Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots Offense: Hunter Henry, David Andrews and More vs, Buffalo Bills in Week 13

Episode Date: December 1, 2022

As the New England Patriots continue to prepare for their Week 13 matchup with the Buffalo Bills, their offense may be invigorated by a pair of key components. Joining host Mike D’Abate is Clare ‘ClazzyClare’ Cooper of Pats Propaganda and FPC Patriots. The dynamic duo discuss Hunter Henry’s role in the offense, David Andrews return and Clare offers her “Clare-Voyance” in predicting the Pats-Bills outcome on Thursday.Find and follow Locked On Patriots on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-patriots-daily-podcast-on-the-new-england/id1140512627 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1c5ZxFmwg3WbfxAU3tR5Ve?si=k196wH-yRqifUcQQz8SjIQStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-patriots And follow host Mike D’Abate on Twitter, where he’ll be sharing the latest news about the New England Patriots and talking with fans.On Twitter: @mdabateNFLSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFLBuilt BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!PrizePicksFirst time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with promo code LOCKEDON. That’s PrizePicks.com – promo code; LOCKEDONSimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnNFL to learn more.TuroForget boring rental cars and find your drive at Turo.com AudibleHead over to Locked On NFL for a sneak peak of Block Forever or catch the full series available anywhere you get your podcast. Available everywhere now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Will it be the return of Hunter Henry to the Patriots playbook or the return of David Andrews to the field that has a bigger impact on their chances of winning this coming Thursday when the Patriots host the Buffalo Bills? 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 once again for making Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage

and also your first listen every day. Remember, Locked On Patriots is free and available on all platforms, including YouTube, so smash that subscribe button, download, subscribe to, and follow Locked On Patriots wherever you and available on all platforms, including YouTube. So smash that subscribe button, download, subscribe to, and follow Locked on Patriots wherever you get your podcasts. I'm your host, Mike DeBate. I cover your New England Patriots for Patriots Country. I'm a Sports Illustrated fan nation.

Definitely reach out to me. Let me know what's on your mind on Twitter at MDABATENFL. And while you're out there showing some love to the Twitterverse, please be sure to follow the Locked On Patriots account as well at LO underscore Patriots. And Pats fans, as your New England Patriots prepare to host the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night football, 8-15 kickoff from Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. We are joined today by the midweek wisdom and counsel that we all know and love. She is a columnist extraordinaire from PatsPropaganda.com

as well as being the host of her very own Patriots podcast, A Clear Perspective, found on full press coverage. Patriots, one of the best listens anywhere in Patriots media, really anywhere in football media, folks. It's one of my favorites. I highly recommend checking it out. But we are honored and privileged to have her with us each and every Wednesday here on Locked On. The Countess of Clash joins me today.

The lovely Miss Claire Classey, Claire Cooper. Thank you so much for joining me from across the pond, Claire. No, you're more than welcome. And as people can tell, the light is fading over here it's getting late in the day so i apologize for my terrible lighting but yeah it's unfortunate but it's it is what it is apologies completely unnecessary you look marvelous i'm dating myself i don't know who caught that that was a bad impression but if anybody did i'd be interested drop a note in the comments section.

I would love to hear if anybody actually caught that one. But all kidding aside, Claire, we do appreciate you taking time out. Claire is on a five-hour delay, five hours ahead of us over in England, and she always makes the time for us, and we always appreciate it because your analysis is spot on, always entertaining, and it's what we need here on the midweek point of Locked On Patriots. But Claire, it doesn't exactly feel like a midway point this week. The New England Patriots are only one day away from hosting the Buffalo Bills on Thursday

night, and I hate to use the term must win when mathematically we haven't gotten to that point yet, but this is about as close as you can get to it. England Patriots at six and five they would fall to 500 further out of the playoff race further out further out of the divisional race if that does happen so the Patriot backs are up against the wall right now and as much as the defense is going to get a lot of the hype this week about trying to stop Josh Allen and that high flying Buffalo bills defense. There is something to be said about the Patriots offensive production. And even though the defense sputtered a little bit against the Minnesota Vikings,

the offense, I think put together one of their best games of the season. Mac Jones looked more decisive. He looked better in the pocket. He looked like he is starting to return to the form that we all knew and loved from his rookie season last year. Andre Stevenson continues to be solid. Patriots wideouts, you know, making catches. Jac hype and squealing coming from West Midlands in the UK. When you saw Hunter Henry finally make his triumphant return, not just to the end zone, but also to the Patriots playbook. One of the keys, I think, in the Patriots' resurgence offensively. Claire, you see things us mere mortals do not see when it comes to tight endage when you look at hunter and you look at the job that he did on thursday last thursday thanksgiving night against the

vikings did it give you a lot of palpable hope that this may be the return to prominence for hunter that we've been waiting to see all year long well i'll be honest with you mike because of the way the the offenses have been because of the way that the offensive line has performed and how Hunter and Jonu have had to kind of mix in to be blockers more so so they haven't been sort of those playmakers that we'd like to see in in them I've tried to really restrain myself to not sort of put the expectation on and get too excited because then I just get disappointed and it's terrible. And I mean,

