Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots: ‘Changing of the Guard?’ Bill Belichick, Mac Jones and ‘Starting Over’

Starting point is 00:00:00 You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all of you, Foxborough faithful. Thank you once again for making Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage and also your first listen every day. Subscribe or follow for free on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts to ensure that you get the latest episode as soon as it's available. I'm your host, Mike DeBate.

Starting point is 00:00:45 I cover your New England Patriots for Patriots Country of Sports Illustrated. So reach out to me and let me know what's on your mind on X, wherever you happen to be calling it these days, at M-D-A-B-A-T-E-N-F-L. And while you're out there showing some love to the Twitterverse, please be sure to follow the Locked On Patriots account as well, at L-O underscore Patriots. Pats fans, today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use the code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase.

Starting point is 00:01:17 Last minute tickets, lowest price, guaranteed. And Pats fans, as you can see, it is definitely less than Shangri-La in Patriots Nation right now. Pats still reeling from a 34-0 drubbing at the hands of the New Orleans Saints. And here today to lend a little reason, and I said last week we needed this man's reason more than ever. Well, we really need it more than ever this week. He is our resident voice of reason, a columnist extraordinaire of patsfans.com, as well as being the co-host of another amazing Patriots podcast, Patriots 4th and 2, alongside Derek Havens. My Patriots bison is back again this week.

Starting point is 00:01:57 Steve Balistrieri. Steve, thanks so much for coming here today, and thank you for lending your reason, because we surely need it here in Foxborough. Boy, we need more than reason right now. I think the team needs a healthy dose of energy to get out there and play again. I mean, you look at that game, they just didn't have any sense

Starting point is 00:02:21 of urgency, it seemed. Not that they weren't playing hard, but it just seemed like they were listless and flat, didn't it? Murph and I used the term mind-boggling about nine times during yesterday's pod to describe what the Patriots look like out there on the field. And we haven't seen a Bill Belichick coach team play like this in a long time. We haven't seen a New England Patriots team play like this in a long time. And Steve, it is clearly a concern across the board. And a lot of the vitriol that's being thrown all around Patriots Nation right now is being

Starting point is 00:02:53 directed at Bill Belichick. A lot of people wondering whether or not he has seen his last days here in Foxborough. I think we'll shelve that for just a moment, but we are going to get into that today, folks, because the real news of the day, Bill O'Brien, as he usually does each and every Tuesday, along with the other assistant coaches, spoke with members of the media on Tuesday morning at Gillette Stadium. The question was asked, you knew it would be, do you anticipate Mac Jones being the starter this week against the Las Vegas Raiders? And Bill was very matter of fact. He looked and said, I do, and he repeated himself. And he said again, I do.

Starting point is 00:03:29 Now, a lot of fans are going to moan and groan about that. Some will be happy about it. A lot are going to be in the middle saying the Patriots are playing so poorly right now that really it doesn't even matter. That's an apathetic standpoint. But bottom line, there are a lot of feelings about how Patriots fans, media alike, are going to see this move. In your estimation, is this the correct move or is it the only move that the Patriots really have to make if they want to remain competitive? I think it's the only move.

Starting point is 00:03:58 I really do. I mean, you know, Bailey Zappi struggled with Bill O'Brien's system all summer. I mean, there wasn't any, you know, issue with there being the quote unquote quarterback competition that we all heard about prior to training camps. It didn't exist. And we saw that Zappi couldn't grasp this system. It wasn't really tailor-made for him. The fact that the Patriots released him at the end of training camp tells you what they really feel about Zappi. And, you know, when he's come in for Mac these last two games,

Starting point is 00:04:43 I mean, he hasn't given anybody any reason to be like, Oh, this guy, you know, can win a football game for us. I haven't seen that. So, you know, at this point, I think keeping Mac is the only move. They just have to play better all around, including him by a large margin. He's making way too many mistakes with the football, but they need an offensive line in front of him or they're going to ruin him, such as we saw with Derek Carr's brother, David.

