Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots Flexed Out of Prime Time, Playoff Hopes, Mac Jones, Bill O’Brien and More

Episode Date: December 6, 2022

The New England Patriots are clinging to slim playoff hopes, but are still in the hunt after Week 13. Joining host Mike D’Abate is Steve Balestrieri of PatsFans.com. The duo discuss the Pats postseason prognosis, their Sunday night showdown with the Las Vegas Raiders being flexed out of prime time and the possibility of Bill O’Brien finding his way back to Foxboro in 2023?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.TuroForget boring rental cars and find your drive at Turo.com AudibleHead over to Locked On NFL for a sneak peak of Block Forever or catch the full series available anywhere you get your podcast. Available everywhere now! 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

The New England Patriots get flexed out of prime time, but does it really have any implication on their ability to make the playoffs? Stay tuned, folks. You're about to be locked in to 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 cover and also your first listen every day. Remember, Locked On Patriots is free and available on all platforms, including YouTube, so smash that subscribe button, download, subscribe to follow Locked On Patriots wherever you get your podcasts. And of course, today's to follow Locked On Patriots wherever you get your podcasts. And of course, today's episode of Locked On Patriots is presented by PrizePix. PrizePix is daily fantasy made easy.

You pick two to five players, and if they score more or less than their PrizePix projection, you can win up to 10 times your money on your entry. First time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with the promo code LOCKEDON. That's prizepix.com promo code LOCKEDON. Pats fans, thank you once again for joining us here on this Monday

episode of Locked On Patriots. Not a Victory Monday, also not a Locked On Murph Monday as well. Murph feeling a little under the weather today. So when you need to go to the bench, there is always, always a real strategy and a real advantage of having a bat such as the one my friend Steve Valistrieri has ready to go and pinch it at a moment's notice. He is a columnist extraordinaire for Patsfans.com, the co-host of not one but two amazing podcasts, Patriots 4th and 2, and of course, One Patriots Place. I welcome back my Patriots paisan today.

Steve, thanks so much for joining me here on Locked On Patriots. I'm pulling double duty Friday and Monday, but we love it. Hey, Murph's been Wally-pipped. That's all I'm going to say. You know, you never, ever know. I can't... No, I can't do that. I cannot do that.

I cannot do that to the legendary Connor Murphy Fisto himself. He will be back on his Monday slot, folks, next week here on Locked On Patriots. But in the meantime, my friend, the New England Patriots continue their march toward the... I don't want to say toward the postseason, because if we're all being realistic right now, there's still a slim chance that they make it and still probably a greater chance that they don't. But we're going to get into that in just a moment.

But they are heading into the stretch run of the 2022 NFL regular season. And big news out of the Patriots camp today was the fact that their game against the Las Vegas Raiders, scheduled for Sunday, December 18th, Week 15 matchup, flexed out of prime time, Steve. The New England Patriots are now going to be kicking off at 4.05 p.m. Eastern, 1.05 Pacific from Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada. Steve, this was heralded as one of the big matchups of the year without any question. This was old lion against young lion. This was Josh McDaniels versus Bill Belichick.

Then you add in the new elements that the Raiders have on their roster that have Patriots ties. Start with the coaching staff. Carmen Brasillo is there. You know, guys like Mick Lombardi is over there as well. I mean, you know, Bo Hardegre. There's a lot of Patriots pedigree that right now is residing in Las Vegas. You look at the roster, Patriots, former Patriots up and down.

Murph Sky, Brandon Bolden, obviously there. You look at Jarrett Stidham, Chandler Jones, who had a big game yesterday against the Los Angeles Chargers. Are you surprised at how far this one fell in terms of the public desire and really, I think, the worthiness of having that primetime spot this late in the season? Yeah, I think it would have been a much bigger matchup if it had happened earlier in the season. But, you know, things being what they are, the Patriots are hanging on by a thread at 6-6.

And so the Raiders are 5-7. They're hanging on by even a slimmer thread. But the Raiders have seemingly turned things around. They're playing a lot better lately but I'm not surprised at all that this was flexed out um you know the Patriots been on primetime two weeks in a row and honestly I'm glad to see them back on an afternoon game yeah absolutely I think all of us here on the east coast and even on the west out there are definitely happy to see this one flexed back into a coherent time here in Patriots land, especially seeing all the primetime games that the Patriots have been playing.

