Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots Fall to Minnesota Vikings on Thanksgiving: Hunter Henry Catch, Mac Jones

Episode Date: November 26, 2022

Despite their best offensive output of the season, untimely penalties, controversial officiating, mistakes and missed opportunities placed the New England Patriots on the wrong side of a 33-26 loss t...o the Minnesota Vikings on Thanksgiving. Joining host Mike D’Abate is Thomas ‘Murph’ Murphy as the duo discuss Hunter Henry’s controversial catch, the performance of Mac Jones and the Pats offensive and defensive woes in Week 12.Find and follow Locked On Patriots on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-patriots-daily-podcast-on-the-new-england/id1140512627 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1c5ZxFmwg3WbfxAU3tR5Ve?si=k196wH-yRqifUcQQz8SjIQStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-patriots And follow host Mike D’Abate on Twitter, where he’ll be sharing the latest news about the New England Patriots and talking with fans.On Twitter: @mdabateNFLSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFLBuilt BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!PrizePicksFirst time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with promo code LOCKEDON. That’s PrizePicks.com – promo code; LOCKEDONSimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnNFL to learn more.BlueNileMake your moment sparkle with Blue Nile. Go to BlueNile.com and use code lockedon to save fifty dollars on your purchase of five-hundred dollars or more.BetterHelpThis episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at Betterhelp.com/LockedOn and get on your way to being your best self. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Did Hunter Henry actually make the catch in the third quarter that would have given the Patriots the lead? I think the better question might be, did it really matter to begin with? Stay tuned. You are about to be locked in to this post-Thanksgiving episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast. 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, and 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.
Starting point is 00:00:59 Remember, Locked On Patriots is free and available on all platforms, including YouTube, so smash that subscribe button and download, subscribe to, and follow Locked On Patriots is free and available on all platforms, including YouTube. So smash that subscribe button and download, subscribe to, and follow Locked On Patriots wherever you get your podcasts. Folks, today's episode is brought to you by BetOnline. BetOnline has you covered this season with more props, more odds, and more lines than ever before. BetOnline, where the game starts. Folks, thank you so much for joining us here on this Black Friday episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast.
Starting point is 00:01:30 Sincerely hope each and every one of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. And thank you for spending part of your Thanksgiving weekend here on Locked On Patriots. And unfortunately, folks, we don't have a victory Friday here for you, but that does not stop us from the wisdom, the counsel that we all need when it comes to breaking things down here on Lockdown Patriots. The legendary Thomas Murphy of E2GSports.com joins me here today. Thank you for coming to me in friendship on this post-Thanksgiving episode, Dunn-Murph. Oh, happy to be here, man. This is better than a
Starting point is 00:02:05 second turkey sandwich. Better than a second turkey sandwich. Notice he didn't say the first one, folks. The first one is always the best. Just, it's different. Something about it. Really, really great stuff. That first Thanksgiving turkey sandwich is just, you know, it's just killer. It is.
Starting point is 00:02:21 And I should have saved it for the second half of yesterday's game. I think a lot of us all needed it at that point obviously folks we are talking about the New England Patriots 33 to 26 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Thanksgiving night at U.S. Bank Stadium Mack Jones a career high 382 passing yards but all for naught in the long run. Looked solid through three quarters. The fourth quarter, not so much. We'll get into that in just a moment. Bigger story, I think, the defense yielding 367 total yards to the Minnesota Vikings. Three touchdowns, special team snafus.
