Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots: Jonnu Smith Sidelined, Tyquan Thornton Returns, Early Look at the Lions

Episode Date: October 6, 2022

As the New England Patriots begin to prepare for their Sunday showdown with the Detroit Lions, the have a number of health concerns on which to keep a sharp eye. Joining host Mike D’Abate is Clare ���ClazzyClare’ Cooper of Pats Propaganda. The dynamic duo discuss Jonnu Smith’s ankle injury, the potential return of rookie wide receiver Tyquan Thornton and take an early look at the Lions.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!Athletic GreensTo make it easy, Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/NFLNETWORK.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.EliasTake this NFL season to the next level and download the Elias Game Plan App today and use promo code locked-on-nfl-25 to get 25% off your first month when you choose the monthly subscription Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Exit tight end, enter speedy wide out. Which one will have a bigger impact on the New England Patriots game plan as they prep for week five against the Detroit Lions? Stay tuned. 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 Lockdown Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage

and also your first listen every day. Remember, Lockdown Patriots is free and available on all platforms, including YouTube, so please smash that subscribe button and download, subscribe to, and follow Lockdown Patriots wherever you get your podcasts. I'm your host, Mike DeBate. I cover your New England Patriots for Patriots Country of Sports Illustrated. Follow me on Twitter. Let me know what's on your mind at MDABATENFL. 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 LO underscore Patriots. As you can see, folks, it is the midpoint of the week.

And what better way to get some midweek wisdom and counsel than to welcome in the mediator herself, the principal of positivity, the illustrious Claire Classey. Claire Cooper is going to hop in here in just a moment. But remember, folks, today's episode is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, and they help you do it faster. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash lockedonNFL. Pats fans, as we continue to sift through the rubble of the Patriots' 27-24 overtime loss to the Green Bay Packers in Week 4, a sharp eye has already turned to another NFC foe, this time the Detroit Lions,

coming into Foxborough and taking on the New England Patriots this coming Sunday, October 9th at Gillette Stadium. But there are plenty of concerns, and a lot of those concerns, folks, have to do with injury. And yes, we are going to talk about the quarterback situation in just a moment but first there is a potential injury to a key tight end that might have implications not only for this week's matchup but also the Patriots offensive game planning going forward and when we're talking tight endage we are not only contractually obligated but we are honored and privileged to welcome the empress talking tight endage, we are not only contractually obligated, but we are honored and privileged to welcome the Empress of tight endage herself, Miss Claire Cooper of Pat's Propaganda, and also the host of her very own Patriots podcast, A Claire Perspective of Patriots podcast.

Countess, thank you for joining us today from across the pond. And of course, we're talking about the injury to johnny smith your expertise is very much needed in this situation because fan base right now is very up in arms about the tight usage uh we're hearing busts being thrown around we're hearing uh fish out of water thrown around we're also hearing that you know maybe there's a situation where if Jonu is injured and has to miss some time on the field, that may end up aiding the Patriots in getting the tight-ended situation back on track and being able to reset. You always have a sharp eye on the situation. What's your take right now?

Because we don't know the severity of Jonu's issue. He did leave the game on Sunday. No one has talked or had any type of meaningful information regarding it so what is your take on the situation right now and what do you think it means for the tight-ended situation moving forward? Well as he quite rightly said as we record this on Wednesday the 5th of October in the morning over in the east coast in the afternoon for myself we don't really have any further information in regards to johnny's ankle injury that's really sort of all we're looking at there's been speculation there's been kind of rumor of if it's a high ankle strain that kind

of thing and that could mean the lengthy out because as you mentioned you know the whole mac jones thing so right now we don't really know the severity so we don't know the length of absence that we're going to be seeing from johnny smith now that said i'm not too sure how much his absence will impact the the way that they've been game planning in regards to the tight end because as we've seen as many fans have seen over these last four weeks the usage of the tight end hasn't been very significant they've been utilizing the guys for blocking which isn't really kind of johnny and hunter's strong suit you know they're not there to block whilst you know part of hunter's job is is blocking and he does that you know reasonably well it's now becoming a significant part of his skill set required in the game.