You've got Thanksgiving night, then you've got the Thursday night matchup, Monday night football coming up this week against the Arizona Cardinals. And we're going to start to cover the Cardinals this week, folks, and we're going to start to do so in earnest as the Patriots look to get back on the field and back into the win column. But just to echo a little bit of what you had mentioned about the Raiders, yeah, I think this one probably would have had a little bit more oomph behind it if it was played earlier in the season, or there's no question about it. It would have had a lot more oomph if it were played at this point in the season, but either one or both of these teams were in the midst of a strong playoff run. The Patriots at 6-6 and the Raiders at 5-7 doesn't paint too flattering of a picture of the way these two teams are adding up to try to make the postseason right now. So obviously it's going to be still an interesting game for

the New England Patriots coming up against the Raiders. I believe a very winnable game for the New England Patriots. But you did make a point with the Raiders being a little bit better as of late. They're coming off of a pretty big victory over the Los Angeles Chargers yesterday. Chandler Jones, we mentioned him earlier. Big game for him. When you look at the way the Raiders are playing right now, especially alongside the fact that the Patriots have two games on the West Coast back-to-back, most people, myself

included, look at this as the winnable portion of the remaining schedule, the remaining games that are left. But should the Patriots be worried about either one of these, in your opinion, a little bit more so than maybe people are giving it credit for. Oh, I think the way they've been playing, I don't think they can look past anybody as this is a layup. You know, we thought that a couple of other it anything other than it's going to be a struggle, but we have a chance to win the football game, which they do. I think, yeah, and I do agree with you. Both of these games are winnable, but at the same time, they can easily lose to both teams because you look at the way some of the matchups are and they both have really dynamic wide receivers they have quarterbacks they can move around right you know especially with arizona so that that seems to always give the team you know some some troubles

and then to compound everything your offense is not looking good, especially the offensive line. You talked about Chandler Jones having a big game. I was watching the Raiders game yesterday, and I was like, I hope he doesn't play like this in two weeks. Yeah, exactly. And you know Chandler is chomping at the bit to play like that in two weeks. He would like nothing more than to show up his old mates a little bit,

say what you will. There's no ill will between the both sides, folks. I'm not trying to stir that pot, but we all know that when you go up against your former employer, something always comes out of athletes a little bit when they do that. And especially knowing that Chandler was so well known for his time in New England, you know, he wants to show them he's still got it. And I think he took a big step toward that yesterday and it will be an interesting game. But you did mention the offense, Stephen. We are going to mention that offense in just a moment. We also mentioned the Raiders' big win, folks. And that also has playoff implications for the Patriots, who right now are facing slim odds to make the playoffs. But as Lloyd

Christmas would say, you're telling me there's a chance. There is a chance, folks. And Steve and I are going to discuss that chance in just a moment when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. But first, it's the holiday season, Steve. The holiday season is always about spending time with the ones you care about, the ones you love,

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24-7 professional monitoring service costs under a dollar a day, less than half the price of traditional home security systems. And with the top-rated SimpliSafe app, you can stay in complete control of your system. You can arm it, disarm it, unlock for a guest, access your cameras, or adjust system settings. You can do it anytime and anywhere. So don't miss your chance to save big on my favorite security system. Get 40% off any new system at simplisafe.com slash locked on NFL today. That's simplisafe.com slash locked on NFL. There's no safe like SimpliSafe. Patriots fans, the great Steve Balistrieri, our resident voice of reason, joins me here

on this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast. In the previous segment, Steve talking a little bit about the Patriots being flexed out of prime time. I guess that's the league's way of saying the Patriots aren't ready for prime time. Well, you know, we'll be the judge of that and all of us can individually be the judge of that. But one of the reasons why I think a lot of people feel that the Patriots are not ready for primetime is the fact that they are currently clinging to very slim playoff hopes. It's still there, but they are getting slimmer by the day. The Patriots did get a little bit of assistance yesterday in a couple of regards for their pursuit of the playoffs.