Starting point is 00:02:58 Patriots really left an awful lot out there on the field in Minnesota. And before we get into the X's and O's and the ins and outs in this Murph, we're going to talk about the white elephant in the room right now. And that is Hunter Henry trying to reach for the end zone. You know, bottom line, my friend, this is a situation where we're looking at what would have been Hunter's second touchdown reception into possessions the patriots are starting to build momentum this would be given a 30 to 23 lead that's a seven point swing as opposed to a three point which they had to settle for the 24 yard
Starting point is 00:03:38 field goal from nick falk in order to take a 26 to 23 lead but these are points that are left on the board and i know a lot of the social media sleuths out there, both locally and nationally, are going to continue to argue over the next few days whether the catch was indeed made. Henry is pretty convinced that he did his job. We talked to Hunter after the game last night. He was very much emphatic about the fact that he had the two hands under. He believed he secured the ball. But the pool report that came out after the game obviously walt anderson senior vice president
Starting point is 00:04:10 of officiating for the nfl speaking to mike reese uh the pool reporter for uh for last night and mike asked him the tough questions he asked him the very pointed question what was it about this call and the pool report seems to indicate or according to what anderson had to say it was going to the ground he even mentioned the words surviving the ground which i thought was from the record um but this was part of the pool report and mike did always does his job very thoroughly and he even asked him a follow-up question on it, Anderson doubled down and basically allowed him to say this. Murph, when you look at this move, usually a catch constitutes three things. It usually, both hands securing the ball, a body part at that point, or at least two feet being down, and at that point when it has to be a football move in
Starting point is 00:05:05 order to constitute the catch now extending the ball for some reason did not meet the official's criteria my ass my eye test yeah thank you my eye test looked at it i don't know am i way off base here it was it was a catch you can't even you can't even go back to the rule that was stricken and changed three years ago now. I think it's been three years since they changed this rule, Walt. Okay? Maybe read a memo. You know?
Starting point is 00:05:34 He had control of the ball throughout the entire play. Throughout the entire play. His hand was underneath the ball. The ball never touched the turf where his hand was not sandwiched, you know, turkey sandwiched, you know, between the pigskin. All right? I will go to my grave believing this. How is it that weeks ago against Dallas, Travis Kelsey,
Starting point is 00:06:04 that freaking fumble butt, you know butt catch that they gave him a touchdown on is a touchdown, and this is not. I'm tired of this. It's a coin flip every single time. Get these guys into a room, show them what a catch is and what isn't it'll take you a half an hour for these overpriced babysitters that are sitting out there trying to do this job it it was it was a catch it was a touchdown there is no there there is nothing that Walt Anderson or anybody else can say that will convince me otherwise yeah and I'm in complete agreement with you. And look, I know a lot of people are saying, oh, it wasn't what cost them the game. And ultimately, logistically,
Starting point is 00:06:50 and maybe technically they're right, but we all know that motivation, we all know that momentum swings like this absolutely counts in a game, especially a nationally televised game where you're starting to play better on offense. You're starting to show more aggression. You're showing a little bit more.
Starting point is 00:07:06 Yeah, to me, this really, this was a swing moment in this game. It really was. And I'm tired of people saying that it's not important. It is important. For that defense of the Minnesota Vikings to go into that locker room saying that we held, we stopped them, you know, we held them to three. We made them settle. Instead of them getting seven there, that was it.
Starting point is 00:07:30 That was pivotal. Those four points were pivotal. And you can put, I'm sorry, I'm not going to sound like the boo-hoo individual, but you can put an 11-point swing on this game on two terrible, terrible calls by the officiating crew. How they missed that holding call on the kick return and this. There were others during the game. People miss holding calls.
Starting point is 00:07:58 I sit there and tweet, holding, holding. I could do it on every single play. Occasionally, you take your eyes off and you don't, you don't see the face mask. You know, you just didn't see it. All right. But this play, this play, you were right there. Okay. You had 10 minutes to look at it if you wanted it.
Starting point is 00:08:20 And you just came back and said, nah, nope, that's not a catch, not a touchdown. It was a pivotal moment in this game. It swung momentum, and we saw what happened afterwards. Absolutely. And based on the rule and based on Anderson's explanation and what a lot of people have been looking at, myself included, because we've replayed this. I know you have. I have several times. It seems to be the consensus now that the surviving of the ground-type bombshell that he dropped in his post-game comments was really more of a smoke and mirrors. I don't necessarily know if Walt knew that that terminology was no longer in the rule book.
