Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots, New York Jets Recap: Jacoby Brissett, Drake Maye, Time for a QB Change?
Episode Date: September 21, 2024The New England Patriots were dominated in each phase of their 24-3 Week 3 loss to the New York Jets on Thursday Night Football at MetLifeStadium. Pats quarterback Jacoby Brissettwaspressuresonover 50... percent of his drop backs, leading to a fourth-quarter appearance by rookie Drake Maye. Are Brissett’s struggles enough for the Patriots to consider a change at quarterback? Host Mike D’Abate welcomes Steve Balestrieri of PatsFans.com to discuss the QB situation and break down the offensive and defensive struggles in the Pats’ loss to the Jets. #nfl #newenglandpatriots Find and follow Locked On Patriots on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1c5ZxFm...Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-...And follow host Mike D’Abate on X, where he’ll be sharing the latest ne ws about the New England Patriots and talking with fans — @mdabateNFLSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Arena ClubRight now, you can get 10% off your first Slab Pack or card purchase by going to Arenaclub.com/lockedonnfl and use code lockedonnfl.RobinhoodThe new gold standard is here with Robinhood Gold. Sign up at robinhood.com/gold Terms apply, for product specific disclosures visit robinhood.com/gold. Investing involves risk. Rate may change. Gold membership is offered by Robinhood Gold, LLC.DoorDashUse promo code LOCKEDFALL24 for 50% off up to $10 value, when you spend $15+ on your first order. Limited time offer. Terms apply. Promo is not valid for orders containing alcohol.PrizePicksGo to https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL and use code lockedonmlb to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelNow through September 22nd, ALL FanDuel customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get a THREE WEEK free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)
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Discussion (0)
New England Patriots quarterback Drake May appears to be ready to be a starting quarterback
in the NFL.
The real question is, are the Patriots ready to start him?
Stick around, 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 for joining us here today on Locked On Patriots.
Breaking down the Patriots 24-3 loss to the New York Jets on Thursday night at MetLife
Stadium.
Just an abysmal performance from the New England Patriots in all three phases.
And of course, it's leading to question marks.
Can this offense be anything close to what New England Patriots fans hope it can be?
Is the defense missing Juwan Bentley a little bit too much to be effective?
And last but certainly not least, and the question we're going to tackle right off the
bat here on Locked On Patriots,
is Jacoby Brissett's performance on Thursday night enough to turn the keys over to rookie Drake May?
All of this and more on today's episode of the show.
And joining me here to break it all down for you, the ins and outs, the ups and downs,
is the resident voice of reason of Locked On Patriots, my good friend Steve Balistrieri of Patsfans.com,
and of course, the Patriots 4th and 2 podcast.
Welcome back to Locked On Patriots, Steve.
Thanks for joining me, buddy.
Thanks for having me.
Obviously, last night didn't turn out the way the Patriots had hoped, and, you know,
it was ugly, I guess you could say.
Without question.
It was definitely ugly, and we're going to get into
how ugly in just a moment folks but first we remind you that today's episode is brought to
you by prize picks go to prizepicks.com slash locked on NFL and use the code all lowercase
locked on NFL to win $50 instantly when you play $5 and And Steve, Jacoby Brissett entered this game knowing that the
Patriots needed to kickstart their passing game. They needed to utilize that passing game off of
play action, take deep shots down the field, try to be able to get something going on offense.
Unfortunately, Jacoby just was not able to do it, and it wasn't all his fault, folks.
Finished 12 of 18 for 98 yards was sacked five times and he
was hit 15 times as the jets turned to a blitz heavy approach very effective way to be able to
shut him down they also were able to hold the running game to under 80 yards combined steve
when you put out this type of offensive performance it it's going to lead to questions. And it also led to rookie Drake May getting his first regular season action in the fourth quarter.
A lot of Patriots fans are wondering whether Jacoby's struggles were enough to yield the
keys of the kingdom now to Drake May and have him go in and start as early as week four and a match
up in Santa Clara, California when the Patriots visit the San Francisco 49ers.
