Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots Lose OT Thriller to Tennessee Titans: Drake Maye Magic? Trade Deadline and More

Starting point is 00:00:00 Drake Day nearly pulled off the magic in Music City on Sunday, but it wasn't enough to propel the Pats over the Titans. Stick around, you're about to be locked in on 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 each and every day. I'm your host, Mike DeBate. I cover your New England Patriots for the Patriots country.

Starting point is 00:00:41 Reach out to me. Let me know what's on your mind on X at MDABATENFL. While you're out there showing some love to Locked On Patriots, social media style, that is, please follow our account there as well at LO underscore Patriots. And, of course, Pats fans, the New England Patriots dropping an overtime thriller to the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium on Sunday by a final of 20-17. Very few bright spots for the Patriots.

Starting point is 00:01:08 There were a couple. We will get into those. And, of course, there were a number of doldrums to which the Patriots fell on Sunday afternoon. Breaking it all down with me here, as some of you may see on YouTube from an indisclosed location today, meaning that my good friend is having some camera issues. I do definitely appreciate his willingness to continue to press on and be a true warrior and join me here on the airwaves.

Starting point is 00:01:34 And that is my good friend, the legend himself, the Count of Murphy Fisto, Thomas Murphy. Thank you for coming to me in friendship. Even though we can't see you, we feel your presence and your aura today here don't move thank you man thank you it's too bad i'm having a great hair day nobody is more upset than i am that we have to waste murph's good hair day but bottom line it was not a good day for the new england patriots yesterday in Music City in Nashville as the Patriots fall to the Tennessee Titans for 11.82 seconds, Murph. Patriots fans held their breath. And lo and behold, all of the angst, all of the uncertainty,

Starting point is 00:02:18 all of the heartache the Patriots fans have been feeling lately really turned the corner when Drake May was able to find Ramondre Stevenson for a miracle touchdown that would send the Patriots into overtime. Of course, Joey Sly extra point actually did that, but bottom line, that six sent the Patriots into overtime. And I think a lot of Pats fans were looking at that and saying, wow, it's been a long time since we've had a quarterback that could make a play out of nothing at all. And believe me, it really was. It was like creating something out of smoke and mirrors. Drake May able to find Ramadi Stevenson.

Starting point is 00:02:52 But alas, a 25-yard field goal from our old friend and business partner, Nick Falk, dooms the Patriots to a 20-17 loss. Drake had a great moment to end regulation, but he had a bad moment to end the game. After the game, he would say it was a dumb decision. I can't argue with that. It was a rookie moment. He's going to have some of those. It was not the best of times for Drake May. It wasn't necessarily the best move that he could make. Even a ball to the deep part of the field and, of course, intercepted by Titan safety Amani Hooker. That ended ended the game and patriots fall to two and seven on the season now murph on friday you join me here on these very airwaves and we talked about the monster keys that it that needed to be turned in order for the patriots to make this a game that they could come out on top. Yep. The Patriots did not turn many of the monster keys on Sunday.

Starting point is 00:03:46 Alas, they did not win. Before we get into the offensive keys that were not turned, that should have been, that could have made life easier on Drake May, how would you evaluate the youngster's performance, especially given that he's only hours removed from being cleared from concussion protocol? I think he was pretty damn good pretty, um, pretty damn good. Uh, it, it, it wasn't a, a total disaster, but you know, considering the fact that he

Starting point is 00:04:12 had no run game to lean on, he couldn't get into play action whatsoever. And, uh, he was the leading rusher once again, that's three times in his four starts, you know, that he's been the leading rusher on this team. And it's aggravating. It is. It's aggravating. One of the keys that weren't turned, and you can put this right on Drake, is win the turnover battle. You know, I said last week the Pats would need to be a plus two in this department.

