Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins Crossover: David Andrews, Jaelan Phillips Injuries, Key Battles

Starting point is 00:00:00 Two AFC East rivals will be battling the injuries as much as each other in week five of the NFL season. Big stories, key matchups, and more. Locked On Patriots and Locked On Dolphins crossing the streams here on Crossover Thursday. You are Locked On NFL Crossover, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. Patriots fans and Dolphins fans, it is week five of the 2024 NFL season. And that means it's time for the New England Patriots to host the Miami Dolphins this Sunday, October 6th, 1 p.m. Eastern kickoff, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

Starting point is 00:00:47 And you also guessed it, folks. It is time for yours truly, Mike DeBate, host of Locked On Patriots, and my good friend and colleague, Kyle Krabs, host of Locked On Dolphins, to cross the streams here on Crossover Thursday. And remember, Crossover Thursday is presented by PrizePix. Download the app and use the code LOCKEDONNFL to win $50 instantly when you play $5. Kyle, always an honor, always my privilege to share the microphone with you on Crossover Thursday. Week five of the 2024 NFL season looks a little bit different than I think both of us had thought. Yeah, I am not having a

Starting point is 00:01:24 very good time. And I think a lot of people listening and taking interest in this show, regardless of which team you root for on which end of the Atlantic coast is probably feeling the same way through the first, uh, first four weeks of the season. Although the dynamics and expectations for these two teams were very different this off season. And it's, it's one of those things for Miami where it feels like Murphy's law is in full effect and anything and everything that can possibly go wrong is going wrong. The run game has fallen off because you can't get the edges in the run game. And your quarterback going down has completely neutered the passing game and the play calling is really a training wheel style offense right now

Starting point is 00:02:09 where they're trying to run their core principles, but they've shrunk the playbook. But the way in which they're doing so is really limiting their ability to space the field and make reads easier and make things easier for what was your third starting quarterback in as many weeks for the Dolphins with Tyler Huntley this past week, who'd only been with the team since signing after Tua Tungvaloa suffered the concussion in week two against Buffalo. So a lot to try to filter through as far as the blame game for the Dolphins. And then, oh, by the way, on top of that, you have other player

Starting point is 00:02:43 injuries. And Jalen Phillips, Mike McDaniel announced earlier this week, defensive star pass rusher is not going to be available for this game with a knee injury that he suffered in week four on Monday Night Football. He referenced a short week. They're still trying to figure out, at least as of the time of us recording this on Wednesday afternoon, what exactly is the issue with Jalen Phillips and his knee? So it's just blow after blow after blow after blow with this Dolphins team that all the things that you thought you were going to be able to hang your hat on as a football team have kind of gone up in smoke in the first month of the season. Yeah, so well said. And really, I think when we get to the Patriots woes this season, it's going to sound very similar.

Starting point is 00:03:24 Passing game difficulties, running game unable to sound very similar. Passing game difficulties, running game, unable to get on track, key injuries to defensive players and key injuries to team captains, guys that are not only emotional leaders and spiritual leaders in that locker room, but dynamic leaders on the football field really is a tale of two teams right now that are suffering very similar situations but obviously the one big difference is the health of Tua Tagovailoa which continues to be top of mind with most NFL fans when they think of the Miami Dolphins obviously the Dolphins sitting at one and three right now along with the New England Patriots Tyler Huntley you had mentioned him coming in and being the guy

Starting point is 00:04:01 that's going to get the start this weekend a lot of Patriots fans are looking at this and saying, okay, well, without their first stringer, without their second stringer, now we've got a recently signed practice squatter. But Tyler Huntley's been known to make things happen, and he hasn't played with the type of weapons that he's going to have available this weekend, or at least we hope, with Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddell to help his cause. Is there optimism in Miami right now that believes that Tyler Huntley can come in and get the most

