Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots - September 4, 2019: Crossover with Locked On Steelers

Episode Date: September 4, 2019

In a preview of Sunday night’s 2019 season opener at Gillette Stadium, host Mike D’Abate shares the hosting chair with Tony Serino and Christopher Carter of Locked On Steelers. In this first Crossover of the season, the trio each provide their unique perspectives on both the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All right, it's Crossover Wednesday here on the Locked On Podcast Network. I am Tony Serino of Locked On Steelers, joined by my co-host, Chris Carter. Chris, how are you doing tonight? Doing great, Tony. How are you? Doing very good, doing very good. We are joined by Mike DeBate of Locked On Patriots to preview this Steelers-Patriots game. Mike, how are you? Tony, I'm doing great. How are you doing, my friend?

Very good. So Thursday's opener is not the Super Bowl champion. This game would have been the Thursday opener. Steelers-Patriots should have been the Thursday opener. But instead, the NFL is elected in year 100 to go with the oldest rivalry. It'll be Bears-Packers on Thursday. But Sunday night, let's call it the winningest rivalry in the NFL. These are the two teams with six Lombardi trophies, the Patriots and the

Steelers. They're going to be duking it out in Foxborough. Let's start with when the Patriots have the ball, Mike. This whole series has been dominated by Tom Brady and this offense dominating the Steelers. Last year, though, this Patriots offense really struggled to move the ball, only put up 10 points. So the question here is, do you expect that in Foxborough, this is going to go back to the old ways of Tom Brady just shredding the Steeler defense? Or have the Steelers figured out something over the last couple of years and without Rob Gronkowski and some of the new look at this offense, can we expect this Patriots offense to struggle a little bit again in 2019? I think you're going to see a little bit of a balance of both. And that's

probably a cop-out answer, but I'll explain exactly what I mean by that. At Gillette Stadium, Tom Brady has been excellent against the Pittsburgh Steelers. There's no question about it. He's 5-0, a 71.9% completion percentage, averaging 359.4 yards per game. He's 18 touchdowns, zero interceptions, 131.6 passer rating that's impressive those are impressive numbers for any quarterback and let alone tom brady so there has been a great deal of success at gillette stadium however a lot of that was predicated on the fact that most of these games the steelers would sit back in man coverage against tom brady's offense and if you do that against br, he is going to pick you apart.

He's very, very adept at being able to pick apart a zone defense. The Steelers played a lot more man last year, and they actually, their man percentage last year increased to 60.5%. The last two times the Patriots played the Steelers' defense. Their man percentage in the 26th day in AFC championship game, which was the last blowout really between these two teams, was 16.7. So the Steelers have become much more adept, they have adapted to it, and they have played much better. So I will believe that the Steelers will bring a very formidable game to the Patriots on

Sunday night. That being said, the Pats are very well adept to being able to handle teams that come into Gillette Stadium. So I do believe that Brady and the Patriots will be ready for that man coverage as opposed to seeing the Steelers sit back in zone. When the Patriots have the ball, look for short passes. Brady will look to pull this team apart early. If he does, look for him to look for guys like Philip Dorsett and Julian Edelman in short coverage to get yards after the catch. That's something that Brady is very well known for when he plays the Steelers, so that's something that they will look for. They'll also utilize the run game, and the run game is going to be predicated by Sonny Michel.

He is their feature back, will continue to be, but also look for a dose of rookie Damian Harris. If he's healthy and ready to go in this game, and there's still some question about that, but Damian Harris is that type of grounded pound runner that the Patriots have loved to use against the Steelers. You saw Deion Lewis rush for a number of yards against this team a couple of years ago. Harris is in that vein. So I look for something like that with the Patriots coming out and playing in a very pumped up crowd, a home crowd. They're unveiling the banner. They're going to be excited.

But at the same time, they're going to look to establish their dominance on offense early. And if they can do that, they want to keep the Pittsburgh Steelers on their heels. I want to talk to you about the running game in New England because it's one of the more interesting things that happened at the end of last year. You know, last year was such an offense prolific year, right? I mean, it was just pass, pass, pass, and everybody's putting up points. But the Patriots did it in a little bit of a different way, especially as the year went on, using more 21 personnel, you know, running out of that. But also, you know, I think they were through the ball 40% out of that personnel as well.