I'm still reading, I don't know about the rest of Patriots nation. And I know it's a moot point now because we're onto the next game and I fully appreciate that. But the whole Hunter touchdown that was reversed is just sits so heavy with me because he would have had two touchdowns and yeah, there's all the ifs and buts and candy and nuts. have won the game this and the other but it's just the whole putting it there for the score sheet you know those sorts of things that it really just disappointed me that something

that was so obvious got that got reversed but however as i said we're moving on it's now on to the bills and that's what we're talking about and And so in that regard, I try not to get myself too excited because, yeah, I don't want to be disappointed when they don't utilise the tight ends. And yes, I will confess, as I have done on social media many times, when Hunter Henry did get the initial touchdown in the game against the Vikings, there was squealing. There is always squealing. Whenever there is a tight endage, significant play, shall we say. To be honest, if Hunter gets a catch, there is always squealing, whenever there is a tight end, significant play, shall we say, to be honest, if Hunter

gets a catch, there's usually squealing, because it's been so little this season, because they haven't had the production, they haven't utilised the tight ends as much for him to get a catch, has been a momentous occasion for me, simply because it's so rare at the moment

but yeah, in all seriousness it we see it as or i see as they need to utilize these times i know a load of people are talking about the price tags that kind of thing and all that out of the window it's what works we saw it last season we saw the mac hunter henry connection we, not to sort of go there and talk about the topic that we don't want to talk about again, but there was a zappy Hunter connection. It's obvious that Hunter-Henry works well in this offence. And we know that Janu Smith has got the skill set

and we've seen sparks from him to know that he can work in this offence. It just needs to be sort of the right way. And that was something that I wanted to mention because yes we still want to have the expectation of them utilizing Hunter in the same way and hopefully increasing his touchdown percentage that kind of thing but I think something that's significant in regards to the utilization of Jono Smith maybe now so is the injury to Damian Harris now people will say oh well he's a tight end and he's running back yeah but just kind of bear with me because Jono people will say, oh, well, he's a tight end and he's running back. Yeah, but just kind of bear with me.

Because Johnny Smith is such a versatile player and because he's got the skill set that he's got, he can do those different things that aren't just the sort of blocking and end zone tight end kind of thing that we see from Hunter Henry. And so the fact that Romando Stevenson is so successful is a concern that they put too much of the offense on his back and utilize him yeah overextend him shall we say so I think it's something to look to that maybe yes while I'm hoping that they use Hunter the way that we know that they can and and you get those ends and you get those red zone touchdowns sorry talking too quickly for my own good there um yeah it's the

flip side is the the look at how they can utilize smith now they've got this little bit of a deficit that they haven't got damian harris in the fold and they've got running backs that maybe haven't been quite as successful i mean pierre strong is probably in the doghouse now so there's a good chance that we won't see him for a little while because you know he gets a bill bella time out for for that whole um roughing the punter sort of thing so absolutely expecting him to be seen um isn't going to be possible you know may not be a possibility in this bills game who i mean yeah i haven't looked in the crystal ball so i don't know when it comes to running backs but we have this sense of Patriots fans probably just from experience that Strong's probably sitting out because he's you know being put in the naughty corner as we

see so I think maybe to look at when we look at tight endage for the up-and-coming game against the Bills I think what I may be more interested to look out for is how they utilize Smith and if they do sort of develop him more you know handing the ball off more short passes more see if he can sort of make that the running game more progressive because although Ramondre Stevenson is so impactful and he's so strong in his prowess he's amazing you're going to burn the guy out if he's the only thing you've got in your offensive tool belt and and they can't have that so they need to be able to expand on not just utilizing him and I think that maybe the key to that in this game maybe particularly is more Johnnie Smith than Hunter Henry yeah absolutely I think you make some great

points I'm glad that you made the point about the fullback or maybe even like the jet suite rotation coming out for Johnnie Smith this week before we back in a hunter because I know that was the thrust of my conversation and my question to you but obviously John was someone that needs to get a little more incorporated into the offense as well no catches 16 offensive snaps on Thursday night against the Vikings that is something that we know we'd love to see increased I mean no John would love to see it increased no matter what. So this is going to be an issue for the New England Patriots to incorporate him a little bit back. And with the lack of a true fullback with Jakob Johnson now in Las Vegas, exactly, we knew that this was coming, that the Patriots were not going to utilize that type of fullback in their offense, but there was still the capabilities of carrying the