Starting point is 00:04:30 out of these pass catchers? Well, it felt like there was at this point last week in the lead up when it was kind of expected and then announced over the weekend that he was indeed going to get the start. But the way that they called the game was a lot of perimeter screens, was a lot of swing routes as far as actually reading. You know it's bad when the broadcast team of Dan Orlovsky and Louis Riddick are sitting here begging the team to call in breaking routes into the middle of the field where the offense has made its identity for two years under Mike McDaniel. And every once in a while they throw one and it's their best completed passes

Starting point is 00:05:09 of the night. And then they completely go away from it because they're sending a guy out as a lead blocker for your swing route, for the, uh, the, the back out of the backfield to get two, two players to run one route, or you're doing your play action passing and max protecting and sending two guys out into the pattern past the line of scrimmage, but the defense is only rushing three guys. So you got drop eight versus two receivers as eligible as options on the play. So Mike McDaniel has continued to suggest that there's a disconnect between the preparation during the week and the execution on game day. And I've been pretty emphatic this week in just watching the game tape, understanding the players.

Starting point is 00:05:53 Mike McDaniel's dialing up plays as he would for Tua Tungvaloa, and there's plays to be made on the field. But you don't have Tua Tungvaloa, and it's time to stop pretending that you do. And I think that's the big concern with a lot of Dolphins fans right now, as you watch the offseason or the offense operate is, um, he, Mike McDaniel has been given so much credit for tailoring his offense to his quarterback and the uniqueness of Tua Tonga Valoa. And that's absolutely true. But the awareness of what the other players on your team are capable of case in point, they made the decision for the backup quarterback to be Skylar Thompson because he had three years of experience in the system. He gets a start. He, he plays so badly in one half and a

Starting point is 00:06:38 half, two and a half quarters, uh, in Seattle, he gets himself hurt taking a pounding because he's hot and he doesn't understand that he's hot and he has to throw the ball. So I think that's the big thing with whatever the passing offense is going to look like. Are you really going to water it down? Are you just going to say, here's kind of our staple plays that were in the book from what we did in the offseason that we want to run and want to be based off of what it was for Tua, Tyler, you got to figure out how to make them work. And if it's going to be the latter, I think you're going to see another punchless effort from the Dolphins offense. That's interesting. And I think from the Patriots camp right now, at least underground and what we're hearing is that they're expecting the Dolphins to try to test this team down the field

Starting point is 00:07:21 because of the fact that the Patriots have had some difficulties with the secondary and being able to defend against a big play. You look at what the San Francisco 49ers did against them last week, completions of 53, 45, 38, 32 yards, finding room down that middle of the field. If the Dolphins are going to have difficulty sustaining long drives with short throws, the Patriots are expecting some big plays down the field especially with tyree kill and jalen waddle so it's going to be interesting to see if mike mcdaniel's play calling and tyler huntley's strengths are melded together this week to try to make a perfect storm for the miami dolphins to make things happen um on the defensive

Starting point is 00:08:00 side of the ball kyle from a miami perspective, you mentioned Jalen Phillips earlier. This secondary is clearly talented on paper. When you have guys like Jalen Ramsey and Jordan Poyer in your defensive backfield, it's naturally going to instill a little bit of hesitation, maybe even fear in your opponents. But the Dolphins have been relatively inconsistent in being able to defend this season. What are the Dolphins' thoughts on being able to attack this Patriots offense, which has really been anemic in the passing game and showed a crack in the foundation when it came to their running game last Sunday against the Niners? Yeah, I really sympathize with the Dolphins' defense for I think how well they've played

Starting point is 00:08:40 isn't necessarily measured in their scoring defense thus far this season. They were prone the first couple of weeks to some explosive plays. Jacksonville got them from explosive runs on the ground with linebackers not being fit in the same gap. They had two linebackers that were learning how to play together with David Long and Jordan Brooks, who was a new addition in free agency. That kind of felt like it got tied together, and then David Long went down with a hamstring injury against Seattle and missed the game in week four.