Starting point is 00:04:45 Drake threw two interceptions. The first one was, you know, egregious, although I put some of that on play calling and once again, spacing. All right. Because, you know, Hunter Henry and Jalen Polk were almost right on top of one another. You can't drag that many defenders into an area and keep expecting success. But then again, Drake might've been baited just a little bit there and just thrown a bad pick. That's a rookie. It could have just been a rookie move and that's going to happen, you know, but at the end of the day, you know, what this man is able to do with his arm,

Starting point is 00:05:23 because he did complete a few really nice passes on Sunday. You know, this man is able to do with his arm, because he did complete a few really nice passes on Sunday. You know, what he's able to do with his arm, what he's able to do with his legs, as we saw, you know, the entire game, you know, rushing for 95 yards and also what he was able to do at the end in extending that play, even though the Titans were only rushing three and able to find Ramon Dre and broke for, you know, he kept moving and found an open spot and Drake found him. Yeah. And I give the kid a solid C plus. Yeah, I think that's pretty accurate. I would probably give him a B and I would say that the only reason why I give him a B is because I believe that the play around him yesterday was egregious, like you said. And I think that there were moments

Starting point is 00:06:09 where he was able to turn water into wine because of that. But at the same time, yeah, there were moments where he did indeed look like a rookie. And we've said this several times here on these airwaves. Losing the fumble while trying to step up in the pocket 648 remaining in a 10-10 game when you're an nfl quarterback when you're a pro level quarterback and your team is relying on you to protect the football anti-game in a situation that starting to get very tight and very tense you need to do a better job of protecting it there there's no question about it drake would be the first to admit that yeah no a lot of people keep comparing drake may to uh josh allen up there in uh in buffalo and that's a josh allen mistake right there you know holding a football like a loaf of bread essentially costing your team an opportunity to really

Starting point is 00:06:56 continue that drive but at the same time you're also looking at it and saying okay well the kid rushed for 95 yards when the team as a whole rushed for 110. Yeah, that includes the 95 folks. So you're taking a look at now 16 yards for Ramondre Stevenson and a minus one from Antonio Gibson, whose usage Murph continues to baffle me. I'm not really sure what Alex Van Pelt is doing there. This kid is supposed to be a solid compliment to Ramondre. I'm not seeing it. That running game clearly had its issues yesterday.

Starting point is 00:07:26 And once again, you know, you're receiving core with the exception of Hunter Henry, Kendrick Bourne, and Ramondre Stevenson kind of non-existent. DeMario had an aesthetically pleasing one-arm catch. This kid can really make plays when you need him to. Jalen Polk had more penalties than he had targets yesterday. Yeah, exactly. The Pats running game, the running backs averaged 1.3 yards per, 1.35 yards per carry if you take out the quarterback. We're talking about the running backs. The

Starting point is 00:07:59 Titans were 4.3 and then we're getting into the bad here. Once again, the Patriots could not run the football and they could not stop the run, especially in overtime. A lot of that is because of subpar play along the lines. And we're going to discuss the offensive line and the defensive line, not only not turning the monster keys, but also not able to rise to the challenge of being a professional level line that could

Starting point is 00:08:30 provide both protection and pressure. And two things that I think the Patriots could have used a lot of yesterday. Maybe if they had more of it, they would have come out on the winning side. We're going to get to that in just a moment. So stick around. You're not going to want to go anywhere here on this episode of locked on patriots but murph before we take our leave of this subject obviously all eyes are going to continue to be on drake may um those of you that are viewing this on youtube see drake makes magic and obviously there was a lot of magic about the way that final play ended up it's been argued by

Starting point is 00:09:02 several including me the defense vin, Vincent LaGuardia Gambini, that these moves are the moves that are going to galvanize Drake May's identity in this league. Is this a defining moment for Drake May, or are we still a little bit too early in the kid's career to start saying, okay, yeah, that's the moment he became what we all believe he can be? It's a moment. I don't know if it's a defining moment, but it's a moment. It's the moment he became what we all believe he can be. It's a moment. I don't know if it's a defining moment, but it's a moment. It's a moment that free agents around the country this offseason are going to look at and say, yeah, the Patriots got a winner here.