Starting point is 00:08:56 It's not there. It's not there. I got the white out myself and took it out. Yeah. See, there you go, folks. Right there on the money but in any case i think now the narrative is starting to switch about whether or not hunters engaging the ball or extending the ball was in fact a football move by definition am i off base here but
Starting point is 00:09:18 extending the ball is a football move if it's not a football move, then we're eliminating a third of the touchdowns that happen. We're eliminating 40% of first down yardage or 100% of extra yardage because everybody extends the ball. It's a football move. It is. Whether you like it, he likes it, nobody likes it. It's a football move. All right? If it wasn't, then those extra yards wouldn't be tacked on, and you wouldn't give it to guys trying to convert on third and one. Okay?
Starting point is 00:09:52 You wouldn't consider it a football move if a quarterback is diving over the goal line and breaks the plane. Okay? He extended. That's a football move. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it i don't want to hear it yeah and unfortunately uh apparently that uh the i mean obviously the rule was going to stand
Starting point is 00:10:11 there's no question about that but at the same time the new england patriots that had to grin and bear it just like we all did here in patriots nation and moving forward it was a seminal moment for the new england because a lot of failed conversions, a lot of missed opportunities, a lot of egregious penalties, and just difficult situations for them to play through really contributed to a downfall in this game. It's really aggravating for a team to be this close and to do what they did to step on themselves once again
Starting point is 00:10:45 and still lose a game because of egregious officiating. Yeah, absolutely. We didn't need the help. They were doing it enough to themselves. Absolutely. And the sting of this all, Murph, is that if I were to tell you before the game that Mac Jones is going to complete 72% of his passes against this Vikings defense, you're automatically going to assume that the Patriots are in the driver's seat. The way the defense has played and the way the special teams have stepped up in the last couple of games, you're looking at this and saying, okay, well, now this is the complete game effort we've been waiting for.
Starting point is 00:11:21 Oh, not so fast, folks. It certainly was not. The defense last night, not looking at their best without any question there are some that needs to be placed on their shoulders one big thing in particular that i think the patriots defense might get a little slack on and that's defending an all world wide receiver and we're gonna he's gonna get his yeah we're gonna talk about him in just a moment and some of the special team snafus that Murph and I alluded to just a moment ago. When this post-game monster Thanksgiving anger episode of the Lockdown Patriots podcast continues.
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Starting point is 00:13:15 Unbelievable. If you deposit $50, they'll give you $50. So don't forget to enter the promo code LOCKEDON at signup for an instant deposit match up to $100. PrizePix.com. Patriots fans, we are here on this post-game, post-Thanksgiving, anger-induced episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast. It is Locked On Murph Friday because Patriots had the Thursday night game, and we do not break down games here on Locked on Patriots without the green wisdom and counsel of my good friend Thomas Murphy of E2GSports.com. Murph, the Patriots' defense had been playing on another level the last couple of weeks,
Starting point is 00:14:00 only yielding six points total. We all know about what they did to the New York Jets on Sunday. I mean, holding them to two yards in the second half, basically putting the career of Zach Wilson completely in the freezer at this point. So this had to be a situation where Patriots fans were looking at this matchup and saying, if the Pats are going to win this, it's going to be on the strength of their defense.
Starting point is 00:14:27 Anyone who listened to yesterday's pregame crossover episode with myself and Luke Braun of the Vikings, or I should say Locked On Vikings, knows that I bought into it hook, line, and sinker. I believe Matthew Judon was going to be the X-Factor in this game. But the one thing that surprised me about the Patriots' defensive effort, Murph, is that with Vikings' left tackle Christian Darasaw on the shelf, it opened the opportunity for the Patriots' pass rush to develop a scheme and an opportunity to get after Kirk Cousins and make him uncomfortable.
Starting point is 00:14:59 Coming off of a seven-sack performance against the Cowboys, you had to think that was right for the Pickens. But credit Kevin O'Connell, the Vikings offensive brain trust. They protected Cousins. Shorter drops, quicker throws. Backup definitely got a chance to play into his game a little bit more than he did last Sunday. But the Patriots just did not have an answer at this point yesterday. Did not get home.
Starting point is 00:15:23 367 total yards of offense was allowed against the Patriots defense. When you look at this game, what were the defensive keys to such a dismal performance on Thursday night? Okay, you mentioned they didn't get home and that there were shorter drops and getting the ball out much quicker. That's true. Everything that was downfield, it getting the ball out much quicker. That's true. Everything that was downfield, it was a 10-step drop every time. Every time, that's what they did to protect him. They had him get into a 10-step drop anytime they wanted to drive the ball downfield, and there just wasn't enough time to get home.
