Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots - September 24, 2019: Brady’s Still Here

Episode Date: September 24, 2019

Joining host Mike D’Abate on this episode of Locked On Patriots is Ian Glendon, Editor-In-Chief of Full Press Coverage. The duo discuss the latest on the injury to James Develin, and his prospectus for a 2019 return; the emergence of Jamie Collins as a true defensive force and the continue presence of Tom Brady as one of the league’s elite quarterbacks.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

and hello to all you Foxborough faithful and welcome to your Tuesday edition of Locked On Patriots your daily home for news notes analysis and the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions Patriots Locked On Patriots as always is a part of the Locked On Podcast Network today's show is brought to you in part by Mack Weldon. And remember, Mack Weldon is probably better than whatever you're wearing right now. For 20% off your first order, visit MackWeldon.com

and enter promo code LOCKEDON. I am your host, Mike DeBate. I cover the Patriots for FullPressCoverage.com, which is where you can always find my written work. You can also reach out to me on Twitter at MDABATEFPC, and be sure to follow Locked On Patriots on Twitter at LO underscore Patriots.

Today's show will be well-liked by Patriots fans, but may not be by everyone else, because it seems that the best way to get attention in the realm of sports media these days is to compare the rankings of NFL quarterbacks, both currently and even all time. And with the National Sports Morning Show's hot take machines in full operation, I decided to make, as Vincent LaGuardia Gambini would say, a counteroffer. And I invited a voice of reason in among the sea of attention seekers this morning. The editor-in-chief of Full Press Coverage is back today. Ian Glendon will join me in just a bit, and it's always fun when Ian and I share the microphone. I hope that you will enjoy this one as well.

And I will welcome my good friend here in a minute, but first I have a question for you. Yes, you, listening out there. Do your weekend plans involve watching football? What a ridiculous question, right? Of course they do. At the end of a hard week, it's great to sit down, take some time off, and, you guessed it, 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 else like the NFL, and there's no better way to make the games even more exciting than to bet on them.

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The Patriots earned another dominant win over the New York Jets on Sunday, and it was a complete effort. Offense and defense looked great. Special teams, well, we'll call that a work in progress for right now. But the Patriots have some concerns of the injury kind, and player health is going to be a spotlight this week, and we will be discussing that today. But one concern the Pats don't seem to have, and that's under center.

Tom Brady is still looking great out there, folks, at the age of 42. But that has not stopped some of the cynical soothsayers from trying to continue to accelerate his demise and also anoint the next of 42. But that has not stopped some of the cynical soothsayers from trying to continue to accelerate his demise and also anoint the next big thing. We all know who we're talking about here. We don't have to name names. You know. But fear not, because I've called in the man

who can set the record straight today. His voice is a light in the dark forest of the hot take machines. You know him as one of the best and key frontline soldiers in the crusade against Brady Derangement Syndrome. He is the editor-in-chief of Full Press Coverage, the managing editor of FPC NHL,

and the host of numerous shows on Full Press Radio. He is a friend of the program. He is my personal great friend. Ian Glendon joins us today. Ian, forgive me, I don't have the sound bite, but let me just start by saying hello. Hello, my friend. And I want to add that naming names can cause some trouble.

I was once blacklisted at Hop Sings for naming names. So you want to be a little careful. See, right off the bat, folks, right off the bat, I set it up with a hello. He comes back with la, la, la and mentions Hop Sings. How much better can you get? Anybody that's a Seinfeld fan is laughing right now. Anybody that's not has absolutely lost beyond belief. But you know what, Ian?

It's all about moving forward and all about being positive. And we love our Seinfeld references. Anybody that's listened to any time that we've shared the microphone together knows that is indeed the case. We're going to get to the quarterback hype train in just a moment, buddy. But I wanted to start with the news of the day, and that is the Pats walking wounded. Several key players are nursing some key injuries.