Starting point is 00:05:15 I remember when he came out, I thought David Carr was a much better quarterback than his younger brother, but we saw what happened with no offensive line down in houston during that time he just got sacked to oblivion he was under pressure it ruined him as a football player derrick's offensive line has been banged up as well but even just a few extra seconds and a couple of extra blocks here and there made all the difference in that game you can see derrick carr completing with comfort, even though he was

Starting point is 00:05:45 very much uncomfortable with an injured shoulder, and you can still see that shoulder's bothering him, but it was the confidence that he had in his offensive line that allowed him to do that. Mack, without question, is playing without a lot of confidence, and some of that is on him, but some of that is because of the unit in front of him as well. Steve, I'm glad you said that this was the only move because i think in a lot of circles of patriots fans and understandably so i'm certainly not criticizing anyone for feeling however they feel after watching that debacle on sunday if you're a fan of the new england patriots that is an unacceptable product and you have every right to feel uh

Starting point is 00:06:22 however you feel about anybody on this team right now. I don't think anybody is above reproach. But when you look at it from a logistical standpoint, you take a step back and you look at it from a pure football standpoint. If Mack is going to be successful at all, he needs to have improvements made around him. The improvements need to be made on the offensive line. The improvements need to be made on the offensive line. The improvements need to be made in the running game. The route runners and the pass catchers need to get on the same page as the quarterback to prevent overthrows, underthrows, interceptions, things that

Starting point is 00:06:56 are permeating through this offense right now that is atypical for a New England Patriots offense that really is predicated on precision. It's predicated on timing. Josh McDaniels ran that system up here for a number of years and did it very well. Bill O'Brien runs a similar type system, not a like for like, but he does run a similar type timing-based system, and that's something that New England needs to reestablish. And you do that through practice reps, through repetitions, through gaining some sort of synergy with your pass catchers.

Starting point is 00:07:27 And Bill O'Brien hit on this as well, folks. If you're searching for a reason why the Patriots are sticking with Mack as opposed to going with either Bailey Zappi, like Steve said, or maybe Malik Cunningham or Will Greer, they're simply not getting the reps. They're just not getting the reps in practice. And ultimately, we can fall in love with series and moments here and there as fans and hang our hat on that and think that's the type of quarterback we're going to get each and every time. It happened last year. Savvy mania was all over Foxborough. It was all over Gillette Stadium last year when he came in and threw a couple of touchdowns against the Bears and led the Patriots to victory against the Browns and the Lions. I mean, it was a situation where everyone felt that was what you were going to see every rep, every play. Simply not going to happen, folks. These coaches are in the coaching room. They're watching film. They're watching these

Starting point is 00:08:19 guys practice every day, and they're seeing a lot of stuff that no one sees no fans no media no one but the team themselves so they dole these practice reps out based on what they're seeing in practice according to Bill O'Brien you know Mack gets the majority of the reps overwhelmingly um Zappy will get some Bill Greer will get some Malik Cunningham is getting most of his practice reps at wide receiver uh he did acknowledge that Malik did take a couple of snaps in a Taysom Hill-like role to get the Patriots used to what they might see. But ultimately, that's the reason why Mack is most likely going to be your starter this week, simply because you don't have anybody else on the shelf that can do the job. As a backup, Bailey comes comes in 13 minutes remaining in the game four drives he

Starting point is 00:09:06 completed three of nine passes 22 yards led the Patriots to two three and outs and two failed fourth down conversions that's in what we like to call Steve garbage time so if you're trying to spark this offense and get them on the board and at least do something that should be an opportunity for a quarterback to come in and at least put some points on the board and at least inject some life back into that crowd nothing of the sort happened I think you have your answer there why Mac Jones is now going to be the starter at least for the remainder of the season unless something really falls apart yeah and you know, that's particularly the time that a team that's well ahead kind of calls off the dogs a little bit and they play a little looser. They're dropping back because they're trying to prevent the big play.

Starting point is 00:09:56 They didn't hit on anything. In fact, he had a couple of wide-open passes that he just flat out missed. And, you know, I'm not going to just totally dump on Zappi here, but it's just, he's not the answer. You know, the answer is the offensive line, because everything stems from that. You know, you have no running game. It's non-existent. You know, your receivers

Starting point is 00:10:28 are constantly having to cut their route short because of the pressure on your quarterback, be it Mack or Zappy. So, you know, it's like your quarterback in Dallas faced pressure on 50% of his drawbacks, which is outrageous. Last week against the Saints, it was 45. So you can't function as an offense like that. And I think everything stems from the offensive line. They have to find something to get it to work with these guys. I mentioned yesterday, kind of tongue-in-cheek, but does anyone have Lyle Collins' number on speed dial?

