Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots - September 19, 2019: Crossover Thursday with Locked On Jets

Episode Date: September 19, 2019

As the New England Patriots prepare to face the New York Jets on Sunday at Gillette Stadium, host Mike D’Abate is joined by John Butchko of Locked On Jets, as the pair break down each team’s game plan for this AFC East-divisional matchup.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And hello to all you fans of both the New England Patriots and the New York Jets. Welcome to your Crossover Thursday edition of Locked On Patriots and Locked On Jets. Now normally this would be Crossover Wednesday, but after working out some minor scheduling conflicts, we are here to let you know exactly what to be watching for this weekend. I'm Mike DeBate, and I am the host of the Locked On Patriots podcast. I also cover the Patriots for FullPressCoverage.com, which is where you can always find my written work. You can reach out to me on Twitter at MDABATEFPC,

and be sure to follow Locked On Patriots on Twitter as well, at LO underscore Patriots. But I am not alone on the microphone today. By any stretch of the imagination, it's Crossover Thursday. So I am joined by my Locked On Jets counterpart. And, John, take it away. Well, I'm John Buchko from Locked On Jets. And I also am the managing editor at gangrenenation.com. And, Mike, it's great to be with you today.

It's absolutely great to be with you john as well and uh definitely anytime there's an afc east divisional matchup i know a lot of fans roll their eyes about the afc east but you know what these matchups are always exciting they're always fun and you know i'm looking forward to it this is a show i've been looking forward to for a while and a game that i've been looking forward to for a while it always seems seems like Patriots-Jets is always circled on the calendar of these two fan bases, my friend. I've been looking forward to chatting with you. I'm not so much looking forward to this game.

I'm a big believer in the NFL of any given Sunday, and I always try and qualify my statements with, you know, probably or this is how I see it. But I would say, I'll be honest with you, I'm locked on Jets this week. I've been saying the Jets have no chance to win this game. I mean, they're going into Foxborough with Luke Falk, their number three quarterback. He was on the practice squad as of Monday. I mean, gee, look at that.

The Patriots look like a juggernaut this year. And this is probably bad for business because people want to tune in. People want an exciting game. Oh, my God. I just, man. We'll dive into this deeper but man i don't see any way the jets can win this game well you know i i wish i could talk it up a little bit more i really and truly do and i probably sound like the arrogant patriots guy but yeah this is probably

going to be a one-sided affair on sunday but you know they always they play the games on the field not on paper so you never know any given Sunday things can happen hey look 199th overall pick came into a team in New England that no one thought had a prayer of being able to do anything back in 2000 and it's amazing that 18 years later 19 years later now the guy is still the quarterback of that franchise but I'm talking about Tom Brady and you really you never know for sure and you know what Luke Falk believe it or not Luke Falk is a guy that I had scouted for the Patriots as a potential pick last year in 2018 when the draft was going was coming around and people were talking about potential suitors and guys that

the Patriots might have their eye on and Luke Falk was one of those guys that Patriots writers and fans alike were looking at and Luke Falk is also a huge Tom Brady fan. I happen to know that he had a big poster of Tom Brady up on his wall, kind of idolized the guy growing up. So it's interesting that now in his first official start for an NFL game, he's going to be starting against the guy he idolized. So there are some good storylines here to this game that we can, you know, kind of play up a little bit, I guess.

I guess my takeaway from this is that in 2038, and I mean, I'm not sure whether we're still going to be the lockdown host at that point, but 2038, we'll be looking forward to a game at MetLife Stadium. Luke Falk will be starting six Super Bowls in, and some Patriots sixth-round draft pick who looked up to Luke Falk will be making his first career start, maybe. I guess that's what you're saying? That could be. You never know. At 2038, at this point, who knows? Brady may still be taking snaps at this rate.

I mean, I never thought the guy would be doing this 19 years from his first start. But, hey, you know what? It's the NFL, and anything can happen. And just a quick housecleaning before we get going. Today's show is brought to you in part by Mack Weldon. And remember, Mack Weldon is better than whatever you're wearing right now. For 20% off your first order,

visit MackWeldon.com and enter promo code LOCKEDON. So, John, the New England Patriots and the New York Jets will meet for the first of two matchups in 2019 this week at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The Patriots will travel to face the Jets on Monday Night Football on October 21st.

So right around this time next month, my friend, you and I are going to be doing this again. But last season, the Patriots had their 19th series sweep over the Jets, their third straight and their 10th series sweep since Bill Belichick became head coach. And we all know that story about Bill Belichick resigning as HC of the NYJ, and the rest is history. The Patriots have gone on to some great success as a result of that. This is also the 12th since Robert Kraft has purchased the team. So there is a little bit of history there between these two teams.