Thankfully, yesterday, it looks like Julian Edelman's best injury seems to be more positive than negative. The reports yesterday around Foxborough indicated that he should be okay, and not surprisingly, he wants to play on Sunday, I know, but we'll see if that happens. But, you know, there's also minor injuries that were reported for Josh Gordon, Adam Butler, and even Dante Hightower seemed to be banged up. Dante Hightower was in Knoxboro.

He appeared to be in good spirits. Not sure what that means at this point. We haven't heard anything official. But keeping our fingers crossed, definitely on him. But the unfortunate news of the day yesterday was James Devlin and him being placed on injured reserve with a neck injury. Looks like he suffered that in week two against Miami. But I'm going to pull a Thornton Mellon on you here, and I'm going to ask my first question in two parts. The first part is, are the Pats missing in Devlin and really an irreplaceable type of player when it comes to blocking

and the running game. I know Jakob Johnson was called up from the practice squad. Bill Belichick praised him yesterday on the media conference call, going above and beyond to talk about his work ethic. But it's definitely going to be less than what Devlin gives you. So is that irreplaceable for the Patriots? And also, with Isaiah Wynn and Nakheel Harry figuring to be big parts of this offense,

they're on IR too. So does that make Devlin the odd man out? Because only two can come back at this point, and it looks like Wynn and Harry are going to be highly relied upon, especially down the stretch. You know, I don't want to say this in disrespect to James Devlin, because I love James Devlin, and I think he's clearly the best at what he does at a position that is almost non-existent now in today's NFL.

But is he irreplaceable? I would say no, because I would just, you know, look, the Patriots can do so many different things to make up for what Devlin does. Now, having Devlin is an advantage, because again, he gives you the edge in a lot of different situations because not every team has a guy like James Devlin who can do the things that he does. However, it's a pretty tough predicament, I guess, for the Patriots to be in because, again, like you said, they have two spots available for players to come back once they go on injured reserve,

and you have three players that have a very strong case for that. I would say Isaiah Wynn, if he's healthy, 100%, no doubt, would be one of those two. So it basically comes down to James Devlin and Nikhil Harry. So, you know, it's tough. Like I said, I love James Devlin, but I feel like they can make up some of what he does with different schemes, whether it's bringing in extra offensive linemen or, you know, maybe they do bring in another tight end. You know, they do have Ben Watson coming back.

So, you know, a use for, you know, some guy blocking off the edges is obviously something that they can do and help this running game, which is obviously struggled in this early part of the season. And, you know, again, all of us, especially our circle of friends, I guess you want to call it, groups of people who follow the Patriots, we all love James Devlin. And, you know, I think we all appreciate what he brings to the table. But between what he actually does and how it can be replaced, and really his injury. I mean, when people say neck injuries and back injuries, I mean, maybe it's just the word itself, but I always pause for concern

because especially at a position like his where he's facing a lot of head-to-head contact with other teams' biggest players. So for a lot of reasons, I feel like you're right. James Devlin is going to eventually be the odd man out. Yeah, I definitely understand where you're coming from, and I think that that's definitely a big part of this as well. I think what's happening, especially with Devlin right now, is I think they're going to err on the side of caution, and I'm so glad that you brought that up when it comes

to Devlin, because he is nursing a neck injury and we've heard differing reports on this. It could be an injury that is week to week or it could be an injury that might even be, you know, something that affects, you know, his, I don't want, it's definitely, it doesn't look like it's career injury, career threatening, I should say, but it does look like it could be a season-ending injury. So there's a lot of different options here as well. The question that I want to put to you, and I know my listeners are going to roll their eyes for a second, but before I ask this question, let me preference this as I'm asking this on a football standpoint, folks.

