primarily your New England Patriots, folks. She provides stellar content and coverage for the Patriots, for the Fangirl Sports Network, and also I think she's one of the most informative and entertaining followers on social media that you'll find across the platform. Joining me on Lockdown Patriots today is Brianna Peer. Thank you so much for joining me today, Brianna. Welcome to Lockdown Patriots.

Thank you for having me. I'm excited. It's kind of a crazy week, sports-wise, but I'm excited to get going. Thank you, and I'm excited to have you here, and thank you so much for joining me today. Brianna, we'll do this like a Band-A-aid and we'll get right to it, essentially. I know that you're no stranger to the events of the last couple of days, and anyone with a connection to this team always seems to feel that added stress of outside distractions, whether it be Spygate, Deflategate, Aaron Hernandez. Those immediately come to mind. But without discussing the intricate

details of this matter, what was your initial reaction to the situation regarding Antonio Brown, both as someone that covers the team and as a fan as well? I think my reactions from those two perspectives were kind of the same. I actually, to be 100% honest, I fell asleep and woke up to my phone blowing up and I was like, oh my God, what is happening? And I finally hop on Twitter, and I'm seeing everything that's going on. And my first – the first thought in my head was, you have got to be kidding me. Just one night I want just a calm, relaxing night, excited to wake up in the morning.

Antonio Brown has his first practice the next day. We're ready to go, and then this comes out. And it's just – it's an awful situation, the allegations are ridiculous, but I think it's just another added distraction with this guy, and it was something that I didn't like when they first brought him in, because I, as a, as a player for his entire career, I haven't been his biggest fan, and I've gone on record saying that a million and one times um but that's yeah like this is just something else and something else that the patriots just don't need um because of course now it's everybody's tying it to oh well the patriots have another criminal on their team which isn't true this all happened before he was even tied with the patriots but um yeah yeah, it's just, I don't know.

It's, like I said, just another distraction and completely not needed. Yeah, I completely agree with you. I think that there was, word had broke. I was actually doing some work myself on Tuesday when this word had broke, and it was just surreal. I mean, the rollercoaster of emotions from the time that Brown was released by the Raiders to the rumblings about the Patriots being interested. Then he signs.

You start to see the erosion of the fans' psyche, I guess is the best way to put it, about, oh, he's coming here now, so now we'll rally around Antonio. We'll do this. You hear about him moving into Tom Brady's house. I mean, there's all different types of information that's going around, and then something like this hits, and it's almost like that validation of, yeah, maybe the uneasiness I had when they first signed him

is something that we do need to be concerned about. But in a lot of respects, I think that there's still things that need to be done on the field, and you can definitely know that the Patriots are not a team that is prone to letting distractions erode what they're trying to do. And Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have been two of the best in history at being able to do that. Now, Belichick and Brady yesterday were both very guarded when they were asked about this situation. There was a really, really tense feeling in the

media room yesterday when national reporters, local reporters were pelting Bill Belichick with questions. It was a little more reserved when Brady took the podium, but Belichick definitely got it. He took the podium at 11.45 yesterday morning. And I agree that the questions had to be asked. These are valid questions. You want to know how much the Patriots knew. You need to try to get comments from these guys to see what you can do about bringing the public the most important information that you can. But I also don't blame either one of them in the way that they answered it. The team issued a statement.

They're referring and deferring to that statement. And I think that that's something that they have to do in this case. Because there's so much uncertainty and commenting on legal matters is really a slippery slope in my opinion. I think there's clear frustration on their end, but because this situation is so sensitive, do you believe that this could be the straw that breaks the back in this case? Do you believe that this could erode the morale of the team and maybe even

divide the locker room? I don't necessarily think so because I don't want to speak for them because obviously I have no idea what they're thinking, but I would like to think that they all have that football first mentality and all of the outside distractions that they've always had. I don't really think it's ever broken them. I mean, we all know that they have had a lot over the past decade. But I'm just – my big concern is, I think, how is – is he being in the locker room, because obviously he's still allowed to practice.