We all know the Eric Mangini situation and the Rex Ryan era, and now into this area of the Patriots Jets rivalry. But you alluded earlier to the fact that this may be a one-sided contest and it definitely could be. And we'll start with the Patriots having the ball. And on offense, the Patriots have looked very formidable lately. They've outscored their opponents 76-3. That's a pretty tall task for a team that's coming into Foxborough to be able to kind of break that stride that the Patriots have been going. But with so many aspects of the Patriots' operation off to such a strong start, the one, I don't want to say Achilles' heel, John,

but there's one aspect of maybe the Patriots' game that might be a little bit difficult for them to get going. And that surprisingly is the running game. They've actually been stuck, I think, stuck more in neutral the last couple of games. The opener was understandable. They did go against a Pittsburgh front that was among the best in the game in 2018. But last week in Miami was less so. And the Dolphins had surrendered 265 rushing yards in week one. I think a lot of people expected the Pats to come in and rush for a little bit more. They didn't do that.

They held the Patriots to 126 last week, 3.6-yard average, not all that great. So if the Jets have a chance to contain the Patriots, it would be to try to stop the running game. And I think that's how they're going to attack this. And I'll let you come at that in a minute. But Sonny Michel, running back Sonny Michel for the Patriots, was better. But he's still not as consistent as he was a year ago. I still think he's trying to find his legs a little bit.

Had some surgery in the offseason. And it looks like he's still being hampered by that. He finished with 85 yards, 21 carries, and even a four-yard average. But he also lost a fumble, and that's a very big no-no when it comes to Bill Belichick. You can find yourself into what I like to call in my columns the Belichickian doghouse very quickly if you lose control of the football. Rex Burkhead, on the other hand, is a guy that really takes amazing care of the football, and I think he's been their best runner so far. He's given them an early boost with explosiveness.

I think he's going to receive more touches as a result in this game. I would look for, if the Patriots are going to try to establish a running game, look for Burkhead in some of these packages. He may be a guy that the Jets' defense want to zero in on. The Jets have been pretty stout against the run in the early going. They held Cleveland at just 70 yards and only a 3.3-yard average on Monday night, even in a pretty one-sided loss. They were still pretty good against the run. So overall, New York allows just under 100 yards per game on the ground. So I think the Pats might have a hard time getting the running

game going once again, particularly if the injuries up front continue to be an issue. And we know the Patriots have had their issues with a running game now behind a very porous offensive line because of the fact that they have so many injuries. Isaiah Wynn is going on the injured reserve. He actually was placed on injured reserve earlier this week. He'll be eligible to return in six weeks. But they have other injuries on that line as well and marcus cannon and they've lost you know a couple of guys in trent brown and adrian waddle so got a lot of new pieces there if the patriots are going to have a an achilles heel in this game i think it would

be their running game and that's probably the good news for the Jets, because the passing game looks to be clicking on all cylinders. And New York's secondary, from my research, they're allowing over 270 yards per game through the air in the early going. Injuries were a problem in the preseason with the Jets, but the position was suspect to begin with. They do start Darrell Roberts and actually Tremaine Johnson probably at the other, although he was a scratch the other night. Tremaine Johnson was benched the other night.

Nate Harrison is now the starting corner for the Jets. Oh, all right. So he is officially the starting corner. Okay, I didn't know if it was just that. That's what I'm assuming. Adam Gase didn't say it out loud but uh harrison played that full game he came out he came out at the end uh mop up dude he may have been dealing with a minor injury but if he's healthy i think he's the starter now i think johnson yeah i think they're done with johnson

yeah and that very well could be and you know a high profile uh you know acquisition for the jets and a lot of people were really high on that and looking at that Tremainis coming in, being able to anchor that secondary and bring some pop into that lineup. A little surprising, but again, there are always, always reasons for everything, and I'm sure that Gase does have a good reason for doing that. That was one thing I couldn't find, so I wasn't sure if they were going to put him in the game this week or not. But see, we've got the inside. That's why we do these crossover shows, folks, because it's great. We are able to feed off of one another. But the Patriots receiving core could be loaded,

especially if Antonio Brown ends up playing meaningful games into the season. By all accounts, it looks like he'll be out there on Sunday. I haven't seen anything other than any breaking news within the next couple of days here folks today being Thursday Friday or even Saturday that would negate that but Brown looks to be fitting in well and he got a lot of action with the team this week last week we saw him fit in quite well so it's another comfortable week and could provide more fireworks for the the Jets secondary Julian Edelman Philip Dorsett have enjoyed strong starts.