Starting point is 00:09:40 They got something right. You know, Drake May fell to the third pick in this draft. And I will be the first to admit that I was hesitant about using the third pick in this draft on any one of the top three quarterbacks that were taken. For, you know, what I thought at the time were good reasons. But, I mean, this kid is, is just shown so much. And I think that, uh, once again, that him sitting the beginning of this season has helped that and being able to watch, I'll give Alex Van Pelt a little credit there. And Gerard Mayo a little credit there,

Starting point is 00:10:17 even though I think Gerard wanted to go to him earlier. Um, but no, this, I'm not sure if it's defining but uh it's it's a good start of a definition yeah i do believe that it is a good start on a definition and look bottom line when you look at drake may and you look at his capabilities he showed off on that play what i think everybody believed he could be you saw the off script ability, scrambling, using his legs. These are the moments that you look at and you say, okay, yeah, this is the Drake May we always wanted, but his ability to be able to deliver and, you know, say what you will. He had time, 11.82 seconds, a lifetime in an NFL quarterback's life to be able to get a pass off. But when

Starting point is 00:11:01 there's nothing available downfield and nobody's getting open and nothing is there for you to be able to do it for him to be able to hold the ball and scramble and still maintain i thought he was down at least twice yeah i think everybody before he got rid of the ball i also thought that he was going to take off and run once yeah but um it looked like it yeah what what what he was able to do there in sidestepping some serious, I don't want to call it serious pressure because they were only rushing three guys there. But to be able to sidestep, move up, move back, roll around, and finally find Ramondre there is just, you know, a testament to this young man's vision, you know, in the pocket and what he's able to do. And I just, and if you find somebody that can sidestep, walk around, pirouette, and then still be able to do what he did, I'll take that, you know, 10 days out of 10.

Starting point is 00:12:00 Absolutely. I think everyone will. And look, look bottom line there were moments where drake forced the issue yesterday made passes that we've criticized him about not necessarily taking the check down of the easy play and trying to push the ball downfield yep you make the argument he did that on the final throw of the game but yeah in this situation knowing the patriots needed this score in order to survive in order to take this game to overtime Drake did show I think a level of temperance a level of patience now maybe that was because he had no choice but at the same time you also look at a rookie quarterback in that situation and those issues those times players can really make head-scratching moves I think what Drake made did yesterday shows a level

Starting point is 00:12:42 of maturity and he's going to continue to grow into that but murph if this team is going to take that next step they're going to have to improve upon subpar play along both lines offensive and defensive neither side came up big yesterday neither side turned any of the monster keys murph and i are going to discuss what happened to the Patriots lines and why it may be a bigger problem than some are saying. All this and more when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues, a proud part of

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Starting point is 00:15:26 Prize picks run your game. Patriots fans, thank you once again for joining us here today on Locked on Patriots, making us your first listen each and every day as we continue to break down the Patriots 20-17 overtime loss to the Tennessee Titans. And it is a melancholy Monday here on Locked On Patriots, but there are some silver linings. Quarterback Drake May looked like the quarterback we all hope he can be. At times, there were some rookie moments, folks, but we will take away more positives than negatives from the play of Drake May.

Starting point is 00:16:01 However, Patriots' lines around him didn't necessarily rise to the occasion. Drake was under pressure for a good long while on Sunday and the offensive line is directly to blame for that, but he also didn't get a whole lot of complimentary help from the defensive line and helping to keep Drake off the field and allow that defense to be able to put pressure on a Titans offense. If we're talking turning monster keys, there's only one man who could join us here on Locked On Patriots, and he is joining us despite some camera issues. He's powering through it and still providing top-notch wisdom, counsel, and of course, his lament that his monster keys weren't turned.

Starting point is 00:16:41 Then I'm talking about my good friend, the legend himself, Thomas Murphy. Murph, we've talked a lot about Drake May, but I think we'd be remiss if we didn't mention that Patriots offensive line surrendered four sacks. Patriots cannot sustain any type of a rhythm in the running game or in the passing game if they're going to get that type of poor protection. Of course, the same argument can be made that the Patriots defense didn't exactly come up big when it was needed most. But before we get into the defensive monster keys not being turned, bud, let's stick with the offensive monster keys. This is an offense right now, Murph, that absolutely needs a solid, cohesive offensive line in order to be able to operate at full strength. We did not see that yesterday.