We saw him there yesterday. Is he being in the locker room going to affect not only Tom Brady, but Tom Brady and his receivers, more specifically Josh Gordon? That was my first thing once they announced the signing, is Antonio Brown's diva persona going to set back Gordon's progress? Because, I mean, we saw the post-game interview with him the other night. He looked incredible. He sounded incredible.

It was like a completely different person from what we saw last year um and i just that's my biggest concern i hope this doesn't just put a hammer in that nail and just hit it sideways and throw everything off but it's i don't know there's so many things that could happen with this it could be absolutely nothing he could be suspended suspended. He could be released. I mean, we'll just have to wait and see, but that's my biggest concern. If he's going to mess up that locker room, I don't want him in there anymore. Yeah, absolutely. I think that's a very good point. And when it comes to his being released or the commissioner's exemplar list is something that I guess is still on the table. There was a thread that came out last night, and a lot of local media were retweeting it

to kind of give everybody an example as to what the commissioner's exemplist actually is. And it allows the team to be able to place him on essentially like a paid leave of absence. He's still paid during that time, but he's not able to participate in any team activities. He actually can still attend team meetings and even go to the facilities to work out, but anything when it comes to any type of team preparations on the field, he won't be able to do that. So that is always an option. We're keeping our sharp eye out for that, and we'll see what happens. But I like the point that you brought up on Gordon because this is a person that has really worked so hard to get back to where he is. And he's really been giving everything he can to do that. Definitely not making light of the situation that he's been through.

He's been through an awful lot. And anybody that has had substance or addiction issues knows that those battles continue on a daily basis. Even if you're doing as well as you possibly can, there's still that specter looming over you of possibly having those difficulties come back. So anything that could possibly trigger is a concern. So I think that is something that the Patriots have to watch for. And I'm glad you brought that up, and I think that's a great point. Once again, I'm talking to Brianna Pierre of the Fangirl Sports Network and I'm thrilled to have her on the program this morning.

I do have a couple of additional questions for Brianna and I will get to those in just a minute. But first, I have a question for you. Yes, you, listening out there. If you have found $100 on the street, would you pick it up or would you keep walking? Of course you'd take the money. So why do you keep picking winners and betting on them? That's why I go to MyBookie. It's fast, it's easy, and they pay when you win. Let's face it, when you're betting is just as important as

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promo code LOCKEDON to activate the offer. That's promo code LOCKEDON. Visit mybookie.ag today. You play, you win, you get paid with MyBookie. And we thank them for sponsoring the podcast. Once again, I am speaking with Brianna Pierre of the Fangirl Sports Network this morning.

And Brianna, while no one means to trivialize the impact of a situation like this, and you and I talked a little bit about what the impact this could have on the team, and even guys like Josh Gordon and some of the other guys in the locker room, there could be some on-field implications for the Patriots as well if Brown's days with the team indeed come to an end. We saw them jettison Demarius Thomas just a couple of days ago trading him to the Jets. We did see them cut loose certain wide receivers during the cut-down period, guys like Maurice Harris and whatnot that were jettisoned from the team simply

because there was just such a logjam. But Brown was someone they looked like they were really putting a great deal of stock into and seeing him on the field. Do you believe that the Patriots are going to have a significant void in the passing game if Brown misses time? Because the other night against Pittsburgh, it looked like Philip Dorsett and Josh Gordon and Julian Edelman were more than adept at being able to handle this offense. But obviously a guy like Brown will help.