Not that they were a run first team, but they were probably a run more team than you saw other, you know, other teams around the NFL. Do you expect that to continue this year? I mean, whether it's in this game or just down, you know, down the line, I mean, is this going to be a more run happy type team to, to hide Tom Brady in his, you know, in his, I don't want to say old age, but you know, he's getting up there. No, 42 years of age. There's no question about it. And yes, to answer your question, I believe so, both in this game and beyond. Look, the Patriots definitely built a running staff that is going to be very formidable. Sonny Michel, like I mentioned, is the lead back.

You're going to look for some extra production out of Damian Harris, but you don't want to forget three other names that they have on this running back core. James White is one of the best in the league at being able to catch the ball out of the backfield and extend plays with yards after catch. He's very good at that. And the Patriots will look to utilize that. Expect a heavy dose of him on Sunday night. I believe he's going to be a big part of their offensive game plan. Another guy that you can watch for on the goal line stands or in the red zone is Rex

Burkhead. That's where he can be very lethal. The last couple of years, he's been very good. Burkhead, you'll forget. I know Kansas City Chiefs fans won't forget. Burkhead scored the tying touchdown and then the go-ahead touchdown, obviously, that won them the AFC championship. So Burkhead is very adept at being able to do that.

Another name to watch who may not get a lot of play during the uh the regular uh you know flow of the game but in special teams is a guy named brandon bolden bolden spent last year in miami came back to the patriots this year he's been known to be used as a backfield catcher and situational passes so there's a possibility that bolden could be used in some of these packages as well without rob gronkowski the patriots are going to be looking to find reliable offensive weapons. And I believe that's going to start in the running game and it's going to continue throughout the season. Chris, let's talk Steelers defense for a second. You know, it's so interesting because this was the killer B era a year ago, right? I mean, Le'Veon Bell left, but it was still Antonio Brown and Ben Roethlisberger, and they were lighting up

the stat sheets. Now there's no more Antonio Brown. There's no more Le'Veon Bell. There are some questions on offense, but there's a whole lot of excitement in Pittsburgh about this defense. They add Devin Bush in the draft. They add Mark Barron in free agency, Stephen Nelson in free agency. Are Steelers fans right to be so excited about a defense that, let's be honest, has been pretty disappointing in years past? Well, you know, Tony, we've been talking about this on the show for a while. They have absolutely every reason to be excited about the new group.

What Kevin Colbert made sure to do was go out and address the weaknesses that have been on this team for several years. Now they have two starting cornerbacks that are actual starting caliber cornerbacks that can understand schemes, that can adjust with every audible that's thrown out pre-snap. They have two inside linebackers that can cover and have the athleticism to run with running backs. They have the safeties now that have the athleticism to be all over the field and the size to really take on tight ends and taller receivers. They have gone across the board and addressed those those weak spots and i think that's the reason everyone's so excited is that you have a series of of things that you can rely on the

defensive line has always been a a strong relying point of this of this defensive team but when you look at the inside linebackers now you're still excited about the pass rushers you're still excited about the cornerbacks um and you know with joeden and now Steven Nelson there's a lot of reasons to be excited and I think honestly you can credit the Patriots for sort of forcing this narrative to happen with with the Steelers because they have done made a lot of moves to address the ways that the that the Patriots have beaten them over the years it's very true. You know, the pass rush in this game, well, the pass rush against Brady has always been the key, right? You have to be able to get pressure, especially pressure with four.

And that's something the Steelers have struggled with in the past. Now, they didn't struggle last year. Last year, that game was, you know, they only sacked Brady once, but it felt like they were around Brady. They made Brady think a lot and made him get rid of the ball, maybe quicker than he wanted to. You got T.J. Watt returning. You got Bud Dupree, Cam Hayward, Stephon Tu.