Do you believe that now, with Antonio Brown no longer on this roster, that that accelerates the need for a guy like Nikhil Harry to come back where maybe if they had longer on this roster, that that accelerates the need for a guy like Nikhil Harry to come back where maybe if they had AB on this roster, it might free up Devlin to come back along with Wynn, and they might use that IR spot on Harry and kind of nurse him along until next year. Oh, absolutely, and I was thinking about this. I was like, hey, just like six or seven days ago,

you would have said easily just let Harry sit on IR, get healthy, and redshirt him, essentially, his rookie season. But now, with obviously Antonio Brown gone, I mean, the Patriots receiving core is not in dire straits. They're still in pretty good position, even with, they can probably sustain an injury. I mean, obviously, it's not ideal to miss Edelman for any extended period of time, but, you know, we've seen this team, you know, be able to rebound. And like I mentioned before, Ben Watson is going to be back after, you know,

this next week against Buffalo, and he's a great receiving tight end. So, you know, you bring in another weapon, and, again, we know how this Patriots offense and Tom Brady is able to adapt to whatever's out there. And, again, even now, without Antonio Brown, they have a really good group. You know, however, with Antonio Brown, you could easily just, again, just let Harry get healthy because they could sustain an injury or two and still trot out a lineup that featured, you know,

Jacoby Myers, Antonio Brown, or Josh Gordon, or take out Gordon and put in Edelman, or you know what I mean. So, you know, having Brown obviously in the lineup, you know, obviously I think from a pure football standpoint, I think a lot of people would prefer, you know, outside of everything else that came with him. And it would have obviously allowed them in this situation to, you know, make an easier choice. However, again, like at the end of the day, you know,

the choice may be made for them given the extent of what Devlin's injury is. So, but right now, yeah, you're right. I definitely agree with you that, you know, if Antonio Brown was still on this team, then this decision would be much easier, and I think you could just let Harry sit and heal. Yeah, I completely agree, and I think it is an interesting point that in that offensive fire, Watson is actually in the depth blocker.

A lot of people don't give him enough credit for being that, but he does have the ability to do that. Obviously, he's definitely a weapon in the offensive passing game, but he does have the ability to block as well. So they will miss Devlin's production, no question about it. Let's see how Johnson can come out of the block and be able to do that. A lot of pressure to put on a rookie, but I think he's up to it. Switching gears now, and I actually

pumped your tires on this show a little yesterday, and I mentioned a tweet that you had put out during the game, or right after the game, about Jamie Collins and how really he's had, to me, a tremendous season. He's really been, I think, the most prolific defender, certainly the most highly publicized defender on the Patriots this year, maybe not including Stephon Gilmore. But Collins has really looked so at home in the Patriots.

He brings to the table, putting himself up for a possible defensive player of the year, not at the end of the season. You know, that's the thing. It's like when I sit there and I watch him through these first three games, he just explodes off the screen. And, you know the the stats back it up i mean he you know he has a laundry list of different accolades already and we're only three games into this season and um you know nothing is more you know apparent than i i was trying to look for it before we got on here but um there was a series for the Jets towards the end of the game yesterday or on Sunday.

And Jamie Collins made all three stops in various forms on the three and out for the Jets. And it just kind of exemplified kind of what he's done this season, whether it's getting in on the quarterback or sniffing out screen passes or plays in the backfield or deflecting passes or playing coverage. I mean, he's just been all over the field. And, you know, when I think about defensive play of the year, you know, that people kind of lean towards the, you know, the big guns over there, you know, the Aaron Donalds, all that stuff. But, you know, if he keeps up any sort of pace like he is now,

especially in this defense that has a lot of skilled players, I mean, it's going to be hard to ignore what he's racking up in so soon, you know. And I've been very impressed. And I think we were both optimistic that he was going to come and his second time with this team was going to be a little bit better. Maybe he was a little bit more humbled and, you know, obviously a little bit grayer in the hair. But, you know, he just looks like a brand-new player who just gets it.