Josh Gordon remains pretty dangerous when he's out there as well. He's coming along slowly, but he's shown signs of being able to get there. So Tom Brady, if you can keep him under pressure, operating behind a patchwork front with the offensive line, could end up being an issue. But in this game, because the Jets' offensive line has been difficult, I look for the Patriots to attack that. I look for them to be able to, excuse me, the Jets defensive line. I look for the Patriots to be able to exploit that, give Tom Brady some time. And if he's got time to pick this

team apart, it could be a long day for the Jets. So ultimately I think the Patriots are more prolific in the past than in the run in this game, but I do look for them to put up some points. Yeah. And I think on the Jets side of the ball, this game, but I do look for them to put up some points. Yeah, and I think on the Jets' side of the ball, this is a team that is very much built to stop the run. Now, they're dealing with some injuries. Starting linebacker Avery Williamson's out for the season. He got hurt in the team's second preseason game against Atlanta, but the Jets are also dealing with some other key injuries.

C.J. Mosley got hurt late in the first game of the year against Buffalo. He missed most of the fourth i think he may have missed the entire fourth quarter of that game and he sat out the second game he did not practice on uh wednesday for the jets jets had kind of suggested heading into week two he was probably going to play and he sat out also the number one draft pick quinn and williams missed the game he suffered an ankle injury during the first game against Buffalo, so the Jets are a little undermanned. I mean, this was a defense that had some personnel issues to begin with, but as you mentioned, they did handle the run pretty well against Cleveland.

Two linebackers out, Williamson and Mosley, both missed that game. In their place is Neville Hewitt, who's kind of a veteran backup who's played pretty effective surprisingly effectively through the first two weeks of the season and then fifth round pick rookie blake cashman who i think played a surprisingly strong game frequently around the ball um jets actually have a decent defensive line against the run steve mcclendon's a veteran nose tackle he's pretty solid you. You have Henry Anderson, who they acquired from the Colts a year ago, who put together a quality 2018 season. You also have Leonard Williams, the first round pick from 2015, who frankly has become a big disappointment for

this team. He was a pro bowler his second season, and he's kind of regressed since then. And you also have the safety position. You have Jamal Adamsams who another guy who's off to a bit of a slow start but last year was one of the pre the premier run stopping safeties one of the premier safeties in football but especially against the run he was a tremendous box safety you're again off to a slow start this year but guy who's very talented um you know the issues with the jets are the passing game and as i mentioned trumaine johnson's been benched and he's essentially a 15 million dollar dime back now and it's just he's really he's been he's been ineffective and i think there have been a lot of issues with the jets coaching early in the season but one thing i will say for them is i really do respect the

decision that to bench johnson and it's a performance issue. His speed is gone. I mean, there's no other way to put it. I'll tell you, he was a guy who, with the Rams, always had a reputation for being a very strong press corner, and he just doesn't trust himself to press anymore. There's one play last year that sticks out in my mind, and I think this has been in Johnson's head. It was a week four game against Jacksonville

where he missed his jam, and he's playing Dante Moncrief he got beat down the field he had showed no catch-up speed and Jacksonville scored a long touchdown on it and from that point on it was like Johnson kind of kind of seemed like Johnson in his head was like I can't press anymore because I don't have any more catch-up I don't have catch-up speed and if you look at I mean there was some completions he allowed week one against Buffalo's speedy receivers where it was almost I don't want to be too hard on it, but it was almost comedic to watch him how far off he was playing because he was afraid he was going to get beat over the top.

So he's a guy who really, he can't press anymore because if he beats his jam, he's afraid he's going to get beat for a touchdown, and he probably will be. Daryl Roberts is a guy who you guys probably know him because he was a former Patriot. Terrible week one performance, beaten for the game, losing touchdown by John Brown. He played a surprisingly decent week two. I'm a little skeptical at the idea of him being a starter. And as I mentioned on the other side, in place of Johnson is Nate Hairston, a guy the Jets acquired near the end of preseason. They sent a sixth-round pick to the Colts.

A trade that I was a little skeptical of. I didn't know exactly what to make of it. He played a pretty good game against the Browns. Now, he was beaten deep early by Odell Beckham Jr. for a touchdown, but it was really just a perfect throw and an incredible catch by Beckham. I don't think that there was much more he could have done on that particular play. And so he's going to be in the lineup. Brian Poole, who's the slot corner, they got him from Atlanta.