Starting point is 00:09:09 So is he back? Is he not back? I think that's the big piece for the run defense because the rest of the Dolphins' front that they have, it's anchoring pretty well. There's times against double teams where the interior guys are capable of getting moved. They're rotating Calais Campbell in. He's been super impactful, but they are rotating him in at a pretty high level. They're sixth in the NFL in yards allowed defensively through four

Starting point is 00:09:34 games, despite twice giving up 31 points. The game against Tennessee, Tennessee had one drive that went longer than 29 yards on the night and they gave up 31 points just because the field position battle and a safety and an onside punt that landed outside the legal zone. So you start on the 10 yard line, like all kinds of stuff that was really just, they couldn't play complimentary game. So coming into this game, even without Jalen Phillips, I think Anthony Weaver, he's shown the ability to run simulated pressures and manufacture heat without bringing extra bodies. And doing so with Jordan Brooks, David Long, Javon Holland, those kinds of players. Jalen Ramsey started to get down into the box a little bit more frequently the last two weeks.

Starting point is 00:10:17 And that's maybe another player to kind of keep an eye on for when he's down there, if he's going to come. So I think they will be able to generate some pressure in this game. It's more so how long can they wall the opposing team if the game script is, hey, you're going to be playing with your backs against the wall for 60 minutes, and if you give up more than 14 points, we're going to lose. Absolutely, and I think a very good point when it comes to the Patriots' offense, if they're not going to be able to protect their quarterback, it's not going to be able to protect their quarterback

Starting point is 00:10:45 it's not going to matter the New England Patriots must indeed do their best to wall off a Miami defensive front at Miami secondary that might be looking at the New England offense and saying this is our opportunity to get things right we're going to talk about the New England Patriots woes from an injury perspective and so much more when Kyle Krabs puts me on the hot seat and grills the home team for a little bit here on this Locked On crossover episode, Locked On Patriots, Locked On Dolphins, week five of the 2024 NFL season.

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Starting point is 00:12:36 I get a little worked up every time we talk about them. So let's talk about your Patriots and a team that started the year with an impressive and gutty win against Cincinnati. And things have since kind of been a challenge. When you look at the last month of the season, I know a lot of Patriots fans that I have seen are kind of split on the Jacoby Brissett meat shield theory as compared to starting Drake May. Sounds like they continue to be in support of Jacoby Brissett meat shield theory as compared to starting Drake May. It sounds like they continue to be in support of Jacoby Brissett as the starter, as they continue to groom and get Drake May ready to go.

Starting point is 00:13:11 Is that kind of the biggest thing in Patriots land right now? Is it David Andrews with a shoulder injury? That sounds like it's going to require a season ending surgery. What what's kind of the big buzz right now in new England offensively? Yeah. I mean, I'm tempted to say that it is still the fact that the Patriots have questions at the quarterback position. And despite Jacoby Brissett doing his best to try to keep himself out of pressure-packed situations, he continuously finds himself in more and more each and every week.

Starting point is 00:13:41 Last week against the San Francisco 49ers, he was pressured on 53.8% of his dropbacks. That is way too much for any quarterback, let alone a veteran that's doing his best to try to teach the next generation in Drake May. And fans are clamoring for Drake. They want to see the kid get in there and see what he can do. They're watching Jaden Daniels and Caleb Williams right now have moderate success. But I would say the biggest question right now and the biggest storyline coming out of New England is the season ending injury to David Andrews. Gerard Mayo spoke with us on Wednesday morning, did confirm that David has, in fact, agreed to undergo the surgery.

Starting point is 00:14:16 He will be placed on season ending injured reserve. And that means he will likely, if not almost certainly, miss the remainder of the 2024 NFL season. And David is as tough as they come. I've covered David since the time that I came in to the Patriots beat in 2018. And this guy is truly one of the toughest and one of the best competitors on the club. And he's also their spiritual leader. He's their emotional leader in the locker room.