And that's not really how the NFL, the game itself has evolved to use the tight end, that kind of thing. So there's the part of me, like many fans that's kind of sitting there very kind of, why are we doing this? Also, why are they doing this? Sorry,

for your slip again. Why are the Patriots doing this? We saw such good stuff from Mac Jones to Hunter Henry last year you know nine touchdowns and this kind of thing his production was was great it just feels like in all fairness for both of those positions I know we're discussing tight ends now we're not discussing Matt but for both of those players for Matt Jones and Hunter Henry year two seems to have been a year two regression. And that is something that is at the back of my mind with a concern. But with obviously Mack out for an injury, it's not something that we can address at this stage.

Now, in regards to Johnny's absence, as I mentioned, I'm not sure how impactful it will be. Now, the other thing to take into consideration how much it could impact depends upon who they utilize at quarterback with the absence of matt jones because using the veteran titan the veteran quarterback so titans on brain the veteran quarterback in brian hoyer is going to stand behind an offensive line a lot differently than the, you know, the immediate rookie of Bailey Zappi. Now Zappi is going to be in a situation where he kind of wants to get the ball away quickly, hand it off quickly.

He's still doing it. We know this. He's still green when it comes to that. So this is something else that needs to be taken into consideration when you look at how it could impact, how his absence could impact. It's going to be who they're going to use and and at this point we don't know with Brian Hoyer out with the you know the concussion protocol the head injury that kind of thing so we don't really know as of yet as of Wednesday who's going

to be in on Sunday against the Lions to really see how we can predict how different it's going to be in regards to using the tight ends there's also still time for them to bring someone else in or for them to bump up the likes of matt socal i know there's scotty washington on on on the roster as well but he is more of a wide receiver slash tight end so because they've been utilizing the the tight end significantly in blocking stages personally my just my personal a clear perspective of it is I don't see them bumping at Washington because he isn't really going to fit in the role significantly now they lined up using Marcus Cannon as the the sixth lineman so again it sort

of trends towards the necessity of blocking particularly when you've got the likes of Bailey Zappian so that would really instigate to me that if they're going to use another tight end if they're going to move one up to replace john who in his injury absence uh depending on what it is is it going to be more like the likes of matt sokol who's much more of a blocker yes he's not the most dynamic of play you know of playmakers that sort of thing but he's reasonably solid blocking tight end he said hand in the dirt wide tight end similar to the sort of hunter henry role so it as i said not to repeat myself it's really going to depend on who's going to be at center

and how significant the the impact that that's going to be it's the one thing with johnny smith is he's a bit of a puzzle for defensive coordinators so because of his athletic ability he is someone that when he's in there you don't quite know what role he's going to take you don't know if it's going to be a handoff you don't know if he's going to be a playmaker he you know is he going to be in that kind of a little bit of a fallback role ish that he's going to utilize so he's somebody that's in there that's making defences, having to think. So when you haven't got that tight end in there,

you're being a little bit more obvious when it comes to possibly offensive playmaking. Sorry, play calling. Now, with Zappi in, that's going to be a little bit obvious anyway because there's a good chance that they're going to reduce the amount of different plays that they make because he's still learning the playbook because he's still a rookie so again it ties back to if you're going to have the seasoned veteran who's been in the Patriots system for oh so long or are you going to have the brand new rookie who

is still learning that kind of thing he probably knows about as many play calls for a post-it note rather than you know the whole big flappy thing that they have on their arm so it's it's a lot of ifs and buts at the moment so i just it's just one of those you just hope that he's not going to be out for long you hope that they've got a bit of a backup plan i think i'll be disappointed if they do nothing if if we just see that that that Johnny's going to be out for several weeks and they don't bump anyone up they don't move on they stick another wide receiver in there I know we're going to touch upon wide receivers in a little bit anyway so I won't kind of meld into that too much but yeah I as personally because of my tight-ended enthusiasm I hope