Starting point is 00:11:08 I think at the same time, he can't be any worse than what they've been trotting out, especially at right tackle. God bless with Darian Lowe. I know it's not for lack of trying, but this poor guy is just getting turnstiled out there. I'm not dumping on him either. It's just a fact. I mean, he's not getting the job done. And, you know, in regards to Malik Cunningham,

Starting point is 00:11:38 I said on the podcast with Derek a couple of weeks ago, I wouldn't be averse to him being activated and playing a couple of snaps a game. That's kind of like Taysom Hill. You know, it is just get to the opposing defense to have to focus some, you know, somewhere else rather than, hey, we're just going to pin our ears back. We can rush for and still get pressure because the offensive line isn't there. It'll give them something to think about.

Starting point is 00:12:06 And should he be starting? Absolutely not. But, you know, getting him a couple of snaps in that, you know, mix it up. Try to generate something. I think with Juju out hurt, you know, with a concussion, Demario Douglas now now heard you know will they activate taekwon thornton this week and possibly kashum butte so and again i wouldn't be averse to them getting some snaps this week you have to try something to get everything ignited absolutely and uh taekwon thornton folks

Starting point is 00:12:43 good news on him uh he was spotted out at practice on Tuesday. The Patriots switching up their schedule a little bit this week and practicing on Tuesday after a day off on Monday. Taequann is out there. His 21-day window is open. Keep a very sharp eye out this week, folks, because if he makes the trip out to Las Vegas, I think there's almost 100% chance at that point that you see him suit up. But the next two days are going to be very telltale. That is not a guarantee, but it's good to see him out there at the very least. So hopefully Taekwon will be out there. Demario and Juju, I agree with you. Head injuries are always something that the league takes very seriously. So I would not expect either of them to be active for this game. They'll probably remain in concussion protocol.

Starting point is 00:13:26 But again, when DeMario is ready to get back out there and get back out on the field, and if we do see some Keishon Butte this week, I do believe that it's time to take the double secret probation label off these guys. I said it yesterday, open up the playbook a little bit. And I think that feeds quite nicely into what you said about Malik Cunningham. Absolutely. If you want to put it in as a gadget play, keep the defense honest, keep it on its toes. That is the way to do it.

Starting point is 00:13:51 You've got to open up the playbook a little bit. My partner here in crime eloquently said last week when we talked about a game plan for the Saints, leave it all out there on the field because the Patriots right now are at 0.0. Steve, they have nowhere to go but up, and they better do it quickly because Las Vegas Raiders are coming off of an emotional win on Monday Night Football, and you know they're going to want to keep riding that high. And say what you will, Josh McDaniels always does a good job of coaching against Bill Belichick. And that leads me quite nicely into our next topic today, because now that we know Mack is most likely going to be under center,

Starting point is 00:14:28 now that we know that he might be getting at least a perimeter weapon back in Taekwon Thornton, we think, folks, what does that mean for the future of the head coach of your New England Patriots? It's almost unfathomable to think that the Patriots would voluntarily part with the services of Bill Belichick but it has been discussed ad nauseum this week and it's only going to continue and if the Patriots don't walk away from Las Vegas with a win it's really going to start in Ernst

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Starting point is 00:16:59 Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. Patriots fans, thank you once again for joining us here today on Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. Patriots fans, thank you once again for joining us here today on Locked on Patriots, making Locked on Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Steve, in the previous segment, we talked a little bit about Mac Jones. You and I both know that the buck stops at the desk of the head coach, and Bill Belichick has said this many times. If something goes wrong on that football field, I'm responsible. For the first time in over 20 years, you're hearing a majority, not just a small section,