Starting point is 00:17:31 Another combination looking like it failed. Scott Peters, Alex Van Pelt, and Gerard Mayo are now under the microscope when it comes to this line. This was the eighth combination that they used on Sunday. Something's got to give here. When you look at the way this line played on Sunday, in conjunction with the monster keys that you laid out very nicely on Friday. What are your takeaways from this line? Because in my opinion, this is a unit that still needs a lot of work. Oh yeah. A ton of work, man.

Starting point is 00:17:54 This, this goes all the way back to the off season and, and how, uh, um, our illustrious, uh, leader, Mr. Wolf put together this offensive line that line that isn't really here. Okay. His right tackle that he signed to play left tackle is quit. He's gone. He's not out of here, man. I'm out of Dodge. All right. His draft pick is only his best, his earliest draft pick is on IR. And they've been shuffling guys in and out and in and out. And putting Layden Robinson back in at offensive guard and kicking Unweyu back out to right tackle to start this game was ridiculous.

Starting point is 00:18:42 I mean, they had, you know, this line had started to gel a little bit, at least in pass pro over the past few weeks. And to shake things up now, I thought was kind of, I don't want to say, yeah, no, I want to say it. It was stupid. It was stupid. Robinson ended up only playing like 20 snaps on the game before they kicked on way you, um, uh, back inside.

Starting point is 00:19:11 And, um, you know, Mayo, Mayo used it as an excuse that we wanted to get our best player on one of their best players. Well, you knew that coming in. I spelled it out for you. All right. Read the keys, turn them. And so, yeah, no, I think it was short sighted. I think it was downright dumb to mess with a an offensive line that was finally showing a bit of promise in at least one area of the field, but they still are unable to run the ball. I thought the play calling was terrible in smashing stuff up. Brown was getting blown off the ball this way. We've been praising him for weeks now in his great play there at center, but he did not have a good game at all. And they were

Starting point is 00:20:02 unable to get to the outside. said you know you the outside zone blocking get to the edge and they couldn't get it because guys were not there to set those blocks especially someone like simmons who loves to turn the corner and loves to be able to get around those edges and we talked about that as a potential problem and trey jacobs and his inability to keep that to want to keep that edge short rather than elongate it. Yeah. The Patriots struggled and it showed in the stats.

Starting point is 00:20:31 Drake May was under pressure on 38.5% of his dropbacks. Right. Obviously we talk about the four sacks without any question, but this team did not run the ball. Like you said, they're not doing the little things that it takes. The protection did settle down a little bit when they went back to that Jacob type line, but it wasn't great. The run blocking produced negative nine yards before contact for the Patriots

Starting point is 00:20:54 running backs yesterday. That cannot happen. You can't get a running game. You can't hang your hat on. I like to use the running game, the outside zone to develop play action, to get the deep game, the outside zone to develop play action, to get the deep ball down the field, to utilize the intermediate parts of the field. And then all of a sudden say, Oh, we're not able to do that.

Starting point is 00:21:12 If you're going to be an outside zone run team or any type of run first team, you got to get better than that. That really, I think, uh, shows a lot of deficiencies. Murph, you're a baseball guy. We all talk about manufacturing runs. You know, when you manufacture a run, when there's nothing else there, the good teams are able to do that.

Starting point is 00:21:32 We just watched the Los Angeles Dodgers do that and win the World Series. The Patriots now need to do that when it comes to yards. They're not getting enough yards on the ground. They're really not getting enough yards in the passing game either, but at least that's slightly better. They have to start manufacturing yards. And right now, the way this

Starting point is 00:21:48 offensive line is playing, it's tough to see a way and a method in which they can do it. Yeah, no, I agree. I agree wholeheartedly. There's a need here to re-identify yourself. Okay. Maybe start using these running backs out of the backfield a little more bubble screen action, a little more, because you can't run the ball. And you've got to be able to use the pass as a run, a la the old West Coast 49ers offense back in the days of Craig.