that they've got some backup plans in place and I hope that they're a little bit effective but unfortunately just hasn't seemed to be in the way at the moment with the tight-ended so it's you know maybe we're going to have to look at 2022 as not much of a 2020 not much of a season of tight-ended I guess yeah I think uh you make an interesting point and I'm glad that you've mentioned uh the wide receivers because yes folks we are going to segue into that topic in just a moment but you mentioned possible replacements for John and this is only if he's going to miss any time folks right now it might be a moot point he may show up on Wednesday and be out there and be able to move around and maybe be limited participant in practice but this may end up being a new moot point by Sunday but I agree with you I think right, Scotty Washington is probably not the answer in terms of bumping up.

If you're going to elevate someone from the practice squad, I do believe it would be Matt Sokol. Four passes caught, 24 yards in the preseason. Former Detroit Lion knows Matt Patricia and knows the situation where the Detroit Lions may try to do certain things. He knows certain guys on that team. So there are elements that would favor Matt Sokol getting the call up in this situation. Don't forget, the Patriots have some very prominent players on the practice squad that they could use the assistance of this weekend.

Garrett Gilbert, newly signed backup quarterback. If Brian Hoyer and Mac Jones are unable to go, Garrett Gilbert is a must. You have to elevate him. Jamie Collins Sr. coming back and being a presence in that linebacking core. And you mentioned Marcus Cannon lining up at the jumbo tight end. You mentioned him coming in and really, I think, doing a great job of anchoring and stabilizing that offensive line. So there's a lot of call-ups.

And the Patriots are only able to make two. So if they do at the maximum, so if they do that, they have to keep all of that and take that under advisement. So I think if they do decide to add some tight endage, it would be so cool in this situation. Don't forget, they also have Jordan Humphrey over there as well that can take some snaps. He's been lining up as a blocking tight end a little bit, not necessarily the pass catching threat that we all thought he would be in that role, but that's an option as well. Patriots fans, it's always fun talking tight endage with the Empress of tight endage herself, but it is not limited to that when she visits the

program. And we will discuss another potential addition to the Patriots offense this weekend. And this is something you've all been waiting for. That's right, folks. Tyquan Thornton has a chance to suit up. And we're going to talk about that chance in just a moment when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. But first, folks, as you continue to gear up for fall, you need the right people on your team to help your small business fire on all cylinders.

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Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash LockedOnNFL. That's LinkedIn.com slash LockedOnNFL. That's LinkedIn.com slash LockedOnNFL. That's L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N-N-F-L to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Patriots fans, the illustrious Claire Klaze, Claire Cooper of Pat's Prop's propaganda and her very own podcast a claire perspective of patriots podcast joins me here today and claire we talked a little

bit about the potential void at tight end that the new england patriots might be feeling for the next week or so if johnny smith is indeed unable to go but one of the good pieces of news coming out of the Patriots offensive camp this week is that old friend, rookie tight end, excuse me, rookie wide receiver. You got me doing it now. That's it. You got me doing it now, folks. All kidding aside, I'm not going to blame my ineptitudes on Claire.

That is not right. I will not do that. Oh, yes, I will. But she won't be here when I do it later. I'm not going to blame my ineptitudes on Claire. That is not right. I will not do that. Oh, yes, I will. But she won't be here when I do it later. No, I'm kidding, Claire. Rookie wide receiver Tyquan Thornton is now eligible to come off of IR. Of course, we all know he was placed on injured reserve, fractured clavicle to begin the season.

He can begin practice as soon as Wednesday, today. Claire, I know that the public is clamoring for Tyquan Thornton and his speed to come in and help fix whatever woes the Patriots offense has right now. It's tough to say that a rookie wide receiver is going to come in and have that type of an impact. But I watched this kid during preseason. I watched him during practices. I watched him during training camp. The one thing that really surprised me about Taekwon was his ability to pick up a playbook right away. This kid's a more nuanced route runner than I gave him credit for.