Starting point is 00:14:42 So the team is going to really miss him. Eight-time team captain, 136 regular season and playoff games. Of those 136, he started 131 of them throughout his 10-year career. So you're talking about a mainstay, a staple along this offensive line. And he had played every offensive snap last season and this season prior to leaving the game against San Francisco in the first quarter last Sunday. So where you now look at the Patriots and their offensive line, who steps up? Nick Leverett did an admirable job, or at least as much of an admirable job, in trying to fill

Starting point is 00:15:16 David's shoes last week. But is it long-term sustainable? Patriots don't have a true bona fide center on this 53-man roster right now. They've got guys who can play the position, but it's going to be difficult to fill the loss of David Andrews. Can't say enough about how much of a loss this is for the New England Patriots. Yeah, it feels like just being a fan of an opposing team, there were a few certainties more certain than David Andrews as the linchpin and the keystone of the New England Patriots offensive line. So I certainly hope that that's something that he can recover from

Starting point is 00:15:48 as smoothly as possible, especially as a player in the later chapters of his career. But, but for that matchup, how do you expect whatever that combination is inside? I would say from Miami's defense perspective, the best performing pair on the team has been Calais Campbell and Zach Seeler as the interior duo. So what do you expect that group to look like? I know there's been some questions with left tackle. Is there a chance that multiple players end up playing new positions as a result of this injury, or how do you expect they'll sort that out? Yeah, I think right now left tackle is a big concern for the Patriots. Caden Wallace, who has been taking snaps

Starting point is 00:16:28 at left tackle, the rookie out of Penn State, he also left San Francisco wearing a walking boot. So while it's unknown whether or not his injury is potentially going to keep him out long-term on an IR stint, right now the optimism about him suiting up for this game on Sunday is very low. And then you've

Starting point is 00:16:45 got Vidarian low no pun intended there folks who is limited in practice and still going through an injury of his own it's going to be interesting to see if he gets out there and is able to man the left tackle position as for left guard City Soham is the first few games of the season he's back in action he's getting his feet back under him and his legs back under him but it it is going to take a couple of weeks. So there may be a slight amount of vulnerability there on the interior on the left side. In the middle, again, I expect Nick Leverett to be the guy who's going to take the full-time snaps and he'll get the start at center. On the right side, the rookie Layden Robinson has looked good at times. There have been times where he has looked like a rookie. So if Miami is going to zero in on him and you mentioned Seeler and you mentioned Campbell, these guys have the ability

Starting point is 00:17:30 to kind of seek out where the Patriots might be vulnerable. That could be a spot along the interior right now. Their best and most consistent offensive lineman is Michael Wenu on the right tackle position. And he could be, you know know a target as well for the um the dolphins pass rushers so it's going to be interesting to see how the patriots put this line together but any way you slice it it's going to be very tough once again for jacoby brissett you mentioned those explosive plays defensively that new england had conceded last week against San Francisco. Is there more of a concern in your mind there in the secondary or in the front where it's just a laundry list of some of your best players in the front, whether it's Juwan Bentley or whether it's Christian Barmore,

Starting point is 00:18:19 these meaningful, impactful players that New England not having at their disposal, which is the bigger dynamic for this team in your mind, looking at the forecast for New England, not necessarily just for the Dolphins game, but in the immediate future as those guys are not available? Yeah, I think it's the lack of being able to generate a consistent pass rush. This is something the Patriots did well last year, and players they've needed to step up in the absence of the traded Matthew Judon, and in the case of christian barmore and juwan bentley being injured for the year or at least presumably injured for the year uh players like joshua

Starting point is 00:18:54 uche you definitely want to see him be more of a factor in the pass rush keon white has been one of the patriots bright spots uh the second year player out of Georgia Tech, Keon has been generating pressure, but with the absence of Christian Barmore and a reliable presence in that defensive front that's able to take on the double team, they're able to zero in a defender on Keon and keep him at bay and prevent him from being able to get home. He can still generate pressure, but in terms of getting home and after the quarterback, teams are right now able to do that because of the lack of a guy like Christian Barmore which is such an important loss for this team and then you take away Juwan Bentley who not only facilitates past defense but it's such a key cog in the run defense Patriots still defending the run admirably but