Starting point is 00:22:26 You know, just get him out into a pattern and allow him to pick up three or four yards, maybe more out of that because this run game is just not happening. And believe me, folks, it's not because of the talent of one Ramondre Stevenson. Yeah, without any question. I think Ramondre shows that when he has the ability to make a play, whether it's receiving or whether it's running the ball, he's got the capabilities. You need to give him the opportunities and the lanes and the holes

Starting point is 00:22:54 to be able to run through. Patriots line just not doing it right now, so maybe it's incumbent upon Gerard Mayo, Alex Van Pelt, Scott Peters to shake this line up a little bit, shuffle the deck, see what's there, and maybe try to salvage whatever they can and maybe even bring in some outside help. We're going to get into that in just a moment, folks. Don't go anywhere because all of this has implications on Tuesday's trade deadline, which is coming up and looming. Murph is going to give his thoughts on that. But Murph, I didn't want to take our leave of this game without talking about the opposite side of the ball, because fans may look at the final score, if you haven't seen the game, and see 20 to 17 and say, OK, well, they've yielded only 20 points. But when you look at the fact that most of the defensive breakdowns that the Patriots

Starting point is 00:23:40 had came out of Tennessee using run or play action, that leads you to a little bit of an uneasy feeling. One key that was turned, it wasn't turned well, but it was turned, was the Patriots did go pretty man coverage heavy on Sunday. 38.9% of their defensive plays came in man coverage. They did pretty well in those shells. They held Rudolph when they needed to um but in my opinion this team is still struggling on early downs they were way too porous on the early

Starting point is 00:24:13 downs in order for the patriots to really make an impact and it showed it showed in tony pollard being able to get yardage on the ground it showed showed when Mason Rudolph needed to step up and make a big throw. He had time to do it, get his receivers down the field. When it comes to blame pie for this one, how much would you put on this defense specifically that front seven? A ton, maybe, maybe, you know, 60%. All right. I'm going to throw this out at you. Seven for 16 all right that's what the worst third down conversion team in the nfl did to you on sunday they were they were they were converting on third down um at at a 30 percent clip if i if i remember and this is almost 50 all right this, this is kissing 50. You could lean over and kiss 50%. And that directly goes to what happens on early downs and how porous this, uh, this, um, Patriots defensive line is

Starting point is 00:25:15 right now. Um, Jelani Tavai had, had a good game. Christian Ellis did not have a good game at all. You know, he was out there for 49, 45 defensive snaps. And Tony Pollard just ate him up. You know, he needs to cover. He needs to be there to stop the run. And that didn't happen. Another guy who had a terrible day was our buddy Keon White. All right. Constantly running up past the play. Another guy who had a terrible day was our buddy Keon White, all right, constantly running up past the play, playing out of position,

Starting point is 00:25:51 not being where he's supposed to be. I keep saying, folks, you know, don't run up past the quarterback. Don't get pushed out there. Don't get pushed off the ball. And White got blown off the ball, you know, right from the opening drive. It was terrible. He had an awful game. He got behind Mason Rudolph and when trying to rush and get to the passer, and it led to the touchdown in the fourth quarter. Yeah, no, I'm putting, you know, most of this loss

Starting point is 00:26:25 on the defensive side of the ball. And that might be because, you know, guys are in over their head. They're being asked to play too many snaps and in positions that play, playing those snaps in situations that they can't really handle. We've talked about this in the past and how Bill would use a guy for five, six, maybe even three snaps, you know, because that situation called for it. And Bill knew that that's not happening with this crew. And, you know, sooner the tape gets out there and other offensive coordinators know that they're going to be able to pick on this guy or pick on that guy, but no, right down to it.

Starting point is 00:27:10 I mean, just circle back to Keon White. It's just stupidity and playing off script and freelancing. Yeah. And I mean, in a lot of ways, I mean, you take a look at it and maybe the overtime drive, a 13 play drive that took a good amount of time off of the clock and put the Patriots in a very precarious situation to be able to score in overtime could be a microcosm. Now, I understand that there were breakdowns that are going to happen in an overtime drive because players are tired. It's going to be a difficult situation. But these things, you know what?