He's not the weak link. I mean, there are some weak links in this secondary. I don't think Brian Poole is really the weak link. I don't think he's a premium slot corner, but I don't think he's a weak link. So I think right now the Jets, their issues are defending the pass And they don't really have a strong edge rusher Jordan Jenkins is probably their best edge rusher He's not like a premium guy though

He had seven sacks a year ago, which was a new career high for him And he's hurt, so the Jets are struggling off the edge I'll say this, Greg Williams did a great job against Cleveland The Jets gave up 23 points, but for how undermanned they are at premium spots, I thought they showed a lot of fight. Williams, I thought, against Cleveland kind of backed off. He's got a reputation of being a very aggressive blitzer. I felt like he kind of backed off.

What he did was he kind of disguised his coverages and hoped that the time it took Baker Mayfield to identify what was going on there would give his rushers enough to get home. They gave up some big plays. There were some ill-timed penalties, but I think all things considered, the defense actually played reasonably well relative to its talent level, considering the guys they're down, considering the personnel issues against Cleveland. But I think it's a big, I mean, there are some really problematic matchups for the Jets, especially when you're talking about the New England receivers against the Jets' corners,

and it's going to be a tall order for these guys to go out there and play effectively this weekend. Yeah, no question about it, and I completely agree when it comes to that. If the Patriots are going to put up big-time points this weekend, it's going to be because the receiving core that they have is able to exploit some of the difficulties that they have in the secondary meaning the jets um again if the jets are going to contain the new england patriots they're going to have to do it on the ground and i think if they can shut the run game off early and try to contain that and get some pressure on tom brady then i think they might be able to at least keep this one respectable and who knows

maybe even turn some heads in the process. Once again, you are listening to Mike DeBate and John Buchko, hosts of respectively Locked On Patriots and Locked On Jets in our crossover Thursday edition. And you heard what we think about what's going to happen when the Patriots have the ball. And John's going to come at you in one moment, letting you know what's going to happen when the Jets have the ball. And I'll come back with a little bit of a retort of how the patriots defense which has been very stingy lately might be able to counteract what the jets can do offensively but first i have a question for all of you out there yes you listening is there anything

better than watching football on a weekend probably not at. At the end of a hard week, it's great to sit down, take some time off, and watch some football. Game-winning touchdowns on two-minute drives, running backs racing down the sidelines with no one to stop them, there is nothing like the NFL. And there's no better way to make the games even more exciting than to bet on them. So do the smart thing. Go to mybookie.ag. No one gives you more ways to win than they do. MyBookie's got the fastest payouts and better lines than any other sports book.

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Visit MyBookie.ag today. You play, you win, you get paid with MyBookie. A special crossover Thursday here on the Locked On Podcast Network. John, Locked On Jets. Mike, Locked On Patriots coming at you, preparing week three NFL action on Sunday. Jets will be visiting New England, their annual trip to Foxborough.

We spent the last segment talking about what will happen when New England has the ball. Now let's talk about what will happen when the Jets have the ball. And when you look at the Jets' quarterback position, that's probably the headliner heading into this game. You'll have Falk who as of Monday afternoon was on the practice squad for the Jets making his first career start Sam Darnold out with Mono for the Jets it's unclear when he's

going to be back the Jets keeps you know Darnold's he keeps saying he's looking at a week five return against Philadelphia which means that this would be the last game he misses with the Jets having a week four by. That's not entirely clear, though. A lot of people in the medical community are skeptical of that. We'll have to wait and see. That's a story for another day. What the Jets have is Luke Falk because Trevor Simeon, the backup, got hurt on a hit by Miles Garrett on Monday. He's out for the season with an injured ankle.

The Jets assigned David Fales to be Falk's backup for this game on Wednesday. But it's about Luke Falk, the Washington State product. He was a draft pick of the Tennessee Titans a few years ago, spent some time in Miami with Adam Gase. Now he's with the Jets. And we'll see how he does with a full week of preparation. The Monday night performance was not great, but at the same time you're talking about, again,

a guy who started the day on Monday on the practice squad. He was a third-string quarterback. He's a developmental guy. The stat line was pretty good because he did complete a number of passes against prevent defense late after the game got out of hand. He's a guy who had a reputation at Washington State for being a pretty smart quarterback, a guy who had a reputation at Washington State for being a pretty smart quarterback, a guy who tended to make the right reads. He's not a guy who will overwhelm you with

physical talent. He doesn't have a huge arm, but the Jets don't really have a choice. They're going to put him in there and see what he can do. I would expect a heavy dose of Le'Veon Bell in this game. I think the Jets are probably going to try and keep this task as manageable as possible for Falk. That's going to mean a lot of early runs for Bell. Keep the team ahead of the sticks. You don't want to put him in third down, bad distances. I would hope from the Jets' perspective that you'll see them try and scheme some creative ways to get Bell involved in the passing game. It's been kind of an issue early in the season.