Starting point is 00:15:59 They were a millisecond late on every single pressure, just a millisecond late on every single pressure, just a millisecond late. And I think a lot of it has to do with just playing on Sunday, with going all balls out. It is a short turnaround to have your body reboot and be able to put up that kind of effort again. And I'm expecting a lot better next time out against Buffalo, but that and situational football, the situational football on, on Friday on the defensive side was just abysmal.
Starting point is 00:16:36 As I like to say, Pepto abysmal eight of 15 on third down eight of 15, they converted on third down. And there's your game right there. And as you said, the stupid plays that happened during that. My God, what is strong thinking?
Starting point is 00:16:56 What are you thinking? There is no need to go for a block there. None whatsoever. You're getting the ball back with decent freaking field position. You have the best returner in football sitting back there ready to make a play. We'll get to him in a second. We'll get to Jones in a second.
Starting point is 00:17:16 I don't know what he was doing at the end of the game, why he was fielding that punt at the one-yard line and trying to make a second hero play. But it happened. But, no, that's it. Stupid situational football. at the one yard line and try trying to make a second hero play, but it, it happened, but no, that that's it. Stupid situational football. The fact that they did not get this team off the field on third down. Okay. That's why it's a weekly own third down on both sides of the ball. And the Patriots did not do that on the offensive side of the ball,
Starting point is 00:17:42 which we'll get into in just a second, I guess. Yeah, absolutely. Totally in agreement on the offensive side of the ball, which we'll get into in just a second, I guess. Yeah, absolutely. Totally in agreement on the defensive side of the ball. Could not have said it better myself. And I'm glad that you mentioned Pierre Strong running into the kicker. That is going to be an interesting barn burner of a meeting, the first time that Patriots brain trust gets in with the special teams planning unit. Just, yeah, a few. There were a few of those eye-opening moments.
Starting point is 00:18:05 First of all, Stranger running into the kicker, allowing a 97-yard kickoff return. That is not something Bill Pelichick and the Patriots pride themselves on. That was busted coverage. Well, I shouldn't say busted coverage. It's the little things, man. It's the little things that you just aren't good enough. You know, and I don't know.
Starting point is 00:18:26 I'll let you keep going. Sorry. Oh, no. No, no, no. Matthew Slater mentioned it after the game. I mean, that's an inexcusable allowance for the New England Patriots. And they needed to be better. And they weren't.
Starting point is 00:18:39 I said last week that they're not playing Patriots football. It's Patriots football. This is it. It's Patriots football. Without is it. It's Patriots football. Without any question. No question about it. So, you know, special team snafus, obviously there's a quick seven right there that the Patriots didn't need to put on the board.
Starting point is 00:18:56 A swing of four points, three points as opposed to what should have been seven because of, you know, the Hunter Henry situation. And then you look at it and, you know, you just, it's one of those things where you just really, really are, you know, disheartened by everything that you see. The strange running into the kicker obviously led to the game-winning touchdown, which really should have never happened. You know, when you look at the type of call that was made there. Before we take our leave of the defense, though, though Murph I do want to give them a little bit of slack when it
Starting point is 00:19:29 comes to defending someone of Justin Jefferson's prowess I mean you know he won his battles in man coverage he was even better in zone splitting the double team on more than one occasion um the Patriots had no answer for Jefferson and sometimes you have to tip your cap to a guy that is just that good and that on in the moment but the one thing that worries me is that the patriots are going to see quite a few of these types of receivers within the home stretch i mean they would you know they're going to be facing stefan diggs coming up this thursday night with the buffalo bills you got jamar chase of the uh the cincinnati bangles coming up this Thursday night with the Buffalo Bills. You've got Jamar Chase of the Cincinnati Bengals coming up. You've got, obviously, Tyreek Hill and the Dolphins in the season closer.