Starting point is 00:19:39 nowhere near that where they were last year and it's because of the absence of some of their best players so like you said Kyle I think it's because of the absence of some of their best players so like you said Kyle I think it's the defensive front right now that's bearing the brunt of that Christian Gonzalez still locking down his opponents overall there are some plays that are decreasing his coverage grade when it comes to a pro football focus standpoint but he's still playing well Jonathan Jones Marcus Jones these guys need some help over the top from the safety position. Kyle Duggar is another guy that left last week's game in a walking boot. Unclear right now whether he'll be able to give it a go on Sunday.

Starting point is 00:20:14 From what I'm hearing, it's not looking good. So that may mean Jalen Hawkins and Jabril Peppers need to provide help over the top if this secondary does not want to get beat. Because like we said in the previous segment i think the dolphins may try to test the secondary a little bit knowing that that defensive front is going to have difficulty getting home against tyler huntland hey nfl fans you can start the season with a big return on a fan duel america's number one sports book so when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats,

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Starting point is 00:21:01 or if you're a Dolphins fan and you think that's a generous opportunity for you to increase your fandom, you can do it with FanDuel. You'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. Don't delay, do it today. FanDuel.com. That's FanDuel.com. Patriots fans and Dolphins fans, as the late great Gorilla Monsoon may say, the time for the talk is just about over. Your New England Patriots and your Miami Dolphins will hook it up this Sunday, October 6th at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

Starting point is 00:21:39 Kyle, we've broken this one down from a Dolphins perspective, from a Patriots perspective, but if the Dolphins are to go in and pull the ever so slight upset right now, thanks to our friends over at FanDuel, what do they need to do to earn this victory? Well, let me first go on the record and say, I would not be in on any money line action for the Dolphins right now. The confidence is very low, but I think if Miami is going to win the game, I think you do need to find some elements of explosive plays. I don't think you can trust your team to work methodically down the field and take completions as they're available. And they have shown kind of an inconsistent ability to call runs. They've shown an inconsistent ability to call on runs that are

Starting point is 00:22:27 working. They want to work the outside and the edges, but the inside is largely what teams have been giving them. And they've had some success taking it, but they don't take it with consistency. So you have Jalen Hill or Jalen Waddle and Tyree Kill as two marquee wide receivers in the NFL. It has been next to impossible for you to get them the ball the last two weeks. I don't know how that's possible where I watch teams that have one good wide receiver and are not good offenses still find ways to get that guy the ball six to eight times a game. So that for me is the big thing. How do you change what you're trying to do in order to create explosives? That is one for me. Can you manufacture three to five explosive plays in this game? If the answer is yes, I think they have a good chance to actually win the game

Starting point is 00:23:18 because now you're not pinning the defense up in negative field position battles for 60 minutes. I think another thing for the Dolphins, and this one's offensively and it's all in the coaching staff, I think they really need to get rid of some of the shift and motion elements of the pre-snap mechanics. The list of pre-snap penalties for the Dolphins would melt your mind over the first four. It's more than a dozen pre-snap, procedural, illegal shift, illegal motion, illegal formation type of penalties. And that is with a quarterback who's been here now three weeks.

Starting point is 00:23:53 It's just extra margin for error. They had one where they got up on the line of scrimmage and they had four guys moving at the same time. And one of them was a guy who was already in motion for the snap. So I think you got to get rid of some of that stuff. I think with the way the offense is working, it's not really beneficial in the way that it would theoretically be in the first place. And I don't know if Mike McDaniel has the capacity to do it based on his tone

Starting point is 00:24:16 when he talks about his offense. And then I'll take the low hanging fruit on defense. And I'll say, you're going to have to get your offense into scoring position with a couple of turnovers and early turnovers in possessions, not wait until they get down into the red zone and then take a turnover because I don't think the dolphins would do anything with it if they got it anyway. So can you get turnovers that start the offense on the plus side of the 50 to give your at least special teams, some opportunities for some extra points.