And he can move. And in a New England Patriots offense, that's not an easy thing to do. He could have an impact as soon as the first time he takes the field. But when you look at Tyquan Thornton's ability to come back, you look at how the Patriots wide receiver core is built right now and their quarterback situation. Do you believe that the New England Patriots may give us the opportunity to get a look at him this week? Or is this a situation where it's better off airing on the

side of caution considering everything else that's going on right now as well well that's the point that's the very point that i that i was going to make is in regards to how how everything seems to be very intense when it comes to dealing with injury at the moment. Quite rightly so, really, because we're all talking about the concussion injury, the head injury to Tua last week against the Bengals, that sort of thing. So it would seem that there is this air of caution that's increased in regards to the NFL. Now, Bill did say, and I don't want to misquote him, so I am paraphrasing now, how that he kind of never utilises Patriots players before that they're ready sort of thing.

So the one thing to remember is the fact that just because he can come back doesn't mean he's fully 100% to come back. So there's always that element of, yes, he might be at practice. Yes, he might be starting to warm up, to work out, that kind of thing. But it doesn't necessarily mean that he's in the right place ready to return to the field ready to return to the impact that the game is in playing so there's always that element of fans don't get your hopes up too soon because it might be that they're not going to utilize him just yet they want to make sure that he's okay quite rightly so so there is the element of that on the flip side as you said and

as we talked about before in regards to the titans is the significance of the offense that he's run under dependent upon which quarterback is in there as you mentioned um they'd signed gilbert as well so there's another veteran but you know is hoyer ready to be back are they going to roll further with Zappi to give him some more experience these are all ifs and buts that we don't know and like I said before in regards to the impact on the tight end it's again going to make I think it's going to make a difference with who is at centre as they like to say in regards to the quarterback as to how much they would utilise Thornton, how much of an impact he could make.

Because if you've got a quarterback that isn't airing it out, if you've got a quarterback that's having to dump it off very quickly, that sort of thing, a really speedy guy isn't going to make any difference if the ball's already been handed off to someone else. So I think a lot of it is going to be to do with how comfortable they're feeling to kind of, how do they say, let him cook, let Zappi go out there and cook and kind of air the ball out and throw it. Because we know that he's got a reasonable arm.

So I know that that's one thing that he's out there for. So having himself a speedy wide receiver that gets open quickly so that he can get the ball out quickly to him um could be one positive but again it's about confidence and it's about experience and things like that so it's going to make a lot of difference as we already said as to which quarterback's going to be in there the other thing like you mentioned is the wide receiver room is pretty stacked at the moment and we're kind of calling for more usage of kendrick bourne you can't have more usage of everybody at some point you you've kind of got to be resigned to the fact that some of these guys are drawing coverage and some of these guys are there to to you know to catch passes that kind of thing and if you haven't got a quarterback in that's really going to air it out

again you're not going to see the major usage of those guys that can get out, they can get open and they can get far down the field. So it's all sort of, Oh, a bit of a wonder really because it's all depends on who's going to be in. I mean, Gilbert hasn't been on the Patriots for a while. So, you know, what we're going to see from him, is he going to be a bit rusty? Are they just going to use him as a kind of more of a dump off kind of run kind of thing so yeah it kind of comes back to as it usually does comes back to the quarterback so as much as it'd be great to see Thornton out there because yeah

we want to see this kid we want to see what he's got it it depends upon if he's 100% if he's ready to go if they're they're comfortable putting him out there at this point in his sort of recovery if you like if if he is better if he's better i say better you kind of get where i'm going with that um and if really like you said if it's a usage of his skills or will it will it be worth giving him one more week of rest if they're not going to use a quarterback who can utilize but again you can't utilize him if he's not out there and you can't get your quarterback used to using him if he's not out there so it's a little bit of a catch-22 in regards to that but again we're all sitting here waiting just to see who they're going to suit up um at the quarterback position yeah absolutely spot on in terms of your analysis