Starting point is 00:17:31 but a majority of Patriots fans that are not only holding Bill accountable, but also demanding accountability in a way I haven't heard them say it before. There are people calling for his job. Steve, we've talked about this on these airwaves. This is now a poignant conversation with the Patriots at one and four. The national talking heads are salivating over this and are talking about it every minute of the day. What are your thoughts on Bill Belichick right now, the slice of blame pie he deserves, and what the Patriots' best option is at the coaching position right now. Well, right now, I mean, the chair for Bill is getting warm,

Starting point is 00:18:15 not because that they're 1-4. It's how they've lost those last two games. You know, the first two games of the year, they seemed like this close to pulling those out then they beat the jets things were trending upward but these last two weeks it wasn't the fact that they lost it was how they lost because i think even playing against dallas you know people consider them a contender for the super bowl um maybe not so much after that San Francisco game, but, you know, at the same time, Dallas has built a really good team. So if the Patriots had played well, but came up a little short, you know, I think people could have lived with that a little bit more so than

Starting point is 00:19:01 getting skunked like they did. And then to lose like this against the saints you know it's how they're losing now and you have to wonder and you you have to be concerned about with things being as bad as they are offensively is the locker room going to shatter and you know can he keep the locker room together? They can't afford any more of these type of games. They have to go to Las Vegas and play a very tight and close game. Right now, it seems kind of a long shot to do that. But I think if they continue to show up like this he could very conceivably be fired this year they really need to turn things around i don't think

Starting point is 00:19:54 he'll get fired in season i think the uh robert craft will probably uh wait till the end of the year, but they really need to turn things around. And again, if you fire Bill, like a lot of people, well, there's a certain radio show on from two to six that has been calling for Bill's head for, I don't know, eight, 10 years now. So, you know, if they were to do that, who are you going to replace him with? That's the question. That, to me, is the question. You can say all you want to, and people are, about wanting to get rid of Bill Belichick, about the game has passed him by.

Starting point is 00:20:40 You're hearing a lot of old man comments and seeing a lot of old man comments on social media everyone seems to be weighing in it's all well and good to want to oust the head coach after a rough stretch who are you going to get to come in that's going to be a better steward of this organization than bill belichick list the usual suspects obviously it starts with gerard mayo i think he's the hot name that everyone seems to believe that would be Bill's successor here in New England. Do they go with Bill O'Brien, thinking that maybe Gerard is not quite ready for prime time just yet? Outside the organization, I mean, who are you looking at? I mean, Eric Biannimi? I mean, that's a name that's out there that could possibly be thrown around, but I'm not seeing any, you know, golden free agent that would be out there that would be a better fit on this team than Bill Belichick. So, yeah, you want to get rid of him, fine, but who else are you going to bring in to replace him?

Starting point is 00:21:34 That's the question. Exactly. And, you know, a lot of people are clamoring for, I've heard and seen this on social media all over the place. They need a young, you know, offensive type of coach like McDaniel and Miami or Shanahan. Well, you're not going to find one of those guys in mid season. Right. You know, so then what are you going to do if you let Bill go?

Starting point is 00:22:04 It just doesn't make any sense. Then you're going to give the interim coach Gerard Mayo and then, you know, not give him the job next year. I mean, it doesn't make sense. So, you know, but I agree. Bill's seat's mighty hot right now because of the way that they're playing. I mean, this team has looked really – they're really – right now, I'm not saying it's a bad football team.

Starting point is 00:22:34 I'm just saying right now they're a bad football team. Just, you know, I think everything stems from that offensive line because it's totally broken apart. Any chance you have of putting together any kind of conceivable offensive game plan because it doesn't hold up. They can't run. They're not blocking anybody. Their pass protection has been shoddy.

Starting point is 00:23:00 And when you have your offense struggling like that, I don't care who's that quarterback. Sure, there's been plays that have been out there that Mack has missed. I'm not arguing that whatsoever. His play needs to be much, much better. But when you're constantly being pressured like that, you will not have sustained success. Excuse me, I got a little tongue-tied. No worries.