We're going to talk about those in just a second. But our friends over at FiveThirtyEight.com, they love analytics. They do analytics all the time. They currently have the Patriots with a 25 percent chance of making the playoffs with all of the AFC, relevant AFC information in at the conclusion of week 13. Steve, when you look at what the Patriots have to accomplish now, you talked about this a little bit on Friday's episode, and I am in full agreement with you, where they have to think about at least winning four out of five of their next games in order to have a realistic shot of snagging a wildcard spot. Now, the Minnesota Vikings did give them a little bit of help yesterday in beating the New York Jets.

The Patriots are only one game behind. They hold the tiebreaker over New York. So if they can get a little bit of a surge and New York either stays kind of like where they are or sputters a little bit down the stretch, things could get interesting for the Pats about getting that last wildcard spot. But they also have other teams that they're competing with, teams that were successful yesterday. You know, Baltimore Ravens, obviously, are in the driver's seat in their division. The Patriots, obviously, do not hold the tiebreaker there.

They lost to them earlier this year. And the Cincinnati Bengals, the Patriotsots Christmas Eve opponent coming up, also defeating the Kansas City Chiefs. And that was a game where the Patriots right now fall further behind the Bengals in their pursuit of a wild card spot. But Steve, that being said, when you look at where the Patriots currently sit, what is it about this team right now that gives you pessimism? We'll start with the negatives first. We'd like to end on a high note here. So we'll start with the negatives first. What is it about this team that gives you pessimism about their pursuit of a playoff spot? What could possibly derail them right now further than they already have been? I think it's the offensive line.

And we've talked about this several times during the season. I mean, they're just not doing a good enough job. And I don't care who the quarterback is. When your quarterback is running for his life almost every down, it's hard to get any kind of down-the-field action going in the passing game. And then what happens, your opponent starts cheating up because they know you can't throw the ball deep. Your quarterback doesn't have time. And then they start taking away the run as well as the short passing game.

And that is what's going to happen against good teams. And they face realistically, they're facing five good teams right now. They are down the stretch. So what they have to do is figure out something that works where they can get their quarterback time to throw the football. And they need to start stretching the field more. And I know we've said this a million times. They need to start getting more creative with those play calls. Yeah, they really and truly do. And we talked about this on Friday, where I believe that a lot of the frustration coming in with the Patriots offense, and we're

going to go into a little bit more detail on the offense in just a moment, folks, because I got an interesting question for Steve and want to get his insight and wisdom and counsel on the subject regarding the Patriots play calling situation this year and beyond. But getting back to your original point, my friend, this strategy or game planning or overall attitude, whatever you want to call it, about trying to avoid the loss as opposed to earn the win is something that is continuing to cause a lot of frustration throughout the Patriots' locker room.

You've heard Kendrick Bourne be very vocal enough, almost to the point where Mike Reese of ESPN floated the idea that you might see Kendrick inactive this week for how outspoken he was regarding the Patriots play calling situation. They like to keep those matters in house. That's not something that usually happens in front of the camera the way it did. And I know people are saying, well, it's a double standard. Look at what Mac did. Mac's situation was an outburst during the game. That was a much, much different circumstance than knowing the cameras and the microphones were directly in front of you and voicing your opinion. Now, I'm not saying I disagree with what Kendrick said, but I am going to say that, you know, it's

typically not how the Patriots do business. So I hope cooler heads prevail. Kendrick's been better. I really hope he gets a shot to play. I really hope that is not the case this week because I really think it would be petty more than anything. But at the same time, you know, I mean, the Bill Belichick and company run their unit how they run their unit, Steve. He didn't sound too pleased this morning. He did not. when he was asked that yeah he did not yeah exactly funny you brought that point up because i was thinking the same thing when i heard that and i'm like oh that's not going to resonate good with bill and he

it seems like born's been in the doghouse all season. Yeah. So that can't be a really good thing moving forward. Who knows? Maybe they'll take it to heart and they'll say, well, we're going to feed him the football this week. Yeah, that could be. Steve, to quote one of our favorite movies, Kendrick could be getting the code red this weekend. Well, let's see.