It feels like this game on defense, as much as everything's going to be written about Devin Bush and Mark Barron and then the new look secondary in Pittsburgh, if those front four can't get to Brady, this may look a lot like Steelers-Patriots of years past. No, absolutely. And that's the whole point of this is that they need the defensive line to get after them. But I think it's also important to note, typically, the note has always been,

don't blitz Tom Brady. And he was the least blitzed quarterback of any quarterback in 2018. However, he was ranked 18th when dealing with the Blitz as far as how his production went. That's what the Steelers are going to have to try and do with Keith Butler is, one, do get pressure with four, but don't be afraid to mix in the occasional inside linebacker rush from a Vince Williams type, you know, or to, you know, to have a safety lineup in the box and have, you know, Terrell Edmonds maybe coming up to help and then dropping back another guy to take his place. Find ways to find ways to create pressure on Tom Brady.

Move him off his launch point. That is the biggest thing that you have to do. You have to move on his launch point, make him uncomfortable and force him to go through those reads. Because Tom Brady, what I've always been impressed is he's the best processor of defenses that I've ever seen in football. And when you look at how he does that, the way that you break that up is force him to take his eyes off of the field and to have to assess himself and find his bearings. And that's what they really have a good chance to do with Hayward to it and Hargrave up the middle. But don't forget TJ Watt and don't forget Bud Dupree. Both are going to be a serious part of this game. And I think, again, you look at how the Steelers have built this team.

Even when their defense was elite in the mid-2000s and they were in the run of being number one defense, you know, every other year for a span of like eight seasons, they were getting picked apart by the Patriots because they still based themselves off of a 3-4 look where they were linebacker heavy and quicker receivers in tighter spaces could win matchups. However, now you see they're going against that frame. They went and got safeties that can cover tight ends and receivers and hit and help against the run.

They have cornerbacks that can help in the slot outside the numbers. And they got linebackers now especially this season that can run and hit and cover and maybe make plays on the ball this is going to be very interesting for this new experiment that they're going through with all these different different talent that they're putting on defense and see you know how far it is but i think the biggest key will be communication on the back end if sean davis doesn't play how well does cam kelly pick up on you know making the audible changes at the line of scrimmage? Because Tom Brady is very good at identifying the weaknesses

pre-snap, and it takes a good safety to say, hey, let's move with how they're moving. That's what Sean Davis did very well last year. Can Cam Kelly do that if Davis doesn't make it? And communication was such a big part of last year's game. The Patriots' big long touchdown they had was on a communication breakdown between Artie Burns and the rest of that defense that led to, I think it was Hogan who had the long touchdown in that one. All right, we're going to go to break here. When we come back, we'll talk about what to expect

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have the ball. Antonio Brown is gone. The questions on offense, Chris, are all about Juju Smith-Schuster and is he ready to be a number one receiver? Boy, he's got a tough test going up against a Bill Belichick defense that you have to imagine is going to game plan to take him out of this one. First of all, is Juju ready to be the number one option?

And B, do you expect that he's going to have a big game or is this going to have to be a game where the Steelers find other options as Belichick takes him out of the game? Actually, I fully believe that Juju Smith-Schuster is ready to be a number one receiver in the NFL and show everyone that he's more than just Antonio Brown's Robin.

He's absolutely been showing that. There were times last year he was beating number one defensive backs. He was beating double coverage. And I think that those types of things are exactly what Juju Smith-Schuster is going to continue to show this year. However, I do not expect him to have a huge night against the Patriots in this game. I think that Bill Belichick is going to work to take him away because he knows one of the biggest ways to frustrate Ben Roethlisberger historically is to take away those number one options. Now options now granted that's how you generally take away most most quarterbacks

weapons but that can work against you when you're over concentrating on one player and a balanced attack picks you apart and that's where I think the Steelers can find some successes is if Randy Featner's offense has been bought into by Ben Roethlisberger and he's working on the efficiency and he's spreading the ball around and making it less predictable with where he's targeting, that's where I think that they can find the most success on offense because Ben Roethlisberger, he hasn't had a game where he's played the Patriots

and not thrown an interception since 2007. So, yeah, Juju's going to get worked in a little bit, but I fully expect Bill Belichick to force him to have to show that he's that comfortable throwing to James Washington, throwing to Ryan Switzer, throwing to Dante Moncrief, checking down to Samuels and Conner in those situations, finding Vance McDonald in those situations. I think Bill Belichick is going to push Ben Roethlisberger's understanding of his own playbooks to the limit.