Steve, this is not a question that can be answered easily or with just a couple of words.
It needs a level head. It needs a voice of reason.
Well, we all know who the resident voice of reason here is on Locked On Patriots. I'm going to give my good friend a chance to weigh in on this in a moment,
but the ultimate voice of reason when it comes to the Patriots, Gerard Mayo,
weighed in on the subject when we spoke to him earlier today.
He said, quote, Jacoby is our quarterback until I say he is not the quarterback.
I thought he showed a lot of toughness.
I thought he showed a lot of grit.
Steve, I think we can all agree with Gerard.
Jacoby showed a ton of toughness last night.
He showed a lot of grit.
But is he correct in his assessment with saying that
jacoby brissett still should remain the quarterback over drake may at this point
i i you know i i think so um as as tough as it is after watching last night i putting drake in
really doesn't make any sense at this point.
I mean, I know he,
he would put him in for mop up duty last night at garbage time.
And that's fine because you, you know,
you want them to get a little experience there.
That to me isn't a bad thing,
but putting Drake in,
is it going to make the offensive line block any better than they failed to do last night?
And, you know, it's not going to help the wide receivers get any more separation than they've been getting.
And, you know, it's just I just don't think it's good, smart football to develop your quarterback
when you're putting him in a situation where there's so many
things stacked against them right now you know as much as i want to see him get on the field
they need to start blocking better before i would even consider it i mean um you know uh i agree with
gerard mayo jacoby brissett is as tough as they come. 15 hits, five sacks.
I mean, you know, and they were having jailbreak pass rushers coming in,
you know, unblocked way too many times.
And I know Drake is, you know, he's much more mobile,
but you really don't want your rookie quarterback stepping into that type of situation.
So for me, I don't want to see him in there right now just for his own development.
I would love to see him in there.
The fan in me wants to see him play.
But if I was a football guy and I was Gerard Mayo, I would say no at this time.
Yeah, I completely agree with you. In no way will I
berate the fan base for wanting to see Drake May play football. He's exciting. He has the ability
to utilize his skill set, to utilize that off-script type of mentality and off-script type of
ability that he has to make things happen. Yeah, he will be able to do that. And there will be
instances where Drake May looks like an
otherworldly quarterback. We saw him do it in the preseason. We saw him do it last year at UNC.
There have been moments in training camp where he has looked like the number three pick and ready
to lead this team on the field, but Steve, you hit the nail right on the head. You're throwing him
into a situation that does not in any way help his development.
The Jets defense went after the Patriots offensive line,
blitzing Jacoby Brissett on 40% of his dropbacks.
That's the highest number that a Robert Sala defense has blitzed an opposing quarterback since 2021.
This according to NextGenStats and, of course, a tip of the cap to our good friend,
Mike Reese at ESPN for kind of doing the legwork for us on those statistics.
But that was eye-opening to me in terms of what Jacoby went through against this Jets defense.
And you know teams that do have the ability to blitz, get after the quarterback, like the San Francisco 49ers,
they're going to be watching that.
They're going to be salivating at the opportunity to be able to get after a quarterback.
And if you're going to put Drake May back there the opportunity to be able to get after a quarterback. And if
you're going to put Drake May back there and allow him to take those types of hits, you're asking for
trouble. And I hate to say that, folks. Like Steve, I would love to see Drake May be able to get the
reps. I understand that there are arguments to be made for letting a rookie quarterback learn to
play through pressure. He's going to have to do it at some point. You can't keep him in shrink wrap forever. But this New England Patriots
situation along the offensive line is dire right now. The front office needs to take accountability
for the lack of attention they showed to building this offensive line in the offseason. And because
of that, I think they are stunting the growth right now of their quarterback.
And unfortunately, I just don't think it's a feasible circumstance where Drake can come in,
right the ship steadily enough and consistently enough for this to be a good thing for him or
for the Patriots as a whole. I think this is going to be a really lose-lose situation for all sides here. Yeah, and I think they need to go back to run heavy.