And it's fun to watch. It really is. It really, really is with Collins. And, you know, I think one of the biggest things in the comfort level, and I had our good friend Thomas Murphy on last week, and he had mentioned the comfort in Jamie's bank account now, going to Cleveland, earning a little bit of extra money with some of the contract money that he earned there as well,

and knowing that he doesn't have to come in here and essentially sing for his supper any longer. He's an established player. He can now sit back, take the coaching that maybe he did not want to take this first time around because he won't target for someone that would be able to sign him for a long-term deal. I think now what he brings to the table is a much more relaxed approach, and you're seeing that, and he looks to be a hand-in-glove fit

for this defense, and he has played great. Again, my guest this morning on Locked On Patriots, he is the editor-in-chief of press coverage, and Ian, the Pats have looked dominant on defense. We just talked about Jamie Collins, the strength of this team, but a favorite subject of yours and Patriots fans all over is Tom Brady, and he's still playing at an elite level. But some of the morning sports talk show fodder will have you believe that Brady is now an also-ran and that he's been leapfrogged by a guy like Patrick Mahomes.

And before we start, look, I love Mahomes. I love his game. His skill set level is amazing. Good attitude, all of that, no question about it. But we're essentially talking about one season and three games into a career. And all of a sudden, he's been anointed as being better than guys like Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, and Tom Brady. So my question to you is, why the attempt to push the Nally? What exactly has Brady done to relinquish the top spot? Because if there's anything he's done to do that,

I certainly haven't seen it. No, and that's always been kind of my contention is that let's ignore what Patrick Mahomes did. And look, he deserved the MVP last year. He had a remarkable season. And I'm right there with you. I love watching him play. He's on my fantasy team.

Trust me, I really like what he does. So, you know, it's not any disrespect to him, but I just don't understand what the point, I mean, I do get it because at the end of the day it gets a reaction. I mean, hey, look, you know, we're sitting here talking about it right now. So, you know, I understand why they do it, but it just seems strange to me that you would be in such a hurry to anoint someone who, one, it's unfair to him. Two, it's unfair to

Brady and Manning and the guys that have been here and done that for years and years and years. And then at the same time, it's just wrong. I mean, like I keep bringing up the same thing you just said, and I ask people, like, what has Brady done to lose that title? I mean, he's been to four of the last five Super Bowls. He's won three of them. He's won an MVP in 2017. He's near the top of the league again this year in terms of raw statistics. And, you know, when you get deeper and dive into it,

it's just a long list of reasons why, you know, albeit had a phenomenal great first season, looks extremely talented. But there's so much more that goes into quarterback play than being able to huck the ball downfield 50 yards or whatever. There's a lot more to it. Decision making, reading defenses, so on and so forth. So, again, I think I understand why these shows do it, and I understand why, you know, it gets a reaction, because as ridiculous as I think it is, I still, I'll see it, I'll walk away for five seconds, and then it's the yeah but you know what and then it just opens up pandora's

box so now we're arguing about you know how effective tom brady was in his first super bowl versus his third and you know he got carried although he let it fourth rank i don't it's it's always devolves into just a mess of of nonsense, but it starts with a mess of nonsense. And when you say things like, you know, Patrick Mahomes is like the Golden State Warriors, then you know you're just saying things to say things. And that's, to me, it's dumb. Yeah, and I did see that tweet this morning and some of the others. You know, obviously we're referring to Ryan Clark yesterday saying that Mahomes is better than any of these guys ever were.

And then they're making all different kinds of comparisons. And really, I think what it is is it's really just an attempt to pander to the national contempt for Tom Brady. And you know what? I can get it to a certain extent. I mean, I guess if he played for a different team other than the team that we cover and the team that we've grown up watching, we probably would be sick of seeing Brady, Belichick, and the Patriots as well. It's just it's one thing where they're your obstacle in being able to play either a Super Bowl championship or a successful season.