Starting point is 00:20:12 A lot of players in the midterm that I'm not – obviously, Devontae Adams is going to be a problem with the Raiders. You've got Hopkins that's going to be a problem with the Cardinals. This does not get any easier for the Patriots. And don't forget we've got Miami coming up here too. Absolutely. Yeah, with Tyreek Hill in the closer. So when you look at this game, and I'm not even mentioning Jalen Waddell.
Starting point is 00:20:33 Probably Dolphins that hate listening to this right now are screaming at me for not mentioning Waddell. He deserves to be in that conversation as well. This is a concern for me for the New England Patriots. They've got to shore this up. They do have to put in the work this quickly in this week to be able to get this taken care of or at least find some sort of a solution to be
Starting point is 00:20:51 able to slow these guys down. If they can't, this team's not making the playoffs. No, they're not. If they can't fix this one thing, like I say, it goes back to the third down conversions. Look who was making those third down conversions every single time. There are players like Jefferson that are transcendent.
Starting point is 00:21:14 We're talking about a man who is erasing records that Randy Moss set. Every week. Every week he's just rewriting them. Now, granted, it's a much different game now than it was when Randy played. Right. But still, to be put in that sentence is about as impressive as you can get. Bill is famous for being able to take away what you do best every single week. And that's why they've won over the years, talents like Justin Jefferson aren't taken away. They're going to get his. They're going to get theirs. It's the other guys. It's the tight end that you need to take away.
Starting point is 00:22:01 It's the Adam Thielen touchdown that you have to take, which should have never happened. Thank you very much, Mr. Strong. But this game should have been not just a Patriots victory. It should have been a defining victory on the season to this point. A team that had already gone into Buffalo, beaten Buffalo. You'd come out there and for the most part had outplayed them, even though that you ignored my game plan. We should have ran the ball. I mean, I'm sorry. We should have ran the ball a lot more. All right. It just did not happen. And as great as Ramondre looked catching the ball, he should have had more chances running the ball. I understand that injuries crept in there,
Starting point is 00:22:46 but there needed to be more running plays. They needed to convert those third downs and keep Jefferson from having an opportunity to do the things that Jefferson does so well. Absolutely. Better than anybody in the league. There's no doubt. He is the best wide receiver in the NFL right now, and it's going to stay
Starting point is 00:23:06 that way for a long time. Yeah, without question. And the Patriots could have had him. All they had to do was move up two spots. Just two spots, Bill. That's all I ask. What would that cost you? A fourth-round pick? Two spots! A fifth-rounder? I wrote about that on Wednesday. I wrote about that on Wednesday with the
Starting point is 00:23:22 New England Patriots and how that scenario all played out, and I tried to make the argument that the Patriots still ended up with a pretty good one in Kyle Duggar. And I stand by that without a question. But to think about the what-ifs if Justin Jefferson – There's another thing. Kyle Duggar had the worst game that I've seen him ever have. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:23:41 Okay, change your cleats at halftime, do something. He was slipping and sliding all over the place. Duggar has issues in coverage, but the issues that he had yesterday were monumental. Him and who else had that terrible game? Damn it. It'll come to me as soon as we're off air. Well, I don't want to steal Murph's thunder, so I'm going to let him stew on that. And if it does, he's going to let us know. But folks, we are almost ready to wrap things up here on this post-game
Starting point is 00:24:11 non-Victory Friday episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast, but we have not talked yet about the offense and Mac Jones' growth in this game. Was it enough to make Patriots fans feel confident that good old Mac is back?
Starting point is 00:24:27 Well, we're going to talk to Murph about that in just a moment when this episode of the Lockdown Patriots podcast continues. Sorry, folks, but first, Murph, let's do a little football analogy for you, a little sports analogy here on this big-time sports weekend. When it comes to burglars, your home is like the end zone and you need the absolute strongest defense that you can muster. That's why I use and trust
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Starting point is 00:26:02 Thomas Murphy of E2GSports.com is here today to help me break down the unfortunate Patriots loss on Thanksgiving night to the Minnesota Vikings, 33-26. Murph, the loss drops the Patriots to 6-5. They're back, unfortunately, in last place for the time being in the AFC East. Teetering on that windowsill of the playoff window right now. But a lot of Patriots fans were at least encouraged by the performance that the Patriots offense
Starting point is 00:26:31 put out yesterday. Something we haven't said quite a while here on Patriots. As I said earlier, Mac Jones completed 72% of his passes, excuse me, 28 of 39, a career high, 382 yards, two touchdowns. Pretty good numbers for the second-year quarterback out of Alabama. And Patriots fans have been waiting for Mack to have this type of game. Took full advantage of a better performance from his offensive line. Kept him clean in the pocket for the most part.