This is a Jets offense that struggled quite a bit, even with Sam Darnold in there. And it's a Jets offense where they've really struggled to establish an identity through these first couple weeks. And I think that their identity has to run through Bell because Bell is the one premium playmaker you have on this offense. Part of this is going to be the guys up front are going to have to do better. The offensive lines really struggled quite a bit in the early going. The team signed Ryan Khalil to try and stabilize the center position during training camp really has not worked out for the team. Khalil seems like

he struggled to get himself into condition. He struggled to get the good grasp of the playbook. There were a few warning signs when he did not get into a preseason game. Jets had indicated they wanted to, but he just was not ready. There have been a lot of missed assignments, lots of guys not executing their blocks, and lots of schematic issues, to be honest. There were a number of times where Jets just did not account for Miles Garrett or Olivier Vernon on Monday night against Cleveland. And it's one thing, I mean, sometimes you'll see in play designs that you'll leave a guy unblocked, but that doesn't mean you leave a guy unaccounted for. Sometimes by design you leave a guy unblocked because you're trying to run some misdirection at him

or he's the guy you're reading on an option play or something like that. I mean, there were a number of plays, probably four or five plays, where the Jets left an edge guy for Cleveland. These are talented edge guys. I mean, you don't want to leave these guys unaccounted for. These guys just had a free path to the football. So schematically, things have to get better. Blocking-wise, things have to get better. And you look at elsewhere on the Jets, the other skill spots, Chris Herndon suspended for this game, which means you have Ryan Griffin, who's much less of a threat in the receiving game so that's a weapon luke falk will be without at the receiver position robbie anderson is the go-to guy at this point he's a deep threat he's a guy who's a very very not just a fast guy but a good deep route runner

stems his routes really well uh aside from that you you have Jamison Crowder in the slot, who had 14 catches week one, was kind of an afterthought week two. And Demarius Thomas sounds like he's out for this game, the former Patriot guy. I can't believe, Mike, if we could be talking about this a little later. Jets and Patriots made the trade. How about that? I know.

Tell me about it. There are miracles that do happen. Something you would never have thought you would see is Bill Belichick making a trade with the Jets. And actually, it was the last team in the NFL that he made a trade with. So, you know, that kind of had to be stuck in the back of his head. And I think at this point, he probably figured that he would take whatever he could get for Thomas. But yeah, just an unfortunate thing to see him out now for a couple of games. And Demarius actually looked pretty good toward the end of training camp when he was allowed to rejoin the uh the team after being taken off of the physically unable to perform list looked like he had a couple of decent uh

snaps in the giants game and and received a little bit and looked like he was making some progress but again just a log jam at the wall at the wide receiver position for uh the new england patriots he ended up being the odd man out but uh hopefully he'll find his health and within the next couple of weeks he can get back to being a productive member of the jets wide receiver core because when healthy demarius still has something left in the tank we saw that here in new england for a couple of weeks while he was rehabbing well that's good good to hear from the jet side and i you know i was wondering a little bit why they had him out there Monday, because he missed practice all week and he played like around seven snaps and then he had to leave the game and now he's calling him week to week. So I'm

guessing you're not going to see him this week. In his place, you may see Josh Bellamy, a free agent signing from the Bears, which Bellamy had a huge drop on the Monday night game right before the half, forced the Jets to punt within inside the last two minutes that cleveland turned into a field goal drive and i think you may see some ty montgomery on the field as well montgomery is a guy the jets signed in the off season he's kind of a receiver you may remember from green bay every see kind of a receiver running back hybrid it seemed like the jets were trying to work him in after thomas went out of the. So that's what you see from the Jets. It's not really clear what they're... I would

assume that you're going to see a lot of Bell and maybe a conservative game plan because Falk does not have a ton of arm talent. You're talking about a guy who, without NFL experience, trying to ease him into the lineup. So I would imagine you're going to see a healthy dose of Bell in this game. But it's going to... I mean, look, it's going to

be a challenge. It's... You hope for the best with Luke Falk, but I, the way I view it is there is a, and I actually do like Luke Falk as a developmental guy. I think that he has some things you can work with, but you also have to acknowledge that. I mean, I'm thinking more of the future because this is a guy who was on the