Well, you just hope that's not going to be the case, but it's possible. It definitely is possible. And you know that Colonel Jessup is going to be more than willing to do what he needs to do. You know, he runs his unit how he runs his unit, like I said just a few moments ago. But no, all kidding aside, when it comes to the Patriots' playoff hopes, it is looking tough. It looks like it's going to be a tough road ahead, but it is not impossible. And if the Patriots can start to put stuff together, then they do have an opportunity to maybe surprise some people. They have the talent on this roster to do it.

The question is whether or not they have the cohesion, whether or not they have the game planning, the vision, and whether or not they have the game planning, the vision, and whether or not they have the resolve to be able to do it. And those are things that right now we haven't seen a whole lot of consistency in any of those areas. But Steve, one of the things that really continues to be an issue with this team is play calling. It continues to be the job that Matt Patricia and Joe Judge have done with this offense and the regression that Mack Jones and the rest of the offensive output seems to be experiencing. It's led a lot of people to

wonder whether or not a change is in store. Well, Bill Belichick addressed that subject on WEI this morning on the Greg Hill Show when he gave his weekly Monday morning appearance and his comments were interesting, to say the least. But he did not completely close the door to change. When can that change be expected, and what change could be expected? Steve and I are going to discuss that in just a moment, when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast wraps up for the day on this Monday episode. But first, please remember that our friends over at PrizePix

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If you deposit $50, they give you $50. Folks, it is a great deal. Take advantage of it. Don't forget to enter the promo code LOCKEDON at signup for an instant deposit match up to $100. PrizePix.com. Patriots fans, the resident voice of reason, Steve Balistrieri of Patsfans.com and the co-host of Patriots 4th and 2 and 1 Patriots Place joins me here today in the slot of our good friend Murph, who we wish the very best to right now.

Steve, in the previous segments, we've danced around a lot about the Patriots issues, making the playoffs, whether or not this is a playoff team, things of that nature. You can debate that a lot. You can go back and forth, and really any opinion is valid as long as the Patriots are still mathematically in the hunt. But the one thing that Patriots fans and media alike can pretty much universally agree upon is that this Patriots offense is not looking like the offense that a lot of people expected. I know there was not a lot of enthusiasm when Matt Patricia and Joe Judds were installed as the heir apparent with an S to Josh McDaniels in terms of play calling, in terms of coordinating the offense. I was one of those that tried to give it the benefit

of the doubt as much as possible. I know you did too. I will sit here and mea culpa all day long. This was not, it just is not working out. And I think people can see that. That being said, Bill Belichick had some very interesting comments when he spoke to the media earlier today on the Greg Hill Morning Show on WEI on Odyssey. And Bill essentially said, look, the buck stops with me. I take full responsibility. And it's way too late in the year to start messing around or changing any type of approach, any type of strategy, or changing the identity of the play caller. And I know fans are not going to want to hear that, but folks, he is absolutely right. It is too late in the year to make that type of a change. But the fact of the matter is, is it's not so much that I think fans are upset that he's

not making the change now. It's that the change was made to begin with, that the Patriots decided they needed to reinvent the wheel this season, install an offense that maybe didn't fit their personnel, and install a play caller or two that didn't have the type of experience necessary in this type of a role. Steve, is that really what the issue is here, is that the Patriots tried to push a square peg into a round hole earlier this year and it just never worked out I think it is I mean you know and the whole thing about the play calling I I was really convinced that they were going to groom Nick Calley for the job and if they had done that with a young coach and they struggled, I can live with that because he's learning.

He's a young guy. He's getting his first shot at it. And he can lean on Matt Patricia, who's been a head coach, a defensive coordinator. He can lean on him and get some perspective about things and then they can talk you know strategy if they had done that i would have had zero issue with this because again you you have a guy that's learning on the job and he is going to be the true heir apparent and and i thought that's the the direction they were going and now like you said and what bill said it's kind of late late to change horses this far along in the race. I still think Bill could possibly have more say in the offense and be more involved in the play calling during certain situations.