You know, I know the Jets stacked the box like their first two opponents did,
but they were successful at running.
Now, you know, early in the game, and I understand that, you know,
Gerard was saying last, you know, well, just on Sunday that, you know, they need to start pushing the ball down the field more.
But, you know, in the first nine snaps, they threw the ball seven times.
And, you know, Ramondre Stevenson only carried it twice.
And you saw what was happening there.
The Jets were just overwhelming them
and you know i yeah they need to get the downfield passing uh done more um but i i think they may
have gone a little too far last night you need to stick with what you can do rather than what you
can't and right now they can't pass protect, and Drake May is not going to help that.
You know, I think they need to run the ball more.
You know, if they're going to bring in Drake May,
the earliest I would consider it would be after San Francisco
when they play Miami.
That's if Jacoby makes it through San Francisco
because we know they can get after the passer.
And as you mentioned, and it's a great point,
they watched that tape.
And, you know, that's the blueprint.
Just blitz the heck out of the Patriots
and take your chances where they may
because they haven't proved they can beat that yet.
And until they do, teams are going to continue to do that against them.
That's why I think bringing Drake May in right now is not the answer,
but sticking with the running game and then just try to get some play action going.
They had one nice play action pass for 22 yards there.
They just need a lot, lot, lot more of that.
And the pass protection is the key here.
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
The pass protection is the key.
And if the Patriots don't shore that up,
no matter who's back there is playing with a target on his chest and on his back
and right now unfortunately those duties fall on Jacoby Brissett and Drake May is a rookie and you
have to treat him as such and at that point because he is such a valuable member of this team of this
team's future you cannot jeopardize the future for a moment of gratification in watching Drake May play football and maybe get
this offense going a little bit alive. There are so many problems on this team right now,
and last night's game brought them out, folks. It's not just an offensive line problem. There
are issues right now when it comes to the running game. If this running team does not play a perfect
game, you saw what happens to this offense. The defensive
side of the ball obviously struggling without Juwan Bentley. Folks, these are all issues that
we are going to cover here today on Locked on Patriots, and we will continue to break them down
staying on the offensive side of the ball in addition to Jacoby Brissett's woes. What were
the biggest problems for the Patriots on offense that only allowed them to muster a measly 139 total yards?
Steve and I are going to give our take on that subject and more when this episode of the Lockdown Patriots podcast continues.
A proud part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.
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Pats fans, thank you for joining us here today on Locked On Patriots.
Joining me to help break down the Patriots' abysmal 24-3 loss to the New York Jets
on Thursday night football in the Meadowlands is my good friend,
my Patriots pison, columnist extraordinaire of PatsFans.com,
and of course the co-host of another great Patriots podcast that you'll want to put in your rotation if you haven't already,
Patriots 4th and 2 alongside the great Derek Avins. He's my buddy, Steve Balistrieri. And
Steve, in the previous segment, we talked a lot about the quarterback woes that the New England
Patriots are facing right now. And through three games jacoby brissett
is 42 of 69 for 368 yards with one touchdown no interceptions but he is constantly under pressure
and because of that it's led a lot of people to believe that drake may may be a better option
under center taking snaps in the quarterback position, maybe injecting a little
bit of life into this Patriots offense. But you know as well as I that it's not just about the
quarterback problems the Patriots are having. This offensive line is in shambles and it needs to be
fixed. There are immediate improvements that need to be made, whether that means additional personnel
or simply better game planning, better execution.
Yeah, the Patriots right now are victim to all of that.
But the running game also struggled on Thursday night against the Jets.
The passing game continues to be nearly non-existent.
When you take all of this under account, Steve, what do you think are the Patriots' biggest problems when it comes to the offense and why they have looked so MIA. Yeah. And, and, you know, we've mentioned it, you know, on here several times, I think everything starts with the offensive line.