So part of that is, and these guys feed into it. They know exactly what they're doing. Most of them are professionals, folks. They're doing this from a position of saying, well, what's going to get me the most views, the most, most, exactly, yes, most. I will preface that. But, you know, these guys are coming from a situation where they're looking at what is going to get them clicks, what's going to get them views, what's going to get their

name out there, and what's going to get people talking. And, again, it's working because we're dedicating half a show to this today. I did think it was very, very humorous. I did see a tweet come out last night from Troy Aikman. And the Athletic Kansas City issued, and in case you missed it, and I see why am I, for Patrick Mahomes having thrown 36% of Troy Aikman's career touchdown, about 8% of the games. And Troy responded with one that said,

talk to me when he has 33% of my Super Bowl titles. I thought that was funny. But I did think it was appropriate because people are so quick to dismiss success in the biggest games. They have those hot takes, and I'm using the takes with a Z on the end of it, as those guys love to do, I think it's really, it's amazing to me how success in the biggest games is so swept under the rug when it comes to something like this. And, you know, you can, right, we can get into

the argument about wins being the quarterback's stat. That's a, that, to me, that's an argument for another day. You and I both have like feelings on that. We both have strong feelings on that, but we'll even table that for a second. It just amazes me that people will dismiss the fact that a quarterback has had such great success in these big games. It's a team sport. We get it, but a quarterback has to play well and they have to play effective in order for your team to even have a shot to win. To indicate that a quarterback can come in there, play an absolutely awful game, and still be able to win consistently. I'm not talking about one game here.

I'm talking about a consistent record, and especially with Brady, with nine Super Bowl appearances, six Super Bowl titles, it's really mind-boggling that he does not get more credit for that, and it's really kind of almost used against him and derisively instead of being celebrated. No, and look, usually the rebuttal from, you know, people that say quarterback wins, and I know you said we're going to table it, but it's inevitably going to leak into this conversation. You know, the people that say they aren't a stat are the same. You know, they use Dan Marino and Trent Dilfer, the most extremes from each position,

which is not what you would say. It's not genuine to the argument because, yeah, of course, there's going to be examples of, yeah, a so-so quarterback won a Super Bowl and a really good one didn't win one. But that's not the norm. When you look at the long list of players that are, you know, in the top ten of wins and quarterback wins, name me a guy that doesn't deserve to be up on that list.

And, you know, when you talk about – And, again, look at all these teams that say, oh, we need a quarterback to do this, we need a quarterback to do that. Oh, I can't wait to draft a quarterback first overall. The quarterback gets this. But when it comes to the quarterback having a hand in a win, oh, no, it's a team sport. Okay, great.

But, you know, the quarterback literally touches the ball half the time. I mean, break it down 50-50 or 40-40, 20% special teams. You know what I'm saying? Offense, defense. Very simple, simple math here. The quarterback right off the bat touches the ball 40% of the time. And as we've argued quite a bit, and there was an article, Bill Barnwell actually wrote something recently,

and part of the segment was he was talking about the offense's effect on defensive points per game. And this is something that we've hammered home to so many different people that try to argue, oh, the Patriots' defense has always been great and they've carried Brady. Well, no, it really hasn't. They've been good to mediocre, but they really haven't had a great defense until, you know, just now.

Part of that is a quarterback's effectiveness. You know, if a quarterback's turning the ball over and unable to move the ball downfield or sustain drives, guess what? The defense is going to be on the field a lot more. If you have a guy like Tom Brady, who A, doesn't turn the ball over, B, is notorious for

incredibly long in both time and play number drives, and the ability to score consistently and keep the offense moving, you know, their defense is going to be in a lot better position because guess what? They're going to have better field position to start. So again, this all comes back to the quarterback and yes, is it a perfect stat?