Starting point is 00:24:44 That's for me, what the script looks like for winning games. And it's unfortunately one of those scripts where some of it you're not really in control of, but that's what it feels like watching this team trying to play football right now. Absolutely. And I think New England Patriots fans are listening to a lot of what you just said, and they're nodding their head because a lot of those keys are exactly what the Patriots will need to do to Miami in order to try to win this game. Obviously, the first thing from a Patriots perspective, if they're going to earn the victory on Sunday in week five, is to protect the football. Ramondre Stevenson is a very adept runner, and he's looked very good when running the football, but he hasn't looked good at all when it comes to protecting it. And that is a big problem. When you fumble the ball four times in as

Starting point is 00:25:29 many games and you're costing your team valuable field position and you're taking away their ability to be able to sustain drives and maybe even get into the red zone, that's a problem. Head coach Gerard Mayo was very matter of fact when we asked him about this on Wednesday, when he said that benching Ramondre right now, which I think would have been unthinkable four weeks ago, is on the table and giving the ball to Antonio Gibson and allowing him to be the lead runner because the Patriots simply cannot allow any more unnecessary turnovers. So if they do that and protect the football, they need to get back to the basics that they had when they were playing well on

Starting point is 00:26:05 offense and that is using this run to facilitate everything they do on offense including taking deep shots down the field off of play action i think the patriots need to get a little aggressive maybe test that a little bit test that secondary that dolphin secondary and take some shots down the field of course all of this is predicated on getting the protection Jacoby Brissett needs in order to make these throws and to hand the ball off. He hasn't had that because of a decimated offensive line, which is going to be at a disadvantage on Sunday without David Andrews and some of their key members. Another thing the Patriots have to do on the defensive side of the ball is they have to eliminate the home run pass. We talked about this a little earlier, Kyle. If the Patriots are going to try to mitigate that lack of pass rush up front because of the injuries

Starting point is 00:26:50 they've had, they have to use that secondary to be able to lock down some of Miami's speedy and very dangerous weapons. If they can do that and shut that off and yield a little bit of the middle part of the field, they have a chance to take away what Tyler Huntley does well. And last but certainly not least, as you said, if the Patriots are going to win this, they have to win the turnover battle. They have to force some turnovers, get Miami on its heels, force them into a couple of bad plays, and then they can go to work and do what they need to do and set up with short field position. Patriots are going to need to do all three of these to a T in order to earn the victory on Sunday. They can do it. Whether or not they will do it is still a matter of conjecture,

Starting point is 00:27:29 because this team right now has not necessarily been what you see, what you get. It's a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma in Foxborough, Kyle. Yeah, and it should be an entertaining game for sure. I don't know that it will be the cleanest game of the weekend. Might not be the most points you see this weekend, but a lot at stake for both of these teams as far as you're kind of creeping towards that record mark where you know what it means if you reach a record of one and four as compared to two and three.

Starting point is 00:27:58 And one and three is already a big enough hole for either one of these teams, regardless of what the preseason expectations were. So I'd expect the intensity of the game in that regard to be high. And hopefully that means an entertaining but healthy football game. And Patriots fans, make sure you keep it locked in with Mike on Locked on Patriots. Post game, build up on Friday. We have you covered on Locked on Dolphins. We'll have you covered on Friday and post game as well,

Starting point is 00:28:22 because it is your teams every day here on the lockdown network. We appreciate you guys for checking out this crossover Thursday episode here on the lockdown network, locked on Patriots, locked on dolphins. Enjoy the game on Sunday.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins Crossover: David Andrews, Jaelan Phillips Injuries, Key Battles

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