practice squad. And if you, if in a quarterback starved league where everybody needs another quarterback, even being on the practice squad means any of the other 31 teams could have signed him over the last couple of weeks. And if they thought he could help immediately,

my view, and look, sometimes the teams mess up. I mean, Tom Brady is a great example of every single team in the league missed on him. Sometimes the entire league does miss on somebody, but those tend to be the exception to the case where the entire league misses on somebody. In the future, maybe Falk has some potential, but I think it's a tall order to ask him to go in there,

trade touchdowns with Tom Brady this Sunday. Yeah, I think that's going to be a very, very tall task, and I think you absolutely hit the nail right on the head when it comes to a heavy dose of Le'Veon Bell. Look, I think Gaze, it's clear that Gaze is going to use him as the focal point of attack. The problem is, is, you know, New York's offensive line right now, if the Patriots defensive line gets into a shouting match with them, I think the Patriots defensive line right now has really been downright nasty, and the opponents that they've been facing have been limited to a total of 74 rushing yards in two games. So Bell is by far the best running back that they've faced so far in the last three weeks, so Le'Veon is definitely a prolific running back. He can get some yards, and they certainly can't take him lightly, and I assure you the Patriots definitely will not uh you mentioned ty montgomery there might be someone that they want to rely on a little bit too in certain uh you know circumstances maybe like a change of pace type back giving them a little bit more but the patriots defensive line has been probably one of the best defensive lines

in recent memory for the new england patriots danny shelton up front in the uh the nose tackle position lawrence guy has played extremely well john simon has even taken some snaps up there in the defense uh on the defensive line rather than on the edge which is where he's most comfortable to play but he can also switch to the edge as well so it does create matchup problems there but danny shelton uh lawrence guy and Adam Butler, who I think had his best game as a Patriot against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, has been playing very well as well. So between he and Shelton, they've been doing a good job of trying to stop the run and stuffing the run for a lot of their opponents.

Now, that being said, the Patriots right now, if you're talking about their defensive line, it's actually probably their weakest part of the defense and that's scary considering that that defensive line has only allowed 74 rushing yards in two games the linebacking core has been one of the best we've seen in the Patriots in recent memory led by Jamie Collins returning coming back he's had two great games against Pittsburgh and against Miami on this past sunday of course dante hightower is the play caller back there he's the guy that directs this linebacking core and he's done a great job with the guys that are in that uh that role uh kyle van noy has stepped up to be one of the more prolific linebackers in the league and it's amazing that bill belichick

was able to you know get him for the the haul that he got him for or the lack thereof i should say from the detroit lions when he brought him in he's fit into this system so nicely um and to not even mention a guy like juwan bentley who was a rookie last year was wearing the green dot on his helmet calling plays directing traffic back there in the linebacking court that's going to be a very very difficult unit to get anything for in terms of midfield and again the secondary you mentioned robbie anderson coming in and being their primary wide receiver and he is he's got a great skill set and robbie is probably their best bet to get any type of um meaningful yards in the passing game i would probably look for ste Stephon Gilmore to play him in a lot of these matchups.

You might see some switch off with a cornerback named J.C. Jackson, which for those of you that are not familiar with him, Jackson is primarily their second option on the corner position. He's had a couple of nice games so far, really emerged as an undrafted rookie last year, and he's someone that can play a lot of good man coverage as well and then when you talk about the slot when you had i know you had uh mentioned as well uh you know playing in the slot jameson crowder look for a guy like jonathan jones to be

able to blanket him a little bit jones has emerged as one of the best slot slot corners in the league and i think that is going to create some matchup problems down the line so if the jets are going to get anything going offensively they're going to have to do it with their running game it's possible that they might be able to i'm not saying that this is not a situation where it's just completely impossible if they can catch this patriots defensive line on their heels run it at them right away don't you know get either cute or try to be. I think they're going to have to be very aggressive in their running game. And I think they're going to have to let that be the main force of what they're trying to do on Sunday. And again, have Luke Falk back under center, managing the game.

Don't make any too, you know, many big plays or anything of that type. Don't let him try to stretch his legs at all a little bit, literally and figuratively. I think they're better off playing him conservatively and riding the running game. But it is going to be a tall task. There's no question about it. Yeah, and I think that the offensive strategy kind of plays into the defensive strategy because this defense is going to have a tough

time with Tom Brady. You want to establish the run to help Falk out, but another aspect of this is you want to keep Brady on the side. The best defense for the Jets is keeping Brady on the sideline in this game. I think these things all meld together for the Jets. Absolutely, and I do. I completely agree with you on that as well.