If, if your offensive line is not holding their blocks,
they can't pass protect. If they're not getting any push forward,
your running backs are getting hit at or behind the line of scrimmage. And,
you know, then, you know, the result is, one, your quarterback doesn't have time,
you know, to go through his progressions and find somebody open. And number two,
you know, your running backs aren't able to get to that second level consistently and you know
uh that's why in the previous segment i mentioned i think they need need to go back to you know
running centric first because they have been successful at that and you know early in games
against cincinnati and uh seattle uh they weren't getting a ton of yardage running the football.
But that wears on teams.
And you saw second, third, fourth quarters,
they started getting those chunk running plays.
One of the things they did do last night, and I would like to see more of,
they got Pop Douglas in a running play where you know the
defense was selling out going toward uh one side they handed off the popco and the other i think
he had about a nine or a ten yard game and uh that's the kind of thing they need to break it up
you know uh sometimes you know the answer is to run more unfortunately because their passing game
is not where it needs to be and we knew it was going to take time we didn't know the offensive
lines pass protection was going to be as leaky as it's shown and um you know I think for Mondray Stevenson and Antonio Gibson, they're fine.
I have no issue with them whatsoever.
In fact, the Patriots, they only ran for 78 yards, partly out of design,
but they still averaged 5.1 yards a carry last night.
So the running game is still there I think they just need to you
know key on that until they figure out some of these pass protection problems and I know you
know with some young guys in there uh the Jets were blitzing from all over the place and you
know you got those free rushers and that comes from communication i think
that part should get better um and i i actually like the two rookies i know caden wallace
his first nfl game he had a rough night but you know he played right tackle in college
he was playing his first n NFL game at left tackle.
It's as we know,
it's a little bit different,
but you know,
I thought he did.
Okay.
As bad as it looked.
I mean,
for your first NFL game facing those type of odds,
I,
you know,
I don't hold him at fault for that.
Very good point. When it comes to Caden Wallace.
I think a lot of us have to remember that, myself included,
because you look at the production on the field
and you look at the low grades that come out from PFF after this game
and how these offensive linemen were graded and how they were evaluated.
Yeah, it's a lot to put on the shoulders of two rookies.
And let's face it, the two rookie linemen that the Patriots have have a tremendous amount
of promise, but not a whole lot of experience in Leighton Robinson when it comes to the
guard position and Caden Wallace when it comes to tackle.
So these guys are going to have to build into their ability.
They're essentially going to have to find their niche as an NFL lineman, whether it
be on the edge or whether it be in the middle.
So at this point point i agree with you
i think there are levels of patience and maybe even um levels of temperance that need to be
applied to their performance on thursday night but the one thing that kept coming out to me when it
came to the running game this wasn't the best game for remondre stevenson i do believe that he is
still their top offensive player and continues to be.
I am in no way putting this loss on his shoulders whatsoever.
I think these guys are still running well, including Antonio Gibson. But when you turn in six carries and 23 yards, that's a departure from what the Patriots did in the first couple of weeks.
And it's magnified when you have all of the problems you have along the offensive line.
And the pass protection is not allowing you to gain that type of traction through the passing
game it almost begs the question of whether or not this team can win unless that running game
is at least as close to flawless as you could possibly get which it was in the first two weeks
so puts a lot of pressure back on remandre stevenson you've seen him have some difficulties with hanging on to the ball he mentioned that after the game he needs to do a
much better job of protecting I believe he will it's something that he does have the ability to do
and I think he'll spend a lot of time working on that this week with a couple of extra days practice
heading into week four against the San Francisco 49ers, but it does put a lot of pressure
on these runners to be as effective as they can. You also come back to pressure, like you said
before, and in the previous segment, we talked about how Jacoby was blitzed on 40% of his dropbacks.
Well, that number is compounded when you take a look at how often he was pressured.