Starting point is 00:23:26 It really is. It's a tongue tying situation and i'm glad that you mentioned that about being under duress and under pressure the common response that you're hearing to that is oh well every quarterback has to respond to pressure mac jones is broken right now nothing he does or nothing anyone else does is going to change that michael hurley had a great screenshot out on game day about watching just the Saints defense swarming you all you can see is a sea of white jerseys surrounding Mac Jones he's already nearly in the grass next comment on the picture that's shown is perfect it says this was 1.36 seconds after the snap I I mean, that's a reaction time that I wouldn't wish on anyone. Whether you believe in Mac Jones as the man, folks, or not,

Starting point is 00:24:10 that is not enough time for anybody to be able to competently run an offense. You simply cannot do it under any circumstances. And this is something that's happening more often than not. The Patriots' pass block win rate is 39.7%. Awful. Yeah, that is absolutely abysmal. There's no question about it. And you can't expect success when you're losing at that rate.

Starting point is 00:24:36 Again, folks, whether you agree with the quarterback choice that the Patriots have or not, I think we can all agree that Mac Jones is under duress and under a lot more pressure than he should be. And that's definitely taking its toll on this team. And again, I think it comes back to needing to get back to basics. And you heard Bill O'Brien talk about that. You heard Bill Belichick earlier this week talk about starting over. That's where I think the Patriots need to do now. There's still time to salvage this.

Starting point is 00:25:03 I know fans don't believe that. but you've got tough games coming up. There's no question about it, but you can try to salvage this a little bit by playing competitively in your next three games. Steve is right. The Patriots really need to win on Sunday against the Raiders. Miami, Buffalo, these are going to be tough games coming up on the schedule. Division games always are, but you look at what they were capable of doing just a couple of weeks ago, hanging in there with the likes of Philadelphia and Miami,

Starting point is 00:25:29 and really taking them to almost the final play to a complete drop-off of epic proportions in the last two weeks. Something's got to give. I agree with you. I do not believe the Patriots are doing anything with Bill Belichick this season unless there is a catastrophic drop-off that you and I can't even conceive of right now. And I think it would have to be something major, not something to do with the standings or something to do with the margin of loss. I think it would have to be the team refusing to play for Bill or just tuning him out completely and creating such a disconnect that it's irreparable. After the season, yeah, this is a fair game conversation to have for the first time in a long while.

Starting point is 00:26:08 I've always rolled my eyes and scoffed at it, but if this team does not make the playoffs and if they finish with five wins or under, yeah, things could get ugly in the offseason in New England and maybe justifiably so, but if you're expecting anything beforehand, folks, I wouldn't hold your breath. I don't think the Patriots are parting with Bill Belichick before the end of the season. No, I don't see it happening either.

Starting point is 00:26:31 I mean, but again, I mean, stranger things have happened. So we'll just have to keep an eye out on things. But, you know, they're facing another tough game this week because I watched that game last night. And, you know, watching Max Crosby, I mean, after last night's game, I know he only had one sack, but he had four tackles for loss. But he was all over the field last night. He was a major part of that win. And, you know, they have to be very much aware after watching that game last night what he's going to be bringing

Starting point is 00:27:09 to the table because he goes all out on every snap. Yeah, he does, without question. And it's not going to be an easy road, folks. The Las Vegas Raiders are playing with a little bit more confidence each and every week. And, again, you know, Josh McDaniels has a pretty good record against Bill Belichick.

Starting point is 00:27:28 He always plays them tough. This is not going to be an easy game to bounce back to the New England Patriots. They have to take it very seriously. But one thing I can tell you and being around the team and knowing people that are really intricately around the team, there is a level of seriousness in that locker room that really is even bigger than what they had last week. It's even more palpable than what they felt last week. This is not a team that is despondent and giving up, but this is a team that is frustrated. And I think you're going to see that on the field on Sunday, or at least the England Patriots fans

Starting point is 00:28:00 hope we're going to see that on the field on Sunday. And I imagine we'll see at least, I'm giving the over, under, at about 350, the stats between Juju and Jacoby Myers. I mean, I must have saw that at least 200 times last night, and I'm giving the over under 500 before the game on Sunday. Yeah, I know it's painful to watch Jacoby out there catching passes and getting touchdowns and I do forgive me folks. Maybe you can help me out in the comments section below. I do remember someone tweeting out and I can't remember for the life of me right now as we

Starting point is 00:28:44 record this who it was, but whoever it was the life of me right now as we record this, who it was. But whoever it was, a tip of the cap because it was a great tweet. You get the feeling that Jacoby Myers might drop back and throw a pass or two in this game against the New England Patriots. It's typical Josh McDaniels to try to do stuff like that. But, Steve, before we take our leave of the New Orleans Saints and just this debacle that really we all would love to put behind us, the New England Patriots have a great deal of learning to do from this matchup. And one of the ways they do that is to know what they did wrong and what they did right. Not a whole lot of what went right in New England happened on Sunday, but the New England Patriots did a lot of wrong.