Quarterback wins? No, it's not. But the idea that people can sit there and dismiss it as nothing and then break it down and be like, Oh, you know, rings don't matter or success doesn't matter. Dan Marino didn't win a ring, blah, blah, blah. It's just silly and it kind of exposes you to, you know, just being a very one-track mind football fan. Like you have an idea. That's what you're committed to. You've read the headlines and that's it. You don't want to hear anything else. It doesn't

matter what else has been out there. It's how it is. It's a vicious cycle that just continues and continues. I agree with that. I absolutely do. No, you didn't get off on a rant. I'm glad that you actually did that because it does lend into the conversation. Again, when I said table it earlier, it wasn't so much that we weren't going to discuss it. It's just we could fill an entire show and then some on that, my friend. And we've attempted to do this and kind of setting the record straight on a lot of what Tom Brady has done. Look, at 42 years of age, folks, he's definitely toward the end of his career. He's definitely on that downswing rather than the upswing. However, at 42, again, he's playing at a very top level, and we definitely look for some big things again this year. Health

permitting, we definitely look for that. So I think it'll be interesting to see what the season holds and how it all plays out this year in Foxborough. Ian, I can't thank you enough, bud. You always come on and lend your wisdom and counsel the way only you can do it. We've talked a lot about the defense, we've talked a lot about the injuries, and we've talked a little bit about Brady. I'm going to put you on the hot seat really, really quick here. Patriots are taking on the Buffalo Bills this weekend, and we're going to start to turn the corner here on Locked On. It's a centric show for the next few weeks, excuse me, few weeks, next few days. However, what are you looking for in this game with the Battle of the Unbeatens coming up in Orchard Park?

Well, you know, honestly, I'm really curious to see how the Patriots go up against a pretty young and exciting team. I mean, I think a lot of people thought the Bills could make a little bit of noise this year, and so far, you know, their defense has been, you know, really, really good. You know, the offense is a work in progress, but, you know, they have potential there at quarterback. So, you know, I'm just kind of curious as to, you know, where each team stands.

You know, I obviously am a lot more confident in knowing that the Patriots are who they are. But I'm actually kind of curious to see if the Bills are who they are this year. You know what I mean? And I think the Patriots are going to be a really good test. And I think that's going to kind of give you a glimpse into what the you know the future in this season and this division is going to look like if the Bills can really start to put things together awesome and you know I think definitely it will be something to keep an eye on and again uh really good defense young cork uh will be a good test for the Patriots this weekend I'm looking forward to it games up in Buffalo are are always fun. The Bills Mafia is going

to be out in full effect. We'll definitely keep our eye on what's going to go on. Yeah, the tables, absolutely. We'll see. I'm sure that'll be probably mild compared to especially this week. Folks up in Buffalo are pumped for this. Ian, once again, thank you, my friend. Quickly,

before I let you go today, if our listeners don't know already, and you should, but if you don't, please let everyone know where they can find your great work and where they can follow you on social media. Well, of course, you can always go to fullpresscoverage.com. I primarily cover the NHL now, but you will see from time to time a few football articles out there from me. But you can also follow me on Twitter where there is a lot of NFL talk,

and primarily Patriots and quarterback play and all that. And that is at IGLEN31. So I look forward to maybe talking to some of you guys out there. Absolutely. And you know what? We definitely look forward to, and especially you mentioned the NHL coverage. Full Press NHL is doing an amazing job, folks, right now. Bruins definitely starting to get into the swing of things with preseason and all the NHL teams.

The NHL page for Full Press does an amazing job. Highly recommend it. Check it out. You definitely will not be disappointed. As for me, I will be back tomorrow, and it is Crossover Wednesday here on Locked on Patriots. I will be back with my colleague Joe Marino, the host of Locked on Bills. He puts on an amazing show for the Bills Mafia

and Bills fans up there. We look forward to the Pats Week 4 matchup with Buffalo on Sunday in Orchard Park. It's the battle of the unbeaten, and we will break it all down for you. As always, make sure to join me each and every day on the Locked On Patriots podcast and subscribe to Locked

On Patriots via your preferred podcast provider. Once again, I am Mike DeBate. Thank you so much for listening today. Have a great day, everybody.