and i'm in complete agreement look there is an argument to be made about doing something because you can and then there's an argument to do something because you should and i think in a lot of ways that to me is right now the i don't want to say the dilemma that the patriots are facing because obviously bringing someone with taekwon's abilities his electric nature of the way he plays football bringing those guys back is something that is definitely a good thing for the New England Patriots and look I know the fans want to see they want to see the speed they want to see that ability to create separation it's not something you usually get from Patriots wide receivers so the ooze and the odds come out when you see someone like Tyquan Thornton and again watching him in the preseason everybody pretty much had their uh you know eyes

on him and they really were watching him closely but I think in a lot of ways they saw what they were looking to see and we even saw more like I mentioned about his route running capabilities and his ability to incorporate himself into the offense big time boom for the New England Patriots to get Taequann Thornton back. But you worry about future durability as well. You want to make sure that he's taking a long slope. He knows his assignments. He knows what he needs to do and bring him along as well. Ross Douglas, the assistant wide receivers coach,

spoke with the media yesterday, and we asked him about Taequann, and he said that he's locked in. He's doing everything that he needs to do. But at the same time, a lot of this is all mental preparation. We're going to have to see what he looks like physically when he gets on the field and there's no guarantee you're going to see him on Wednesday folks as well everyone's assuming he's in on Wednesday he'll be in the lineup on Sunday doesn't quite work like that does it Claire no yeah unfortunately it does not but when he does

return to the field folks you will see an electric. And I do have a lot of faith and still a lot of excitement being able to watch what Tyquan Thornton is going to be able to bring to this team. But ultimately, Claire, it's a game. It's a team game. And the New England Patriots will need a complete effort on both sides of the ball to be able to take it to the Detroit Lions, who the Patriots will host at Gillette Stadium this coming Sunday, October 9th. And Claire, I don't know about you, but I am looking forward to seeing those white helmets and red jerseys back at Patriot. We'll be back in the house. The vintage uniforms, I love them.

I know a lot of you people love them. Some not so big fans. I am a little surprised that there are some that don't like the old uniforms but everyone has a right to their opinion regardless of what folks the patriots will be back at gillette and the lions will be there next up in the uh the rotation we're going to take a quick early look at the lions when we return and the countess of class herself will provide us with any parting thoughts that she has, whether it be on John O'Smith, Tyquan Thornton, or just anything related to the Detroit Lions when this episode of the Locked on Patriots podcast continues.

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We've talked about a potential offensive weapon being added back into the Patriots repertoire. But bottom line, this New England Patriots team is one in three, and it's not where a lot of the fan base hoped they would be at this time. But you started to see seedlings of this team be able to put together a solid effort on both sides of the ball nearly came away with a victory on Sunday against a very tough Packers team in a hostile environment this week the Detroit Lions come into town and the Detroit Lions have typically been a team that oh hasn't necessarily excelled all that much in the last decade or so. Really, I think more than that.

Probably Lions fans are screaming at the screen right now going, it's been a lot longer than that. But they have surprised some people this year with their ability to move the ball on offense. One thing they haven't been is a defensive standout team. This team has struggled on the defensive side of the ball they are ranked 30th in rush defense they are ranked 30th in past defense total defense all along they are ranked 32nd so Detroit right now is a team that you can move the ball against but we know that the New England Patriots have had their offensive woes as well. I know you've looked into your clairvoyance. I like that.