And also, I think we haven't even mentioned special teams. If there is an Achilles heel with the Patriots right now, and it is surprising, it's not so much special team coverage, but there are situations where the kicking game hasn't looked uh the greatest in the world Steven Gostowski missing uh you know the extra points and missing a 48 yarder last week has some people up here in New England a little bit concerned if they can keep the New England Patriots off the field get them into situations where they can't get across and get into the end zone, force them to make field goals, especially long field goals, then all of a sudden the complexity of the game could change a little bit. I don't think that'll happen here because I think the

Patriots have far too many weapons, but if that does happen and the Patriots for some reason just can't find their rhythm, that may be a point of attack that the Jets may look to exploit as well. And I can tell you, Jets fans are feeling great about the kicker right now. You know, fourth time may be the charm for the Jets. Sam Ficken, the fourth kicker the Jets have had since the start of the preseason. Chandler Cantazaro, quote-unquote, retired after a terrible first preseason game in a rough camp. Taylor Bertolette, bad in preseason, and they let him go before week one. Brought in Kari Vedvik, who

missed an extra point and a field goal and a one-point loss to Buffalo. They got Sam Ficken. Sam Ficken, one for one, is Jets' kicker, so knock on wood for the Jets. Maybe they finally found their kicker after four tries this offseason. One could only hope, and I think it definitely lends

itself well into the fact that the two guys that are going to be returning punts this week, one for your Jets and one for our Patriots, are two guys that I really had a blast watching in training camp. Obviously, Braxton Berrios is your punt returner now here in New York, and he was a fan favorite up here in New England, really did some great things. I look for some good things to come out of this kid. I really look for him to grow week after week after week. He's got a toughness. He's got a great grasp of football, and he has a really, really good ability to read and be able to make contributions on the field. So I really, really enjoy watching his game, and I hope he continues to be a good force for the New York

Jets and, of course, Gunnar Roschelski for the New England Patriots. One of the feel-good stories of this past training camp was seeing Gunnar make this team just a fearless punt returner. He goes right at you. He'll give you everything he's got. Definitely has been a favorite of Bill Belichick and a favorite of mine as well. Anybody that listens to Locked On Patriots or follows me on Twitter knows that every time Gunnar makes a play,

I tweet out a meme from the movie Spaceballs, which is Dark Helmet leaning into Colonel Sanders and asking, who made that man a Gunner? I just love it. It's great, and it's good. Our listeners love it, so it's always good. I'm hoping that I can tweet that out at least once during the game.

Come on, Jets. Give me a break here. Let me use that. Let Gunner run one back for at least a few yards game. So come on, Jets, give me a break here. Let me use that. We're going to run one back for at least a few yards. Yeah, and I think if the Jets – now I've already declared the Jets have no chance, but if the Jets do have a chance, and I'm wrong, I think the Jets are – if they're going to somehow pull this upset, I think they're going to have to score a non-offensive touchdown somewhere. So maybe that's a return. Maybe that's a block.

I really think that the Jets are going to have to steal a touchdown somewhere in this game if they're going to have a shot to pull this upset off yeah i agree with that i think that they uh and that is one thing that you can do with the new england patriots is they don't have a ton of weaknesses but sometimes if you can catch them off guard and keep them on their heels all of a sudden it forces them to play a little bit of a different game than they're used to playing so um if i'm the jets i come out throw everything but the kitchen sink at them and basically see what sticks and at the same time you also want to make sure to protect the football uh and that's something that i think is really it's so valuable for both teams bill belichick preaches that

constantly to the new england patriots you see them constantly do a good job of protecting the football the jets are going to have to do that. If they start committing turnovers, if they fumble, if Falk throws interceptions, if there's any type of loose balls that are gotten by the Patriots and they start capitalizing off of turnovers, then this one could get really ugly. If both teams control the football and do a good job of keeping the football when they have it, then this one may not be the epic blowout that everybody thinks it is. But at the same time, again, I think the Jets face a tough task. But again, it's the NFL and anything

can happen. All right. Well, Michael, I think that leads us into predictions. You want to go first? Yeah, I'll definitely go first. It's again i think from what i've said from what john has said uh the patriots really do have the edge on both sides of the ball here and i think that the jets could come in and possibly make this interesting if a few things break their way and i'm not saying that as an insult to the jets i'm just saying that it's a situation where i think the new england patriots would have to falter and the Jets would have to come in playing their best game in order to make this one competitive. I don't quite see this one being that competitive. I don't quite see them putting up the 80 points like some fans in New England up here are professing and expecting a complete and utter

bloodbath. I do like the Patriots in this game. I think they win this one 32 to 14. I think that the Jets are going to be able to put a couple of touchdowns up. They haven't had one here in Gillette Stadium in quite some time. I think they break that streak, get a little bit of the ground game running, but ultimately I like the Patriots in this one, 32-14.