And I think they probably need that. And again, Bill's been a defensive guy, but he has such a knowledge of the game. I mean, we've seen the films him and Brady would meet every Tuesday or whatever day it was, and they would go over the next opponent. They would watch film together. They would mark down tendencies, decide how they wanted to proceed with that. So Bill has tons of experience doing that. And as we've all seen, it's been pretty good. So other than that, I really don't see any kind of major change coming but I really think that they need to and I hate to say it because now Mac will be dealing with another coach another offensive coordinator three and three years and we always

made fun of teams that do that right but I think they have to in the offseason yeah I believe they have to as well and I'm glad that you mentioned that because that's going to lead me very nicely into my final question for you today but yeah I think to say that there will be a change in the offseason I don't think is a stretch of the imagination I don't even think it's really speculation anymore I think it's almost a foregone conclusion we mentioned Mike Reese earlier of ESPN and Mike in his report where he mentioned the fact that Kendrick could end up being code redded this weekend folks uh that's not a word I apologize but you know you never know that's that's how report where he mentioned the fact that Kendrick could end up being code redded this weekend, folks. That's not a word. I apologize. But you never know. That's how we're looking at it.

He also mentioned that he felt that the Crafts were highly unlikely to sign off or at least sit well with another year of Matt Patricia being the offensive play caller. So if that's coming from a reliable source like Mike, there's no question about it in my mind that we are going to see a difference. That being said, what's the difference, my friend? The name Bill O'Brien continues to be bandied about throughout Patriots fandom. I know he's a popular choice, and there's a good reason for that. Bill may have had his issues as head coach and general manager of the Houston Texans, but as an offensive mind and as a coordinator, did a very good job here in New England helped navigate that Patriots

offense which featured a great deal of ball protection a lot of efficient running and he spread the ball to multiple pass catchers really utilizing what Tom Brady does well he took what guys like Charlie Weiss had done previously and even Josh McDaniels in that role a little bit and really allowed Brady to continue to cultivate his own stamp on that as well. And the job that he did coordinating both Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez's tight ends in that set was something that was very interesting. And a lot of people see the potential with Mac Jones being able to utilize John O'Smith and Hunter Henry in a similar fashion it's not going to be like for like folks because these guys are not identical cookie cutter players but they can utilize that in the same regard so that being said with Bill O'Brien now reportedly interested in a return to the NFL. Can you see this happening next year?

I think it could happen with one type of scenario. Bill had always said he didn't want to coach past 70, which he is right now. And perhaps, I mean, I think Bill O'Brien is still very highly thought of in the building, down at one Patriot place. So perhaps they're looking at bringing Bill back as the offensive coordinator and becoming that heir apparent to Bill when he decides to retire. And I think, you know, if I'm Bill O'Brien, if they approach me with that type of situation, I would jump at that because this is a franchise that you'd want to be a head coach. You have good ownership. You have a history of

being successful in the past couple of decades. And they're already making changes with the roster where some of these younger players are getting better. I just think they need better coaching on the offensive side of the football. I think the defense is rounding into form faster than we even thought possible this year. So I think the defense is in pretty good shape. You know, they still need to tweak it a little bit, but I also think that if you're offering Bill O'Brien offensive coordinator position with the understanding that when Bill steps down, you're going to get first shot at the head coaching position, I think that might lure him back.

Yeah, I think that might lure him back too. And look, a common question that I get, and it's a good question. I've gotten it from several of you either through Twitter DMs or comments in the YouTube section about the fact that Bill O'Brien would probably be more interested in pursuing a head coaching job coming back into the NFL rather than a coordinator's position don't forget folks that Bill O'Brien didn't exactly leave the Houston Texans with a glowing resume in that regard, there may be some repair that he needs to do to his pro caliber work in order to do that. So it's not like a situation where Bill is automatically going to be flooded with head coaching opportunities the minute he decides he's coming back in.

If that is indeed the case, then you have to think that the Patriots are the crown jewel of all of the coordinator positions he could possibly be offered for all of the reasons that you just said. The Crafts being able to keep this team competitive. They're a strong ownership, a committed ownership, an involved ownership without being a meddling ownership. Not going to mention any names, but we know there are some that do take that route. The Crafts don't do that. This is a place where you can really thrive.

And if you are going to be the heir apparent to Bill Belichick, and I know some people think that that's earmarked for Steve. I think it should be earmarked for this Steve, but no, we're not talking about that right now. We're talking about his son, Steve Belichick. You like that one, my friend. Yeah, I feel that. I absolutely believe that from the bottom of my heart.