So if Juju's not going to have a big night, how is this Steeler offense going to be moving the ball? You talked about being more balanced, but can we expect a big night from a Dante Moncrief who's coming in, looks like he's going to be the number two guy, or you talked about James Washington, he had a very nice preseason, but really back-to-back nice preseasons, haven't really seen him do it in the regular season yet.

I mean, where do the Steelers find their yards if it's not through Juju Smith-Schuster? Well, for one, I think the yards that they're going to look to try to do is replicate what they did last year and run the ball. Jalen Samuels had 142 yards against the Patriots last year. Certainly see that becoming part of the plan, though I also expect Bill Belichick to say he's not going to let that happen again. So he's going to at least put emphasis there. But one interesting candidate, and I said this on my Fantasy Football Insider show with WPX9 here in Pittsburgh, that James Washington is a very sneaky candidate if you're looking for a sneaky play on FanDuel. He won't cost you much.

But last year against the Patriots, that's when you saw that challenge from Roethlisberger really kick in with Washington. Before that, the most yards he had had in a game was 25 against the Buccaneers. But when he came into that Patriots game, he had three catches for 65 yards. One of them was a very good slot play where he was covered single by Stephon Gilmore. Y'all poor cornerback. That is a huge part of that Patriots defense. He beat him really badly. And I think that that's the thing,

is that he's worked on his route running to be that much better at it, to be sharper, to have a better release. Those are the things that are going to give him more opportunities. If the Patriots do focus on Juju Smith-Schuster and you get more one-on-one opportunities with Washington, I think that favors him in the long run, and that's the guy that's going to start getting the feed from – getting the targets from Roethlisberger.

But fully expect this round game to test the Patriots' front because I know they added Benavich, and I know they added Bennett, and I know Danny Shelton didn't play last year, but the Steelers are familiar with Danny Shelton. They've played him quite a few times. He's never been on a team that's beaten the Steelers because he was on the Browns for all those years. Now, granted, that wasn't Danny Shelton's fault, and he is a big- He's got the revenge factor. Yeah, exactly. There could be that involved. And Danny Shelton is the body type of a defensive tackle that has given Marquis Pouncey four. But I still expect the Steelers' offensive line to be

the key feature of this offense. How well do they protect Robinsburg? Can he sit in the pocket comfortably and process defenses? And I think there's going to be a lot of uses of wham and zone run schemes to open up opportunities for both Samuels and Connor, because I think you'll see a bit of a split from them after Samuels' success last year. But they are going to use Connor as best as they can to attack and force the Patriots to be gap sound across the board. Mike, going over to the Patriots defense,

I keep hearing about how the Patriots have, you know, retooled this defense or it's a new look defense. I mean, it feels to me, look, I know they got Michael Bennett. They had a Chase Winovich in the draft. I know Steeler fans were very upset by that because he was a player the Steelers were eyeing in that second round. But is this just the same old Belichick kind of retooling reloading and it's going to be they're going to be just fine in 2019 yeah I think a lot of what people are saying about this new look Patriots defense is a little disingenuous now yeah they have added some pieces definitely Michael Bennett coming in uh negating the loss of Trey Flowers I think that's pretty much a wash Bennett's look pretty solid in training camp

and has looked like he'll be a fine addition to this defense. But they're pretty much trotting out a lot of the same players that they had last year. Danny Shelton was on the team, and I know Chris mentioned him, and I think he mentioned a couple of good points. One thing I will bring up about Shelton in the middle is I do expect the Steelers to run the football. The issue with that is that Shelton is a little bit leaner

and a little bit quicker off the block this year, so he may be able to get to Pouncey a little bit better and allow some of the clogging of the run up front to prevent the Steelers from being able to run the ball at will because, as you know from last year, and Chris brought up the point, they ran the ball all over the Patriots last year, and there was no question about that. So their run stoppage looks to be a little bit formidable Lawrence Guy coming in and as at defensive tackle Adam Butler and even rookie Byron Coward who's