He was pressured on 56.5 percent of his total
drop backs when you include the blitz his drop backs against the blitz 80 of the time jacoby
brissett was feeling some sort of pressure i don't care what quarterback you are you are not going to
succeed if those numbers continue to be the norm that is really difficult to put on anyone's shoulders. Yeah. And at times there
was more than one jet. Sometimes there was multiple jets providing pressure. But one of
the interesting things, and I'm glad you brought up Ramondre. It was something I forgot to mention.
You know, he's already had a boatload of work in the first two weeks.
And I thought with a short week, I expected to see Kevin Harris activated for this game
to take a little of the, you know, workload off of him,
especially, you know, just a couple of days removed, you know,
from a game where he had 21 carries.
And they didn't choose to do that for whatever reason.
But he did sit for a portion of the game last night,
and then they were going with Antonio Gibson.
I think that's something they need to work in to his schedule. I know now they have 10 days off before, you know, they face the 49ers.
But, you know, having Kevin Harris activated here and there
to take some of the workload off of Ramondre,
I mean, you're going to need him all season long.
You can't burn him out in the first half of the year.
So that's something else I think they can look at doing.
But like I said, I think Ramondre and, you know, Gibson are fine.
I don't – if there's any part of the offense that I'm not worried about,
it's those two guys.
I think the tight ends are fine.
I'm sure Claire's ears perked up with that.
But, you know, I thought Hooper was open last night.
You know, they were taking a shot down the field and he was there
and Jacoby couldn't get him the ball, you know.
And again, I'm not going to throw stones at Jacoby
with the pressure he's been under.
But, you know, there was a play there, you know.
They just need to start executing a lot better yeah without question i'm glad you mentioned hooper yeah there were a few times where austin
was open and for a lot of reasons jacoby you know was not able to get him the ball you know and this
is a kid that has sure hands you know i mean he's got city hands mr hoop up and copy money his whole
life uh but no all kidding aside steve, Austin, I think, has been good.
Hunter obviously could have gone for a lot more, but the Patriots had difficulty getting the ball out.
And again, it comes back to pressure.
And I'm glad you mentioned Kevin Harris.
I think this is an underrated take that you're having here that I do see smattered somewhere within Patriots Nation, but not a whole lot of. You cannot expect Ramondre Stevenson to continue the pace he's continued on and not
have some sort of either physical breakdown or have difficulty. And it does lead to mistakes
because you are pressing and you have such a heavy workload on your shoulders that you're
not able to perform up to capacity. So I do look for Kevin Harris to get some looks. It's time for the Patriots to take a look at that and give him an elevation.
Michael Hastie did not get a whole lot of carries last night as well.
He subbed into the backfield on the two-minute drill on occasion, but this is a kid that
can handle the load as well.
So Patriots are going to need to balance that running game if they want to be able to sustain
a serviceable offense here in the next couple of
weeks and of course we always end on a high note when it comes to these things we were glad to see
pop doug will get a few targets last night and be able to showcase what he can do as you eloquently
said my friend we just need to see a lot more of it bottom line folks it was not pretty on offense
for the new england patriots in any way, shape, or form, but you can
always fall back on the defense keeping you in games, right? Well, not last night. The New England
Patriots also broke down defensively, allowing 400 yards of total offense to the New York Jets.
Boy, were they missing Juwan Bentley in the middle of that defense. Steve and I are going to break
down why the defense had difficulty against Aaron Rodgers and that high-powered New York
offense. We wrap up this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast
in just a moment. A proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network.
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Patriots fans, thank you once again for joining us here today on Locked on Patriots
as we continue to break down all the ups and downs.
And there were more downs than ups.
Let's face it.
All the ins and outs of the Patriots 24-3 loss to the New York Jets on Thursday.
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And, Steve, we continue to break down our team here in New
England. The New England Patriots did not look good. There's no other way to put it. They just
did not look good on Thursday night in any aspect. Usually the defense is what sustains this team,
but they struggled to contain this New York Jets offense. A lot of credit to Aaron Rodgers who looked a lot
more mobile. He was able to handle those double-A gap blitzes that we talked about last week,
and he was able to find the holes in the Patriots defense. But, Steve, in my humble opinion, I think
so much of the Patriots' defensive struggles on Thursday night stemmed from not having Juwan
Bentley in the middle part of that defense.