Starting point is 00:26:59 Mack looked more decisive. He looked more comfortable. And he looked more aggressive. But the fourth quarter woes continue for this team, and I think it overshadowed what we could be talking about, is maybe one of Mac's best performances as a pro. When you look at this offense, when you look at the performance last night, what stood out to you? The fact that a switch went off at halftime. All right. I really did not like what Zach had to do.
Starting point is 00:27:27 I mean, it was Zach, what Mac had to do in the second half. There were opportunities there that he missed. Once again, you know, changes at the line of scrimmage. Please freaking make a goddamn, excuse me, please make a bloody, call a bloody audible. You know, just do do it you're sitting there staring at it go deal with matt or bill or whoever later on when they get on your case for calling the audible because that play was not working um and then the fourth quarter was really non-existent most of this this damage that he did came in the first three quarters.
Starting point is 00:28:10 And I really didn't see the adjustment that the Vikings made that should have done. I said in my keys that Nelson Aguilar is getting – I know he scored a touchdown. People, leave the hate mail alone. But he cannot take snaps away from the Slim Reaper. He cannot take targets away from Devonta Parker. All right, that ball at the end of the game should have gone to Parker and not to Aguilar. He hasn't done anything all year long that's going to make you think that he's going to go and make that play. Yeah, I think a lot of people were surprised. I think it was the available man, but at the same time, I do think it was a missed opportunity without any question to be able to utilize your receivers. Someone like you said, maybe a Tyquan Thornton, maybe a Devontae Parker, maybe even a Kendrick Bourne at this point might be someone that could make that catch. Aguilar has had his difficulties. Had a good catch earlier on in the game because the Patriots were, you know, starting to move the ball a little bit better. Maybe that factored in. But to me, when I look at Mac's performance, yeah, he did absolutely look better. I give him an awful lot of credit for
Starting point is 00:29:13 being more aggressive, for airing the ball out. Nice to have protection to throw behind, but you've also got to understand that Mac was throwing, and here's my real thing, before we jump up and elevate Mack to Tom Brady status again. That's the third string, all right? The Vikings were running their third string defensive backs out there. There were kids that were pulled off the line of the local grocery store to be back there and to stop this passing attack. They couldn't do it until the fourth quarter for whatever reason, but it happened. And, no, they weren't out there against the A squad.
Starting point is 00:29:54 And that's exactly, when you mentioned the fourth quarter, that to me is where this stands out because as the protection begins to break down, as the decision-making starts to get a little bit more shaky, that's when you're seeing the offense sputter the patriots three and out on their first two fourth quarter drives and then just when they're starting to build momentum trent brown um i love trent i i do why was he on a cut block there yeah really missed that terribly That's a three-step drop, folks. I don't know why that scenario even played out. What page was he on there? That led to a bad sack of Mack.
Starting point is 00:30:32 It put him in a fourth and 15. Obviously, they can't convert the fourth and 15 at that point. But really, I think the bigger problem is futility in the red zone. Minnesota is not the best red zone defending team. I think in a lot of ways, we all expected a little bit more out of the Patriots in the red zone because of Minnesota's woes throughout the season. But when they get inside the 20,
Starting point is 00:30:55 the Patriots failed to put any points on the board in the red zone. That's it. Touchdown. I shouldn't say that when it came to touchdowns on three visits to the Vikings red zone, three of 10 conversion rate on third down. That's not going to cut it. No, it's just not.