looked very impressive in preseason will be up front to be able to try to clog the run easier said than done the Pittsburgh Steelers definitely have a great runner in James Connor and they will be able to utilize catches out of the backfield. But the Patriots front defensive core is going to be a little bit more formidable this year with Danny Shelton up front, as opposed to Malcolm Brown, who did a fairly decent job, you know, last year. Now, when you take a look at their defensive ends, yes, you mentioned Chase Winovich, and he will be a a hybrid i do expect him to be a big part of this game plan on sunday night chase has a non-stop motor this kid can get after the quarterback he can rush he can even drop back into linebacker coverage if need be so by doing that and because

of the hybrid skills that he brings to the table that does make the patriots pass rush a little bit more formidable the issue with juuju Smith-Schuster, and of course I do agree with Chris, I think Juju is definitely ready to be that number one type of receiver. I also agree that the Patriots are going to do everything they can to hold him in check, and they honestly really did a pretty good job of that last year. Juju lined up mostly against cornerback J.C. Jackson, who's coming into the patriots as a second year corner he was an undrafted rookie last year um he held juju to four catches 40 yards on 10 targets this year it's going to be intriguing to see who the patriots match up with smith

with uh juju stefan gilmore is probably going to be the usual suspect people would normally figure that they would put your number one corner on a number one receiver however bill belichick doesn't always do that and as also chris mentioned james washington dante moncrief ryan switzer deontay johnson pittsburgh has a tremendous amount of speed outside so would it be smarter for the patriots to utilize a guy like Stephon Gilmore on a James Washington and maybe put J.C. Jackson back on Juju because of the success he had with him last year. Don't forget, the Patriots are also rolling out a very formidable five-man team on corner this year. They did make some upgrades in that respect. Also, Jason McCourty coming back with having another year under his belt

at corner. Jonathan Jones is always solid in the slot. And rookie Juwan Williams has shown the ability to get after plays and be able to be physical with receivers down the field. Now, he's still a rookie. He's playing with a little bit of discipline issues. So Bill Belichick is going to really bring him along very slowly. But look for Williams to make plays in the backfield. And he may have an active night on Sunday night, especially as a rookie. A lot of times Belichick will throw these guys to the wolves and see what they have. This is a good team to be able to test his mettle against. There's a lot of speedy receivers on the Pittsburgh Steelers.

If Williams can get disruption on these guys, it may throw off Roethlisberger and his ability to be able to read the defense. Yeah, one of the interesting things about last year's game is the Steelers had so much success early in that game. In fact, on the first drive, it looked like the Patriots came out running more of like a cover one, Robert-type look. Roethlisberger went right down the field. But after that, the Patriots shifted to more of a cover two, cover three look. And Roethlisberger never made the adjustment. I mean, look, this was a defensive struggle really a year ago.

I mean, a 17-10 game wasn't exactly the 49-52 game that the Rams and Chiefs played. I do want to ask you one more thing about the Patriots, and that is the Patrick Chung deal. What is the latest on Patrick Chung? Is he expected to play in this game? Is the suspension looming? What's the latest on Patrick Chung? Well, as of right now, it's really very tight-lipped. The latest was that in August, Chung pled not guilty to the possession, the substance abuse

possession in Laconia County in New Hampshire. He is next due in court on November 8th, meaning that at this point, because the legal matters are not going to take place until that date, it kind of puts Chung in a situation of limbo. He's not officially been suspended by the league. He's not officially been suspended by the team. So right now, Chung is still an active member of this roster. He is listed as an active member. And quite frankly, he's expected to play. I haven't seen any indication,

either in practices or in any type of communications with the media that Bill Belichick has had, that Chung will be held out for any extended period of time. Now, that could change by the day. The injury report and Bill Belichick's press conference hits this morning on Wednesday morning. It'll be interesting to see if Belichick has asked any questions about it or if he addresses it. In typical Bill fashion, he's probably going to give you as little to no information as you could possibly get. And that's his M.O. and we love him for it up here in New England. But at the same time, it also creates doubt. So Chung right now is expected to play if for any reason he does face any type of a league suspension or a team suspension let's not rule out the fact that the team may choose to either sit Chung for a few series maybe or they