Starting point is 00:27:44 You play the game to win, right? You play to win the game. You play to win the game, but there was really no downside there. Okay. You came back, you were ready to tie the game. Your defense had been on the field for a very long time. I understand that Drake had just run around for a minute and a half and the offensive line was tired and everything. But from the two, you spread it out, you figure out something, you send the six foot six guy up over the top, anything. You know, you had a chance to walk out of there with a victory. And you kind of allowed the Titans to dictate it again in overtime with that last drive.

Starting point is 00:28:25 And I just think, you know, at that point in time, with the amount – the time of possession, I think that they ended up – we talked about playing controlling tempo on Friday also. The Titans had the ball. I don't have the number up here in front of me. But it was almost 10 minutes more than the Patriots did in this game. Even if you take out the overtime drive, that's still like

Starting point is 00:28:53 four minutes more time than the Patriots had. Four or five more minutes. And you can't win that way. You should have gone for two, Gerard. But although the patriots now sit at two and seven and the playoffs are not even within their purview there's still a season to be played and there's still even next year to consider and maybe even the year after that the trade deadline is an opportunity for teams to upgrade and maybe even put themselves in better position for free agency at the start of 2025. Will the Patriots be active either as sellers or perhaps even as buyers? Yeah, that's right.

Starting point is 00:29:32 That narrative was very strong heading into this game. Did the loss on Sunday to the Titans change that? Murph and I are going to discuss that in just a moment when we wrap things up right here on the Locked On Patriots podcast, a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Locked On listeners, time is our most precious commodity. So don't waste it scrolling through the same mind-numbing content for hours and hours. How can you spend it wisely to improve yourself? Well, our sponsor, Hillsdale College, is offering more than 40 free, that's right, free online courses,

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Starting point is 00:31:44 Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with Fanduel, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. Fats fans, thank you once again for joining us here today on Locked on Patriots as we continue to break down the Patriots' 20-17 loss to the Tennessee Titans, dropping them to 2-7 on the 2024 season. And joining me here today to do so, even though you can't see him, you can feel his presence, and I think it's even more intimidating. I think the aura is even stronger here today on Locked On Patriots,

Starting point is 00:32:16 and that is my good friend, the legend himself, Thomas Murphy. Murph, we've talked about Monster Keys being unturned. We've talked about slices of lame pie. We've talked about Drake May's magic, but the rest of the team are really still needing to step it up for the Patriots to even sniff respectability. But the Pats are now heading into the trade deadline on Tuesday at 4 p.m., and we've heard a lot about the Patriots' activity,

Starting point is 00:32:41 whether they will be active as sellers. We've heard the names Kendrick Bourne. We've heard the names Kendrick Bourne. We've heard the names Devon Godshaw. We've heard even Kyle Duggar over the weekend could be dangled. It seems like every player that's not named Christian Gonzalez or Drake May is not nailed down right now. It seems like anything could be on the table. However, we've also heard that the Patriots may be looking to upgrade their own team, maybe get an expiring contract or a very cap-heavy contract that the Patriots could absorb to maybe turn that into a player they could sign down the line. When you look at a loss like this, dropping the Patriots to 2-7, do you believe that this in any way either accelerated their desire to sell off some pieces or perhaps maybe accelerated

Starting point is 00:33:27 their ideas and their need to buy some pieces did it have any impact on the trade deadline at all um i don't think it did uh i think it should um i think that uh what drake has shown over the you know not just sunday but while he's in here that you need to explore every avenue that you can to get him more help. But right now, I mean, you know, you're looking at where the Patriots need the most help and, you know, Minnesota's not trading you Cam Robinson. Okay. Garrett Bowles is not coming in here from Denver. Ronnie Staley is not coming here from Baltimore. These are all teams that are in it. I can't see the Jets making a move with you and sending Tyron Smith over here. And this is where the Patriots really need help, and it's on the offensive line.