Starting point is 00:29:22 And our resident voice of reason is one of the best in the business at handing out post-game grades. He did so this week, and we're going to pick his brain on that in just a little bit when this episode of the Lockdown Patriots podcast wraps up right here on the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's episode of Lockdown Patriots is brought to you in part by jace medical and folks everyone should be empowered to care for themselves and their loved ones during the unexpected that's why jace medical offers the jace case the jace case provides five life-saving antibiotics for

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Starting point is 00:30:29 LOCKEDON at checkout at JaceMedical.com. That's Jace Medical, J-A-S-E Medical.com, promo code LOCKEDON. Cats fans, thank you so much for joining us here today on Locked On Patriots, making us a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage.

Starting point is 00:30:50 Steve Balistrieri of Patsfans.com joining me here today, lending all kinds of wisdom, counsel, and reason, and already talking us off a ledge when it comes to Mac Jones, Bill Belichick, a lot of the changes that the Patriots want to make Steve, probably internal, probably logistical, most likely to player groupings, differentials, tasks, schemes, things of that nature. But the one thing that I think Patriots fans are still looking for is improvement, and they'll take it in any way that they can get it. One of the best ways to know how to improve is to know what you're doing wrong. And the grade reports are out from a lot of different beat writers and national pundits on the Patriots performance on Sunday. Yeah, they are not good folks. The Delta Tau Chi's did a lot better on that final exam than the New England Patriots did on Sunday. And when you look at this,

Starting point is 00:31:43 Steve, I know you're one of the best in the business of postgame report cards. We've talked about the quarterbacks. We've talked about the offensive line. We've talked about the coaching staff, but is there an area on this team that maybe is flying under the radar that really could use a big time overhaul for the Pats to right the ship against the Raiders on Sunday? Well, I mean, you know, I looked at the defensive line on Sunday. You know, they did a pretty decent job against the run. You know, the Saints did rush for 136 yards, but it was on 42 attempts. And it worked out to 3.1 yards a carry. I thought that they, you know, especially at the end of the game,

Starting point is 00:32:30 the Saints were, we knew they were going to run the football because they were up by so much. And, you know, that's just how teams go about the business. I thought they did a pretty good job on that. There was some, obviously, some holes in that. I mean, Alvin Kamara is holes in that. I mean, Alvin Kamara is who he is. I mean, he's going to get some yards. The one area that I thought they kind of dropped the ball on was their pass rush. And from the defensive line, you know, the Saints have

Starting point is 00:32:59 had trouble going against, you know, or their offensive line going against defenses. I thought Carr had way too much time to throw. And the Patriots were blitzing him. So it was a combination of the defensive line and the linebackers not getting near enough pressure. I mean, you know, Christian Barmore, Dietrich Wise, Sam Roberts, Farms on the defensive line. They really didn't have a very good day rushing the passer. They had zero sacks, zero quarterback hits.

Starting point is 00:33:40 And, you know, it was kind of telling because the Saints have been awful in the red zone, and they were three of four. Because I think the fact that when they would get close down there Carr was getting I mean that uh touchdown pass to Chris Olave I'd have to go back and look at it but I believe he had five to six seconds to throw the football that's usually four passes from Mac Jones so and and then you know again, the linebackers, losing Matthew Judon is tough. And I expected Josh Uche wouldn't have a great game because now he's going to be facing their best pass protector. But, you know, I thought him and Keon White, you know, they didn't do as much as I was hoping they were going to do in this game.