Yeah. If, if fans were mad this year, if, uh, myself was running the show, boy, would they be mad? Ah, nevermind. No, come on. Don't do that to yourself. You're a tremendous slouch. Not just kidding my friend. No, seriously, really, when it comes to X's and O's, man, you're not going to do much

better than my guest right here. He's a great one, but all kidding aside kidding aside, I really think that there is an opportunity now for that heir apparent on this staff to really take a step up. Most people thought it was going to be Josh, obviously, with him in Las Vegas. Now he's coming into his own a little bit better and at least earning, I think, maybe another year or two there in Las Vegas before they decide whether or not they've made the right decision or the wrong one. But in the meantime, the Patriots have serious problems to solve and they need serious people to solve them. And Bill O'Brien would be one of those serious people in the offseason. Yeah. And Bill worked with Mac. Absolutely. And he has. And that familiarity with the Saban Alabama offense, the one that Mack ran very efficiently back there in Mobile, is something that I think could also help Mack to thrive.

And the kid looks like he needs a little bit of direction out there right now. I think he's giving the best effort he possibly can. But when the play calling is not matching your desires and your abilities to the maximum of your ability, there's going to be problems. And I think that's what you're seeing now. So bottom line, Bill did pour cold water on any type of change between now and the end of the season.

But this has the potential to be a very interesting offseason in New England, especially with the Pats nearing in excess of 50 million in available cap space. This could get to be a very interesting run for the New England Patriots into 2023, assuming that their 2022 run doesn't end as we all hope it would. But as we said before, folks, there's still a chance. And as long as there's a chance, we're going to continue to talk Patriots football in the present tense. And that's exactly what we will do all week long as we get ready for the Patriots week 14 trip to Glendale, Arizona and a matchup with the Arizona Cardinals. But in the meantime, my friend, thank you very much for pinch hitting today and coming

on and lending your wisdom and counsel the way only you can. We appreciate you, Steve. And I definitely appreciate you very, very much. You can follow him on Twitter at SteveB7SFG. Steve, before I let you go, please let everyone else know where they can find you, some of the great work that you have coming up this week. Yeah, at PatsFans.com and at One Patriot's Place we have two podcasts going tomorrow in fact you'll be joining me

as my co-host tomorrow because I shall be laid up for a couple of days so you and I are going to be on there and I do believe Claire will be able to join us tomorrow because she was unsure of her own availability tomorrow because she had a lot of things going on herself.

So at first it looked like a two man show. The same thing is here, but you and I will be on there tomorrow. Hopefully Claire will join us. And then later tomorrow afternoon, Patriots fourth and two with myself and Derek Havens, Russ is unavailable tomorrow. So there's a lot of stuff going on, I guess, in the wind right now. But we're going to be talking about the same –

kind of the same things we talked about here this afternoon. But we're also going to be starting to look at our first look at the Arizona Cardinals. They present some challenges for the Patriots. And I think it's a game they can win, but their offense is going to have to be scoring more than 10 points. That's all I can say. Yeah, without any question. If the Patriots want to get on the ball, they're going to have to get the ball into the hands of someone that is not known for their return or defensive prowess.

And I say that with every bit of reverence and admiration for Marcus Jones, who has really been, he's lived up to the hype. Before the year started, I said that he was going to be my favorite Patriots draft pick, and he's making me look good in that regard. Not many things do, but that's one of the predictions that I actually was able to get pretty right. I loved the pick when they made it from him, as I know several of my colleagues and several of the fans out there did as well. And he's making us all look pretty smart right now in terms of what happened. But the Patriots need their primary pass catchers to get involved in the offense if they want to salvage any opportunity of making the postseason. So on

behalf of my good friend Steve Balistrieri, I'm Mike DeBate. Thank you once again for making Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage and of course your first listen every day. Now that you've made us your first listen, make your second listen our good friends over at Locked On Sports Today. All of the news and all of the major sports, all

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On behalf of the great Steve Balistrieri, I'm Mike DeBate. Take care, stay safe, stay well, be the change you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone. And watch Tyquan.