Do you think that creates a void? And if he is admonished by the league, can you see the Patriots completely severing ties with him? I don't necessarily think they need him, especially after the game on Sunday night. I felt like the passing game was just as good as I've seen it in probably like four or five years. Phillip Dorsett, I think he made a statement saying that if you're going to bring in these, you know, all-star wide receivers, like I'm going to prove why I'm here because he's always been not necessarily

for me, and I don't think for you either, but for a lot of people in the media and just as fans, he's been kind of the guy that he's like on the bubble all the time. If he doesn't play well, you're like, okay, get him out of here. Bring somebody else in. But I think Sunday night was his like coming out party. And then obviously Josh Gordon, Julian Edelman had a great game. That one catch from Jacoby Myers, I think also sealed the deal for him

because that wasn't a needy catch by any means. He got wrapped as soon as the ball hit his hand. I don't think they need Antonio Brown. I don't think it'll be a problem if he gets put on the exemplist or if they completely cut ties 100% because they looked great on Sunday, and I don't really think that's just going to be a one-time thing. I think they have the rapport with each other that it's going to be, everybody's going to be fine.

Yeah. And I think you make a good point, especially when it comes to guys like Myers and you're absolutely right on Dorsett. I've always been high on him. He's always been in my roster predictions. I never had him on the outside looking in. And I think there were two reasons for that.

One, I've seen a progression with Phillip over the course of the last couple of years. He's developed a good synergy with Tom Brady. He has very, very good speed, which not a lot of people really give him, I think, enough credit for. When he first came in here from Indianapolis, people marveled at his speed but said that he couldn't take a hit or he couldn't run a route. He's been able to do those both in the win-win quite nicely, and that speed is really settling in so i think he's going to be a valuable member of this wide receiver core whether brown plays or whether he doesn't um they still have julian edelman a guy that you know is always going to be a favorite of tom brady and with due

cause he's developed such a great relationship with him over the years personally and professionally and that's a a battery relationship that i know is something that Brady will continue to lean on Myers has been a great story coming out of training camp he's really really played his way onto this team and I actually look for some pretty decent things for him this year look for him to have quite a few catches maybe even a couple of eye openers. This weekend might be a good weekend to see Jacoby Myers. They're facing a Dolphins team that might be kind of... Well, I'll be nice. They might be

a little bit banged up from last week and the beating that they took from Baltimore, but I'll be very conservative and leave it at that. Lastly, I think a guy like Gunnar Ryszelski as well could end up seeing time maybe playing a little bit in the slot wide receiver position against

Miami. Anybody that follows me on social media knows I love Gunnar Roshelski simply because I get to use that Spaceballs meme as much as I can, and I love it, and I'll keep using it. But there is a game to be played on Sunday, and before I let you go today, Brianna, I just wanted to get your opinion, regardless of Brown's status. What are your thoughts on Sunday when it comes to the Patriots and the Dolphins hooking up in South Beach? And what might we see from the Pats on the field? So Hard Rock Stadium has always been house of horrors for the Patriots for whatever reason.

I know the score from the Dolphins' last game last week should suggest that it should be just a cakewalk for them, but that's never the case. Again, for whatever reason, I don't really have an answer. I don't even think they have an answer as to why they just play horribly down there. But I am looking to see them. I don't think they're going to win as decisively as the Ravens did last week because I don't think anybody for the rest of the season is going to have that big of a margin

of victory but I do think it's going to be a good game to kind of see where everybody's at and it's I guess in the sense of I guess teamwork, teamwork, I think this past Sunday was a good starting point, playing against the Steelers. That's always, you know, one of the marquee games of the season for the Patriots. But I think with all of these distractions coming in, it's going to be a good marker to see, okay, is this really going to make a difference?

Do they really care what's going on with Antonio Brown from a football perspective, not obviously from a life perspective because everybody cares it's a big deal um but it will be interesting to see you know how they respond and if they can finally get that monkey off their back of playing down there because Brian Flores we obviously know Patriot for a million and one years there's a bunch of former Patriots on that team. They know how to play against the Pats. It's not like they're coming in blind. I think they'll have a pretty good game plan to stack up against them. But again, I don't necessarily think they're going to beat them

just because of their own personal internal conflict with their team. But I want to say the Pats put up at least three touchdowns, at least. Yeah, I mean, I think they're going to win. It's just a matter of no more Miami miracles, no more dumb decision-making, and, yeah, I mean, hopefully, hopefully my words, they won't come back to haunt me, but I think they're going to win on Sunday. Well, I promise you I won't cut this file up and make a GIF file out of it or a WAV file and then tweet it out on social media.