Starting point is 00:31:10 It's just it goes back to what we were talking about before in situational football. You've got and we've we've been pounding this for for three months now. You know, the red zone inefficiency. You can blame it on terrible play calling from Manny. You can blame it on poor decisions by Mack throwing interceptions in the end zone. Again,
Starting point is 00:31:36 you could not turn threes into sixes and sevens. That's why we're here. You can't live this way. You really can't, not in this league, not with this team. This team is not that good that they can let opportunities for points just, you know, okay, we'll get them next time because you're not getting them next time, guys. Yeah, exactly. And that really, I think is where the difference in the teams that the patriots fans
Starting point is 00:32:06 have been watching for the last two decades as opposed to the teams that they've been watching for the last two years really differ and that um it causes uh it causes a lot of zappy mania and that's exactly what you saw earlier on in this season when the offense was high flying and people were getting excited about this team again because they were finding the end zone. It's situations like this that kind of bring you back down to earth. And I don't think it was a problem with Mac being able to move the football, but the decision-making, the play-calling, and the protection that they need all has to be on the same page, and the Patriots have yet to put that together.
Starting point is 00:32:41 Murph, they have to do it pretty quickly with the Buffalo Bills coming to town next Thursday. And folks, we will continue to break down the Vikings game, all of the Patriots injury concerns right now, including those to Jacoby Myers. And most importantly, the Damian Harris,
Starting point is 00:32:55 who apparently was on crutches in the Patriots locker room last night, not good stuff for Damian, but we'll continue to bring that all to you here. And once again, preview the Buffalo Bills next week here at Gillette. In the meantime, please, thank you so much for taking time out of your Thanksgiving
Starting point is 00:33:11 weekend to join us here on Locked On Patriots. And of course, a big thanks to the Don of Locked On Patriots for coming and holding court here in the post-game anger-induced episode. Murph, you always show temperance, but you always show spot-on analysis,
Starting point is 00:33:30 and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for that. Before I let you go, my friend, please let everyone know where they can reach you, where they can interact with you, and what you have coming in the week ahead as the Patriots turn the page to the Buffalo Bills. Well, first of all, I to uh apologize for lying to everybody on monday when i said that i was going to take some time off i went and i wrote three articles you can go check them out at e2g sports.com um of course say uh this this weekend at you tune into e2g sports youtube channel uh we'll be doing a pre-game show with with Buddy, our founder and president. I'll be doing that live on location in Rhode Island somewhere. I'm not quite sure where it is. I'm sorry, Buddy. I should have
Starting point is 00:34:12 put that down there. And other than that, follow me at TeamMIRF207 on the Bird app as we're stealing from Mark Schofield, the great Mark Schofield. And by the way, Mark will be coming up on the next episode of One Patriot's Place on Tuesday. Don't miss that. Absolutely, folks. Anytime you can get the host emeritus here on Locked on Patriots, along with our three familia members here on Locked on Patriots that join us each and every week, you know it's gold.
Starting point is 00:34:41 So check that out on E2G Sports. One Patriots Place. My second favorite Patriots listen out there in the Patriots Twitterverse and universe. But what can I say? I always appreciate you stopping by. And folks, for those of you wondering, you'll still get the golden melodious tones of Murph and the magic tones here on Monday
Starting point is 00:35:00 because Murph, Mondays were made for Murph on Lockdown Patriots and we'll still be able to bring you everything we need here. Murph likes that reference. I can tell. Drop a line in the comment section. If you know where that movie is from, I know most of you do,
Starting point is 00:35:14 but definitely I'd be interested to hear who, who is a fan of that classic, but bottom line, my friend, I thank you for all of your insight. And once again, folks, thank you for taking time out of your
Starting point is 00:35:25 busy schedule to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Folks, if you made us your first listen, please make your second listen, our good friends over at Locked On Sports Today. All of the news, all of the analysis, all of the big takes you need, all
Starting point is 00:35:41 on Locked On Sports Today. So smash that subscribe button, download, subscribe to, and follow wherever you get your podcasts, available on the Odyssey app, YouTube, and so many other platforms. And while you're at it, don't forget to subscribe to Locked On Patriots as well. On behalf of the legendary Thomas Murphy, I'm Mike DeBate. Continue to stay safe, stay well. Enjoy the rest of your Thanksgiving weekend, folks,
Starting point is 00:36:05 and a very happy Thanksgiving weekend to all of you. Have a great weekend, and we'll see you back here on Monday. More Jack Jones, less Miles Bryan.

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