You saw the tackling improve as the game went on. The secondary had their injury woes and some of
their struggles, but they looked to get it together at times. But you really missed the guy with the
green dot calling all the shots. In your opinion, how big of a loss was Juwan Bentley's absence
for the New England Patriots on Thursday. I think it was an enormous loss.
You know, we saw they targeted the middle a lot.
Now, I'm not casting stones at Raekwon McMillan,
who I personally like.
I like him as a player.
I think he's a really good player uh it just it was a compilation of
of a bunch of different things the tackling was bad they had 14 missed tackles which for a patriots
defense is unheard of you know uh you did mention they got a little better in the second half
but there were so many times they had um you know, Rogers or running back, you know, stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage.
And then they weren't able to wrap up.
And, you know, then you're seeing a potential loss turn into a big game. And one of the things I mentioned in my keys prior to the game was that you have to take away the layups for Rodgers,
those quick slants and those easy short crossers.
And he ate them alive with that last night.
Those were all wide open.
And I think Bentley being there would have been a little bit better than they were.
But one of the things that I thought, the defense came out looking very lethargic, I thought, last night.
You know, we saw them flying around the field on week one.
And they didn't have that energy last night.
And another big key, you mentioned Rodgers, who was fantastic.
But the pass rush lane integrity
was terrible last night i mean he escaped five times because they you know they allowed him to
break contain he was five for five for 62 yards and a touchdown on those five plus you know he he ran uh i think it was
six times for 18 more yards i mean that was easily fixable if you maintain your rush lane integrity
and they weren't doing that last night they kept getting pinched in when they were rushing and
that was a killer for them just an absolute killer
without question and i'm glad that you mentioned uh rayquan mcmillan uh because he was making his
first start in over two years uh so you take a look at him kind of getting thrust and the feet
kind of being pushed to the fire very quickly rayquan definitely did that now he had a team
high 10 tackles i think we should point that out and like you said i'm a fan of rayquan i know you
are as well i love his style and i think he's a solid defender but you missed juwan bentley's
starting the game so fast so eager so quickly and really getting out to big starts the new
england patriots never got the opportunity to control the tempo of the
game last night. They were out of sorts really right from the beginning. You mentioned McMillan.
McMillan whiffs on a tackle and it goes for an 11-yard gain that moves the chains. It set them
back on their heels so early. If Bentley's in the game, that probably doesn't happen and maybe
the Patriots can set and get their opportunities to be able to settle into their defensive schemes and put the Jets on their heels a little bit.
That's something that we talked about last week.
Try to confuse Rodgers.
Try to put him under pressure.
Try to put him on defense and then be able to work your magic.
Patriots simply just never had that opportunity.
And maybe it was a little bit of malaise or maybe a little fatigue from playing on a Thursday night and
coming off a short rest. Maybe it was a situation where they were simply just missing their captain
in the middle of the field, but there was definitely something different about the way
this defense looked on Thursday night, and it manifested itself in the game and the stat sheet,
and the Patriots struggled as a result. Another area where they struggled, Steve, stopping the
run. This team had been very good through the first two games
in holding their opponents to 4.4 yards per carry
and then 2.4 yards per carry.
Brees Hall, 16 carries, 54 yards, a touchdown.
He also had 29 receiving yards out of the backfield.
Braylon Allen, 68 scrimmage yards.
So the running backs were able
to get into a little bit of a rhythm and that allowed Rodgers to be able to find his targets.
Pat struggled in the running game as well. And I hate to keep coming back to it,
but I think you have to lay the blame on that about not having Juwan Bentley in there. He's
such a key to this team's run defense. Yeah, I totally agree with that.