I won't, just in case you're wrong. No, I'm only kidding. You're welcome, absolutely. But, no, in all actuality, I think you're spot on in your analysis here. I do. I think the Patriots do put up at least three. I think they may have even a three-touchdown advantage at times. This is a Dolphins team right now that's really struggling to find its identity,

and yes, there is familiarity there. I'm glad you brought up Lion Flores because he does have the ability to know and anticipate what the Patriots might do. He spent time in this organization for a number of years and was their defensive coordinator last year de facto, and really, I think what it did was it taught him a lot about what Tom Brady and the offense do. Don't forget the Dolphins also employ Chad O'Shea. He's a former assistant, and a lot of people were considering him to be the frontrunner if Josh McDaniels had indeed taken that job in Indianapolis. So there is familiarity on both sides of the ball, and even a guy like Ryan Fitzpatrick,

who's seen the Patriots so many times. He's been the quarterback of the Jets, the quarterback of the Bills. He knows this franchise. He knows this organization. But at the end of the day, it's about the personnel and the players on the field, and the Patriots just have too much offensive firepower, and not to mention the defense that has been really stifling. And I think, really, I think the strong point of what the Patriots can do this year. So I agree with you. I am not going to give my final score prediction just yet, folks. I'm going to tease you, and I'm going to let you come back tomorrow to hear that when I give my final breakdown, I should say,

of the Pats Dolphins game on Sunday. Brianna, thank you so much for joining me today on Locked On. I appreciate your insight. I appreciate your analysis, which, again, I think in terms of the game and the Browns' situation was spot on, as always. Before you leave today, please tell our listeners where they may find your great work and where they can follow you on social media. All right.

So I actually have two accounts, one being my work, one being my personal. If you are into more of the in-depth analysis and everything strictly Patriots, that would be the fangirl account. It's Patriots FGSN on Twitter. And then if you're more for the actual candid part of my coverage, I guess I could say, and a little, I guess a little funnier, it's BSP underscore 13. If you want to follow both, that's great.

If you want to pick and choose which one, I won't get mad at that either. I appreciate all my followers. I love, you know, the interactions I have with them. Everybody kind of always brings something different to the table. So, yeah, that's where you can find me. Absolutely. And up here in New England, sports fandom is really a family affair. And, you know, we love our Patriots, the Sox, the Bruins, the Celtics.

Brianna covers them all. And across the footprint of what she does for the Fangirl Sports Network, it's really, really entertaining. So be sure to follow. I recommend you follow both accounts because you're not going to be disappointed. She always offers great insight, great analysis, and a lot of the stuff she says is extremely entertaining, and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

So, again, Brianna, thank you so much for coming on today. We hope to have you on again, locked on here throughout the season, so we can talk a little more Patriots, hopefully. Next time it'll be scandal-free when we bring you in. We can sit there and just focus. Absolutely, just focus on the games themselves. And, again, thank you. I do appreciate you joining me today. Great, thank you. As for me, oh, just focus on the games themselves. And again, thank you. I do appreciate you joining me today.

Great, thank you. As for me, oh, you're welcome. And as for me, I will be back tomorrow as I take an in-depth look into week two of the 2019 regular season as the Patriots take their talents to South Beach to take on the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. Make sure to join us each and every day

on the Locked On Patriots podcast and subscribe to Locked On Patriots via your favorite podcast provider. Once again, I'm Mike DeBate. I thank you so much for listening today and have a great day, everybody.