We've looked into your clairvoyant powers, and you've tried to look into the future to see what the Detroit Lions bring to the table. When you're looking at the game like this what are your early what are your early thoughts see I've done it again folks what are your early thoughts on the Detroit Lions uh how do you see this one shaping up in Foxborough on Sunday well this is another one that's got the potential to be really crazy isn't it I mean just to touch on some of the stats that I know you just threw out and all correct the one thing that really sort of shocked me the one that got me was the one that I found on PFF so it was that the the Detroit loans are leading the league in points scored and points allowed literally because they have scored 140

points but they have allowed 141 to me that's the most crazy statistic that you can see how it shows such a flip side of a team is yeah it's just phenomenal so to me it's expect the unexpected yeah we know that they've got some positivity on on offense we know that they can score duh lots they can you know they've got've got some, they've got capable running backs, a good tight end in Hawkinson. So it's one of those that the Patriots need to shorten their pass game and they need to exploit the defensive weaknesses. Now, the one thing that gives me confidence is,

although the last four games it hasn't been an even keel on the defence. We know that the defence is really quite good. Okay, my opinion, the defence is really quite good. They've brought back a veteran linebacker, as you mentioned, Jamie Collins. I'm a little bit perturbed as to, sort of, to me, it's like, that isn't where I'd add anything at the moment because of what we talked about quarterbacks tight ends that's where it feels the need to add in all fairness but I'm not a coach so you know but to me looking at this this defense they've got some really good strengths and I think

if the Patriots can just utilize the strengths they know that they are there if they can utilize these strengths against the lions um i think that they can be on a on a winning role however it's going to be a bit of a stock fest because like a lot of the i mean a lot of the games that the lions have played just looking at my numbers i mean their wins that they've been the numbers that have been put up well obviously it's it's significant so you're looking at high scoring games of they lost 38 to 35 against the eagles won 36 to 27 against washington lost 24 to 28 at the vikings so you know it was slight and 45 to 48 seahawks so you know they're close games and they're slogfest games with points being thrown all over the place. So I think it's going to be a lot of, can the offense bring it together to,

to match them in scoring the points? And if not, it's going to be very significant for the defense to keep them from scoring these significant points. So a bit of a kind of a match off in regards to the defense needs to at least be strong enough to prevent them scoring points. And if they can't, we have the offence that needs to be scoring the points or vice versa.

If the offence isn't out there scoring points, which is more likely what you're looking at at the moment from the record that the Patriots have had recently, is it's going to be more on the shoulders of the defence to be there and to be the strength. And I've got to admit from from what we have seen I am confident that if this is a game that ideally you need to win with your defense I'm quite confident in the Patriots defense that that they're capable of doing that but again I

think it's one of those a little bit expect the unexpected and and we could be seeing some really significant numbers yeah I agree with you. And I think in a lot of ways, what you want to do if you're the New England Patriots, especially on the defensive side of the ball, because like we've said, Detroit has struggled defensively. So offensively, the Patriots are going to try to move the ball as best they can. And I think that's going to be their game plan there where you win this game, in my opinion, is defensive strategy. And you want to make Detroit one-dimensional. You want to take away either their passing game or their running game.

And one of the big reasons why I think they signed Jamie Collins over the weekend, or over the week, I should say, is because of the difficulty of the linebackers to be able to assist in the running game. We've had very good play, very solid play from Matthew Judon, Juwan Bentley. These guys are going out and pursuing. They're making tackles. But the speed in the middle of that linebacking core, whether it be Mack Wilson, Raekwon McMillan, hasn't necessarily gelled the way the Patriots had hoped.

Put a lot of pressure on the defensive line against the Green Bay Packers. And with Lawrence Guy already out, he didn't practice at all last week. We're wondering if he's going to be able to give it a go this week hopefully we'll get more when the patriots take the practice fields very shortly uh you know on wednesday and we'll see what they're able to do but this has a real big tendency um for the new england patriots right now to uh to have some difficulty there especially the fact that detroit is very adept at being able to run the ball now I know DeAndre Swift's a little banged up right now he's their feature back if he doesn't go in this game makes it a little bit easier but Jamal Williams is no slouch either he's

averaging 4.5 yards per carry 62 carries six touchdowns there so if Detroit wants to make things happen on the ground Patriots have to bestacked to be able to stop the run, something they have not done well in the last six quarters dating back to Week 3 against the Ravens. They were gashed in the second half of that game, and really Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon were able to run all over the Patriots on Sunday with the Packers. They have to shore that up. They have to make the Lions one-dimensional

if they hope to get a win on Sunday. So good stuff. We're already taking a close look at the Lions. We're taking a better and even closer look at the Lions as we do each and every week because Locked On Crossover Thursday is happening shortly, folks. Rocked On Crossover Thursday with Matt Deary of Locked On Lions will come at you tomorrow. In the meantime, I want to thank and give my gratitude, my honor, and my privilege for sharing the microphone with Claire Classey, Claire Cooper today.