may choose to sit him out of a game these are things that are all within the realm of the team or the league to be able to do the Patriots did load up on safety Daron Harmon is definitely the suspect to go in and fill in for Patrick Chung to be alongside of the defensive captain, Devin McCourty. He's done that before. Harmon was himself a team captain last year. So he's well versed in being able to fit into that strong safety role should he need to do that. They also carry Terrence Brooks, who was a former cornerback, former cornerback and safety for the Redskins and the Jets a couple of years ago. Brooks has looked very impressive in training camp and has taken a lot of first-team snaps. So if they do need to bring in Brooks to be a little bit of a thumper,

he has shown that he is capable of doing that. And also, Obi Melonfanwu, who was a wild card in all this, he was a surprise make of the team, but i was very glad to see him make the team i thought he showed a lot of promise with the raiders but just couldn't find his footing there he brings a lot of size and a lot of athleticism that will allow him to be able to fill in nicely so in the safety position something to keep an eye on if you're a steelers fan is if chung for any reason is not out there look for a heavy dose of mccordy and arman with brooks mixed in and you might see obi mellon fun will win some goal line stands uh if they choose to use that his um forte

is a little bit more special teams related all right one more break when we come back we'll give you our predictions for how this Steelers Patriots game is going to play out hey before we continue want to let you guys know about my bookie if you found a hundred dollars on the street would you pick it up or would you just keep walking of course you take the money so why do you keep picking winners and not betting on them that's why i go to my bookie it's fast it's easy they pay when you win let's face it where you're betting is just as important as who you're betting on do the smart thing if you're gonna bet football this season bet with my bookie did you know that you could bet on games after kickoff if by by the second half, it looks like your bet is going to lose. You can always just take the other side. If you're the kind of guy that likes to bet a little and

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when the Steelers have the ball, what to look for when the Patriots have the ball. But Mike, I want to know from you, how do you see this game playing out between the Steelers and Patriots? Well, I think you're going to see a little bit of what you saw last year and a little bit of a defensive struggle early. I think both of these teams are going to feel each other out.

Don't forget, Tom Brady is dealing with some new weapons on offense this year. Because of that, I look for him to look for guys like Julian Edelman and Philip Dorsett. And because of that, I think Pittsburgh is going to be ready for that. That being said, the Patriots make adjustments when they do see what types of defensive fronts and defensive strategies that the Steelers are throwing out there.

Nobody is better than Tom Brady and Bill Belichick at being able to take what a team does well and then throw it back at you. So in that regard, I look for a defensive struggle early on, and I don't think it's going to be too high scoring in the opening quarter or even the second quarter. But in the second half, I think the Patriots open it up a little bit. I like the Patriots in this one, 27-21 over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Chris, how do you see it playing out? Similarly, I think it's going to be a defensive struggle early. I think both teams are going to be testing out different things and seeing what's going to be working best for them. And what's going to really determine how well they succeed early

is going to be what weakness can they exploit in the other team first. And I think that if the Patriots' run defense has not improved, that could really set a tone that the Steelers take advantage of later in the game. They've added some personnel, but you never know until you see it happen in regulation. I think it's also interesting because the Patriots typically, they sort of defensively, they take their time getting things together. And then after September, you know, then they start to be, they start to reemerge and say, hey, we're still, we're still a top defense in the league. I think that that's, that that's going to work in the Steelers' favor. In the second half, you're going to see the run game sort of allow

Roethlisberger to be more comfortable, not necessarily have to throw the ball too much and be more predictable with the football. I think that this is going to test, again, how close he is with Randy Featner and what he's been trying to sell him. Featner's been all about spreading the ball. They had the number one red zone offense last season. I think that that's going to be what puts them over the top in this game. I have the Steelers winning 24-20, and I think that Tom Brady,

he's going to find ways to pick at the Steelers' defense, expose some weak spots. But what saved him two years ago was having Rob Gronkowski around, and that's what allowed him to blow up the Steelers' defense in that fourth quarter. I think the Steelers are going to have some issues during the game and some mistakes defensively with communication because this is Foxborough, this is on the road, and they've had a history of those type of mistakes. But all in all, I think the pass rush is going to be what helps them in the long run.