I mean, you know, Bentley is such a downhill run thumper.
I don't know.
I was just watching all the missed tackles, and I was amazed last night
because I was thinking to myself, this is very unpatriot-like defense.
I mean, one of the things they've traditionally been is a short tackling team.
And, you know, they came out week one.
I thought the tackling was way ahead of the power curve, you know,
coming into the season.
And week two is more of the same.
And, you know, to see them miss so many tackles last night,
I was wondering what's going on.
But they just seemed to be a step slower and a step behind last night.
And it was across the board.
I mean, like we both mentioned, I'm not going to put it all on Raekwon
because he didn't miss 14 tackles.
Right.
You know?
Yeah.
I mean, they were missing them all over the place.
One was a touchdown, you know, in the secondary. But there was just so many of them. And I do think they missed their captain out there. You know, he had Allen dead to rights behind the line of scrimmage. And when I
saw him, you know, it was a solid hit and I was thinking, okay, Allen's going to go down now.
And instead he, he gained about five or six yards and, you know, he turned a three yard loss into a
five yard game. So. Yeah, absolutely. And again, you mentioned ushe and i think that's something that
you know seeing him finish plays is something that we need to see a lot more of he definitely
gets there and he's got the ability and the savvy to get there but finish the play make sure that
the play is complete before you're able to move on and we didn't see enough of that and again
in number 99 not being able to get home the way he had in the first couple of games especially on a night where the edge was lost more than it was one up front
you really needed to see keon white come through and unfortunately you know he wasn't able to do
so and again i'm not going to lay that blame on him he faced a very good jets offensive line that
had a good solid protection scheme for aaron Rodgers and Rodgers kept getting the ball out quickly it makes it very difficult for a pass rusher to get after
the quarterback when the quarterback is shedding the ball but at the same time your defense as a
whole as a unit needs to do a solid job about getting you the time and I'm looking at that
front line right now and they need to be better than they were on Thursday against the San
Francisco 49ers next Sunday. Devon Godshaw, Daniel Lacroix, Anthony Jennings, all of these guys need
to contribute and I think you will get a better performance from the defense in Santa Clara on
Sunday. Whether or not that offense can right the ship in 10 days is the big question right now in
Patriots Nation and folks we're going to continue to break that down from every angle right here on Locked
On Patriots.
In the meantime, I want to give a major tip of the cap and a thanks to my good friend
Steve Balistrieri for joining me here today to help break down the Patriots 24-3 loss
to the New York Jets in East Rutherford at MetLife Stadium.
Steve, before I let you go, please let everyone know where they can interact with you,
where they can reach out to you, and of course,
what you got marinating
in La Cucina Balistrieri.
From now until the next time, we welcome you here on
Lockdown Patriots, buddy.
Well, the chicken cacciatore didn't work
last night, so
we're back to square one on that.
No, you know,
you can follow me on Twitter at SteveB7F. I write for PatsFans.com, which you mentioned, and I appreciate the plug there.
Usually the day after a game, like right now, I'd be posting up my report card for the week, but I'm going to hold that off.
I'm going to be working on that tonight, but I'll be posting that with my Sunday column since they're not playing on Sunday.
So we'll be doing that and looking at a way where they can shock the world and upset San Francisco on the road.
Absolutely, folks.
And you know what?
If the Patriots have it in them, my good friend is going to be able to find a reason for it
because after all, he is our resident voice of reason.
And that's why we continue to welcome him here on Locked On Patriots.
And we're always honored to do so.
Steve, thanks for stopping by.
We look forward to talking ball with you again next week.
And of course, folks, we thank each and every one of you
for making Locked On Patriots a daily part
of your New England Patriots coverage.
Until next time, folks,
on behalf of my good friend Steve Balistrieri,
I'm Mike DeBate reminding all of you to stay safe,
to stay well, to be the change you wish to see in the world,
and to stay locked in to Locked On Patriots.
We'll see you back here again next time on the Locked On Patriots podcast.