Yeah, I wouldn't be shocked if the Jets kind of hung around a little bit. I was thinking back to this because I saw the point spread, and they mentioned this is the biggest point spread for the Jets, you know, kind of hung around a little bit. I was thinking back to this, because I saw the point spread, and they mentioned this is the biggest point spread for the Jets. I think the Jets are the biggest underdogs. They've been in this rivalry since 2007, which was a game up in Foxborough. It was the year the Patriots were undefeated, and it was after Spygate, so there was all the talk about how the Patriots were motivated to just annihilate the Jets, and that day the Jets came up, and actually the Patriots won,

and they were always in control of the game, but the Jets were surprisingly competitive. So I wouldn't be shocked if the Jets did that, but I think that this is a really tall order. And I think I could see the Jets hanging around maybe into the third quarter, but I think New England pulls away and I'm going to go Patriots 31, Jets 10.

And I am going to note, Michael, that in spite of our 18-21 point margins, we both do have, Jets 10. And I am going to note, Michael, that in spite of our 18-21 point margins, we both do have the Jets covering the spread. So the Jets do win this game if you're judging it that way. Yeah, I do. Actually, I think that spread is very, very high and very difficult to cover. And look, prior to all of the decimated injuries that uh that the uh the jets

have suffered i actually thought they had a decent shot at being a playoff team this year i didn't quite pick them to do that but i did put in my preseason predictions that this team was someone that could make some waves and it wouldn't have shocked me to see them make the playoffs so there is talent on both sides of the ball when it comes to do uh to the new york jets injuries have been the unfortunate part of this, and that's why I think it's going to be more of a one-sided affair on Sunday. But in another month, who knows what will happen when Sam Darnold is finally healthy enough to come back.

Hopefully he will be back by then. We're all hoping for the best for his health. But you never know. Things can change in the blink of an eye. So we'll see what happens on Sunday, and then we'll be back to do this again another month but yeah no i i agree with you i heading into the season i had some optimism for the jets if it was the type of season where if things broke right for them this could be this could have been a playoff team because it was all about surviving

like the first month and a half of the season because once you get to the back end of the schedule there's some very vulnerable so if they could get to like you know maybe the the one third point around 500 there there was an opportunity to make a run but it's just this has been the everything goes wrong scenario when you talk about injuries when you talk about not performing the fourth quarter against buffalo and now it looks like it could be a pretty ugly season in new york but looks like it's gonna be a great season up in Foxborough you guys have had plenty of those yeah I mean well you know it's it's one game at a time in Foxborough and Bill Belichick preaches that he said that even in his press conference today uh you know all I'm looking at is the Jets I'm looking at this week

I'm not looking at anything beyond and he says that and honestly it sounds cliche it sounds like a soundbite everybody makes fun of it but it really is the way of life up here in Foxborough, and I think one of the big reasons why this team has been so successful over the course of the last 19-some-odd years since the Brady-Belichick era began. So it's in the twilight of it, no question about it, but feelings are still riding high up here in New England, and the fans are just trying to enjoy whatever time they have left with this dynasty because it's been remarkable.

It truly has been, and we'll see what happens from game to game. But right now, all eyes are on Sunday, Foxborough, Massachusetts, Gillette Stadium. That's a real throwback right there. That's a real, real throwback. I'm showing my age there, buddy, I tell you right now. But I remember that old stadium, but as a kid when I went there and seeing

the Patriots play in Foxborough Stadium, but no, it should be at least an entertaining contest to say the least, and we'll see what the outcome is. Alright, well, Mike, thanks for doing this, and I look forward to doing it again in, I guess, what, about a month or so?

Yeah, about a month or so. October, I think, the 20th or the 21st is the next one coming up. So, yeah, John and I will be back again on the microphone to do this once again. As soon as everything is wrapped up here with this first game here in Gillette, then we'll be coming down to MetLife and we'll be facing the Jets in your hometown, in your neck of the woods. All right, well, thanks again, Mike. Thanks to everybody for tuning in.

Hope you have a great Thursday. I'll be back locked on Jets on Friday. Mike will be back locked on Patriots on Friday as well. And enjoy the games this weekend.