Starting point is 00:34:23 There are names floated out there as, you know, help at the wide receiver position. T. Higgins, what are you going to give up for T. Higgins right now? Okay, what are you going to give up for Keenan Allen? You know, Amari Cooper is, you know, I don't think he's signed an extension yet. But Buffalo ain't helping you out. You know, I don't think he's signed an extension yet in Buffalo, but Buffalo ain't helping you out. You know, they're still in it, you know? Uh, so could, could we go back out and

Starting point is 00:34:52 get Brandon cooks? I'm leaning in real close right now, you know, sure. But it's, it's the, the help that the Patriots need is not out there and not available. Could they be sellers? Sure. But what are you taking away? We keep talking about leadership. Do you really want to take away some of the leadership that is on this team, the guys that you are going to be leaning on. You know, Ramondre has just been signed to an extension.

Starting point is 00:35:29 I don't want to go find another Ramondre Stevenson. And I don't trust Elliot Wolfe to be able to do that. You know, when it comes to, you know, I'm not trading Marty Mapo. I've already talked about that. You know, Keon White is somebody that needs to be, you know, hugged a little bit, you know, just coached up a little bit more. You know, I'm not sure that the moves are there for the Patriots to bring anybody in that's going to help this season.

Starting point is 00:36:14 And I'm not sure that you want to take away the leadership that other teams would want. Exactly. Exactly. So well said. And I'll give you an example. There was a rumor that was very heavily circulating pregame yesterday uh that really started to make traction around social media and those of us in the know like yourself murph myself we heard the chatter all really weekend long that jonathan jones may be on the trading block right after the game started to hear a lot and i can tell you folks from those that i've spoken to

Starting point is 00:36:42 close to the organization that this is right on the money that it would have to be an overwhelming offer in order for the Patriots to trade Jonathan Jones. And I say this with every bit of reverence to John, who I love both as a person and as a player on the field. That's for Jonathan Jones. You know, that's not Drake May. That's not Christian Gonzalez. That's not a cornerstone superstar that you're going to be building around for the next 10 seasons, hopefully. So when you're in New England and you hear that and you hear that they're hesitant to

Starting point is 00:37:10 trade him because of the leadership value and the locker room presence he provides, that to me is the exact example as to why you do not want to start trading away valuable locker room guys, valuable leaders on this team in order to bring back a unproven commodity a draft pick that you may use to package and move up or a draft pick that you may not be able to use this season or next season i'm in agreement with you murph i don't think this should move the needle i don't think the patriots will be buyers i don't think there's a team out there that's eager to help them at this point in the pieces that they need. And I also don't believe it accelerates the need for them to sell.

Starting point is 00:37:51 They'll sell a piece if they feel it's in their best interest. And you know what? Over the course of the next 24 to 48 hours, Murph, all of our questions will be answered. All of our problems will be solved. It's going to be interesting. And all of the moves that the Patriots make, good, bad, or indifferent, and even if they don't make a move, folks, they're still making a choice there. We're going to cover it right

Starting point is 00:38:10 here on the Lockdown Patriots podcast. So keep it right here. Subscribe, download, follow. You're not going to want to miss a single second of the action as we continue to break down the Patriots 20-17 loss to the Titans and all of the activity they'll be making during trade deadline day.

Starting point is 00:38:25 But in the meantime, I would be remiss if I did not thank my good friend, the kind of Murphy Fisto himself, who even though the cameras were not on, still was able to steal the show here on Locked On Patriots, as he always does whenever he joins me on the microphone. Thank you so much for joining me today, Murph. I really do appreciate that. An extra tip of the cap for all of your service to Lockdown Patriots, and thank you for knocking it out

Starting point is 00:38:50 of the park each and every time you join me. Before I let you go, please let everyone know where they can interact with you, where they can absorb all of your great work, and what you got marinating in Murph's kitchen this week. Well, you got, of course, you can follow me on Zitter at TeamMurph207. You can read

Starting point is 00:39:06 everything that I've got going on over there at diehardbostonsportsfans.com. And I appreciate each and every second of contribution that you provide to the show, my friend. But most importantly, we appreciate all of you, each and every one of you everydayers that make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. On behalf of my good friend, Thomas Murphy, the legend himself, and the kind of Murphy Fisto, I'm Mike DeBate, reminding all of you to stay safe, stay well, be the change you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone, and we'll see you back here again on Trade Deadline Day on Locked On Patriots.

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