They're going to be able to slow the round down just enough. And then I think after establishing early lead, Tom Brady storms back, makes a close one. Steelers fans are hanging on every play. And then all of a sudden you're going to see, I think, a pass rush that gets after Brady and either sacks him and gets a turnover that way or forces him to throw an errant pass.

Kind of like how he did with Joe Hayden last year. I think that the Steelers kind of do what the Chiefs did a couple years ago and, you know, surprise a few people with a win. It would certainly be a surprise. I know Steeler fans are very much looking forward to my prediction of this game. I've only talked about it a hundred times this off season. I think the Steelers are going to lose this game.

And I don't think it's necessarily going to be that close. I mean, to me, this is like the episode of Law & Order that you turn on, and like halfway through you realize, oh, I've seen this one already. Never mind. Because this is, to me, this is just going to play out like every other Patriots-Steelers game does in Gillette Stadium, and that is that Tom Brady's going to come out, pick the Steelers defense apart, and the Steelers are going to be playing from behind for the majority of the game. The one thing that doesn't get talked enough about in, you know, the Steelers beat the Patriots last year, right? But the thing that doesn't get talked about enough in that game is how many penalties the Patriots had in that game.

And that's not going to happen again in Foxborough. You know, the Patriots were penalized 14 times for 106 yards in that game. And that was such a big part of that game because it put them in second-long and third-long situations. I don't expect that to be the case. I know there's a lot of excitement about this Steelers defense. And I'm excited about the players on that defense. I think they will eventually become a good defense. I don't think that's going to happen in week one.

I'm excited about Juju as being a number one wide receiver. I don't think that's going to come to fruition in week one. I think this matchup just comes at the wrong time for the Steelers and the right time for the Patriots because the Patriots are naturally a good matchup, as we've talked about on this podcast, for the Steelers. But the Steelers, on the other hand, they have so many question marks going into this year. The Patriots are the wrong team to start off against. So I have the Patriots winning big. I have them winning like 31 to 10. You know, that kind of Patriots-Steelers beatdown that we've seen in the past,

which is why I hosted this one so that I didn't have to be so negative because I know Steeler fans are very happy when I get on here and talk about how much I think the Patriots are going to whoop on the Steelers. And that sound that you hear in the background, folks, is all of my listeners simultaneously following Tony right now on Twitter. They absolutely loved that prediction.

I've made a terrible mistake. I've made a terrible mistake. All right, well, that's going to do it for us here on Locked on Patriots and Locked on Steelers. Mike, let people know where they can find your work. You can definitely find me on Twitter at MDABATEFPC. You can always find my written work at fullpresscoverage.com. I'm also the managing editor of the Full Press Patriots page

at FPC underscore Patriots. And you can find me every Monday through Friday as these fine gentlemen do with the Locked On Steelers show. They do a phenomenal job. I am available on the Locked On Network at LO underscore Patriots. Give us a follow while you're at it. You'll be glad you did. Chris, let people know

they can find your work. As always, you know, you can find me at Carter Critiques on Twitter. If you follow me, I will follow you back. Definitely hit me with any questions in the DMs.

Hit me up with a, you know, feel free to at me. I'm always down to talk with our listeners. Thank you for listening to the show. Please like, rate, subscribe, and comment to our show. We have a lot of great listeners, and we've been growing a lot this year, so we appreciate all of you that contribute.

But you know you guys also need to find me as the lead NFL analyst for DKPittsburghSports.com, where I'm breaking down the X's and O's with Carter's Classroom every week, Monday through Friday, and we've got a lot going on talking about the Steelers and the Patriots. I'm breaking down what aspects of the Steelers run game can really help them in this game with today's article from Carter's Classroom. Take advantage right now. We have a $20 special.

You can get the entire year's subscription for just $20. That's half off. And that'll allow you to get Steelers, Pirates, Penguins, all the insider in the locker room, all the insider in the film room, only at DKPittsburghSports.com. Steelers fans, you can tell me how wrong I am at Steelercountry on Twitter. In fact, I know you already have. You've already sent the tweet. Don't even worry about it.

All right, we'll be back with more Locked On Patriots and Locked On Steelers tomorrow right here on the Locked On Podcast Network.