Starting point is 00:34:27 I thought Anthony Jennings, though, played well. Yeah, I thought Anthony Jennings came in, especially in that circumstance, to step into a big-time role, knowing that Matthew Judon was not going to be in the lineup. I thought played well, and I thought stood up pretty well. I agree with you on Keon White. Murph and I discussed something very similar yesterday here on Locked On Patriots about wanting to see more of him, didn't see enough of what this kid can do. Now, maybe that's by design. Maybe the Patriots are trying to ease

Starting point is 00:34:54 him in, or maybe it's a situation where Keon is simply just learning the ropes and is a rookie and wasn't able to handle that type of load. But the Patriots need to develop some sort of solution for Judon not being in the lineup because he won't be in the lineup at least until December. And if things continue to unravel, you may see him just sit the entire year not wanting to risk any type of further injury to that. But bottom line, I think if there is at least something to play for, including pride, you will see Matthew back out there. But in the meantime, you need to see more from Josh Uche, and you need to see more from

Starting point is 00:35:29 that defensive line. I'm glad that you mentioned that, because you have to be able to put pressure on the passer. Other than the two sacks that the New England Patriots generated, one of which was a coverage sack from Miles Bryant, you didn't see any additional quarterback hurries or quarterback pressures that were put on Derek Carr it left him an awful lot of time to complete passes and even with a bummed up shoulder he still was able to find a comfort zone for the Pats so they need to do a better job defensively I didn't think the defensive output was certainly not as putrid as the offense I'm willing to give

Starting point is 00:36:02 the defense a little bit of a pass because of losing Christian Gonzalez, Matthew Judon. You can't lose either one of those guys and not expect a regression, let alone two. I mean, that's just, that's too insurmountable for any team to overcome. And unfortunately, the Pats suffered the consequences on Sunday. And Steve, I want to thank you for coming onto the show today and lending your wisdom and counsel because we certainly need it heading into now a pivotal must-win situation in Week 6 against the Las Vegas Raiders. Steve, before I let you go today, please let everyone know where they can expect to reach out to you, interact with you, and what we can look forward to coming at batsfans.com and on Patriots 4th and 2 from the great voice the great pen of Steve Balistrieri well we're you know we're doing a deep dive on the Raiders this week obviously I watched the game last night you know and and you

Starting point is 00:37:00 know one of the things that I look at with Jacoby, Jacoby always got open, you know, with the Patriots. But the one thing he's enjoying this season is having Devontae Adams take a lot of that pressure away from him because, obviously, the best secondary guys are going to cover Adams, and it leaves Jacoby, you Jacoby more open to make plays. But I really like their young tight end. I thought he had a couple of really good splashes last night. And, again, that defense, that pass rush with Max Crosby,

Starting point is 00:37:39 that's going to be something that we're going to be looking at, and they have to find some answers for us. So you can find me on patsfans.com, and as it says right there, on Twitter or X or whatever you want to call it, at SteveB7SFG. And as always, my friend, thanks for having me on. And, you know, it was a rough weekend to be a Patriots fan, but, you know, we've all lived through worse. We have.

Starting point is 00:38:12 And, you know, in tough times, you always turn to the ones that mean the most to you. Here on Locked On Patriots, we turn to La Familia. And this man is ahead of the table as always. And I do appreciate each and every time when you come on, my friend. It's an honor to talk football with you and your vast wisdom and counsel and knowledge. But it's always a lot of fun as well. We thank all of you for taking time out of your busy schedule to join us here on Locked On Patriots. It is not pretty in Patriots Nation right now.

Starting point is 00:38:41 A lot to lament about. I know. We all know, but all of you everydayers, all of you locked-on loyalists have done an amazing job of continuing to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Hopefully your first listen every day.

Starting point is 00:38:56 We're going to do this again next week, folks. Steve will be back here, so stay tuned. Keep a sharp eye out for that, but in the meantime, continue to stay safe and to stay well and to be the change you that. But in the meantime, continue to stay safe and to stay well and to be the change you wish to see in the world. On behalf of my good friend Steve Balistrieri, I'm Mike DeBay. Have a great evening, a great day, folks.

Starting point is 00:39:14 And we'll see you back here again tomorrow on Locked on Patriots.

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