Claire, it has not been easy to share the microphone with me today, in case you haven't noticed, folks. I am fighting a little bit of a cold, and it's definitely getting some fog in, along with some difficulties in speaking. But you've been amazing, a true trooper. And thank you so much for all of your contributions to locked on Patriots. Before I let you go,

please let everyone know where they can find you, what we can expect from the great pen, the great voice of Claire, classy Claire Cooper in the coming week. Oh, well, thank you as always, Mike.

And it really wasn't difficult. So yeah, I hope you feel better soon, but yeah, it wasn't a big deal, but yes, if you'd like to find me And it really wasn't difficult. So yeah, I hope you feel better soon. But yeah, it wasn't a big deal. But yes, if you'd like to find me, patspropaganda.com. I am there each and every week

with my game recap for your fun and your perusal. So I try and take a more positive spin on the game. It isn't all statistics. It is kind of like the eyeball test of, did you see this? You might see this, that kind of thing. So hopefully people enjoy it. So yeah, go over to patspropaganda.com every the day after every game usually so she obviously usually on monday

recently but yeah after each and every game you'll also find my t-shirts there as well they're still available for maybe a limited time we shall see so yeah if you fancy some t-shirts for the fall go over to patspropaganda.com. As you mentioned, A Clear Perspective, a Patriots podcast by myself. So brought to you by fullpresscoverage.com. Last week's with Mike Giardi was a scream of fun. So if you haven't checked it out, I hope you do, because it was just a good laugh anyway. Hopefully I'm recording this week's episode very shortly.

So please keep an eye out for that. And a little bit of sneaky, peaky, cheeky. Next week, i am hoping all being well to have a rather special guest on so although all my guests are very special to me because they're all lovely but yeah i may be having a very special guest on for next week but i'm keeping that under wraps until check on social media you'll find out so yeah you'll find out but yeah so keep your eye keep your sharp eyes on my twitter for my special guests next week and as always one patriot's place brought to you by e2g sports.com is there for you each and every week with myself steve balistrari and thomas murph murphy so yeah i think that's everything

i think that's the least i'm not sure there might be something missing but go over to at kathy claire and you'll find out folks don't let her fool you she does secure some of the greatest guests in the business especially when it comes to new england patriots media but the special part of that show is right here that and i tell you that honestly and you are definitely doing a phenomenal job folks if you haven't subscribed to a claire perspective of patriots podcast don't delay do it today you'll be a better Patriots fan. You'll be more informed and you'll be well entertained. What more can you ask for in the realm of sports media? So Claire, thank you so much for joining me today. I can't wait to share the microphone with you again next

week. Hopefully when I'm feeling a little bit better and a little bit more myself, but ultimately folks, it always is an honor to come at you each and every day and bring you the very latest in New England Patriots news, notes, and analysis. And now that you've made us, Locked On Patriots, your first listen, please make your second listen our good friends over at Peacock & Williamson. My good friend and colleague, Brian Peacock, along with former NFL scout Matt Williamson, bring you the latest updates on anything and everything NFL related.

Peacock & Williamson, like Locked On Patriots, is free and available on all platforms, including YouTube. So smash, subscribe, download, whatever you need to do to get your podcast. Please be sure that you are staying locked in to all the great shows at the Locked On Podcast Network. Until tomorrow, Patriots faithful, please be sure to stay safe, stay well,

be the change that you wish to see in the world. On behalf of the Empress of Tight Endage herself, Ms. Claire Classey, Claire Cooper, I'm Mike DeBate. Have a great day, everyone.