ball out of the backfield on a jet sweep or playing the more traditional fullback role. And we might see John who find his niche there as well. But Hunter, I think obviously you'd make a good point coming off of his best game of the season. Three catches, 63 yards, one touchdown. I still want to count another touchdown in there. I know the rule book says that it wasn't. I know the officials say it touchdown in there. I know the rule book says that it wasn't, I know the officials say it wasn't, but I use the eyes. I use the common sense and I believe

he made the catch. Hunter believes he made the catch. And I know a lot of us in New England believe he did as well, but you know, don't cry over spilled milk. We move on. Hunter is at his best when Mack Jones is operating out of play action and he's utilizing the seam route. Hunter is one of the best seam route runners I've ever covered. That includes wide receivers and it includes tight ends and even backs coming out of the backfield. So his ability to find the open slot there is something that I think the Patriots would love to take advantage of, especially with the Bills down one of their big time safeties as well. Micah Hyde's out for the season. So this is going to be an opportunity for maybe the tight ends to get a little bit more

daylight against the Bills. We'll see what happens. It's not going to be easy because Buffalo always has a lot of backup ammunition in their arsenal, and they'll be ready. I know Leslie Frazier will definitely have those guys ready for a big time battle coming up here tomorrow night against the, the Patriots, but Claire,

it's always fun talking tight endage, talking Hunter Henry, talking John Smith. I know you adore that, but we're also going to be talking about another one of your favorite subjects. And that is offensive line, specifically team captain David Andrews. Andrews is looking likely to suit up in this game, folks, and I don't want to get people too excited,

but Andrews kind of let the tea spill a little bit earlier this week by saying that he was ready to go and couldn't wait to be out there. If his presence is going to be the big-time buoy that the Patriots need in order to make things more interesting on the offensive side of the ball, could it be the difference maker in this game? We're going to get Claire's thoughts on how much the offense might improve with David Andrews back in the lineup when this episode of the Locked on Patriots podcast continues. But first, it's the holiday season, folks, and it means we're always on the go. You need to make sure that you can get

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Audible is releasing a slate of new football podcasts that we're sure you're going to love. Find Block Forever now wherever you get your podcasts block forever is a brand new podcast from former nfl all pro ryan khalil and it comes to you from audible as well khalil takes the conversation about football and he takes it to the next level he gives football fans and insiders look at the game through the eyes of the greatest players and personalities of all time. Khalil sits down with star players, coaches, and former pros across the league to get real about what happens on the field and behind the scenes. That includes in the locker room, during the team meetings, even back at the hotel. New episodes of Block Forever will be recorded and released every week ahead of Thursday Night Football,

so be sure to keep a sharp eye on that as you prepare to watch Patriots Bills this Thursday. And of course, it's available for free on Audible or wherever you get your podcasts. Catch the full Block Forever series available anywhere you get your podcasts, available everywhere now, Audible, yet in the game Patriots fans the illustrious Claire Colazzi Claire Cooper of Pat's Propaganda and full press coverage Patriots joins me here today as she does each and every Wednesday the countess in class lending her wisdom and counsel the way only she can and Claire in the previous segment we talked a lot about Hunter Henry we talked a little bit about John or John O'Smith yeah we talked some tight endage and I know you enjoyed that but

the Patriots are not just limited to the return of the tight ends in terms of bringing their offense back to prominence one of the big reasons why the Patriots had such offensive success on Thursday night against the Minnesota Vikings was the offensive line having one of their best games of the year. And this is surprising. They were missing their captain, David Andrews, in the middle. They were missing Isaiah Wynn, but the offensive line, the starting five, remained intact. All 55 snaps, they took them. I think one of the best efforts they've put out in a while, good night and pass protection, 28.6% pressure rate against the stout Vikings defensive front.

That's all they yielded all night long. That is very good, especially for a makeshift line. Yanni Kajust, I want to give him an awful lot of credit. This kid, I think, really stood out. Two quarterback hurries, I think his best outing to date. But at the same time, the Patriots continue to have their injury questions. Isaiah Wynn looks like he's going to be sidelined again with a foot injury, and Kajust is also

on the injury report this week as well with a calf injury. So things to watch at the tackle position, but there might be a bright light shining in the middle of that line when the Patriots take the field, and that is David Andrews. Alluded to this in the previous segment, Claire, David looks like he wants to suit up. He sounds like he's ready to suit up, and the Patriots are typically tight-lipped on that, which leads me to believe that he could be in the lineup on Wednesday. If he's back, what kind of an impact does this have for New England,

not just professionally on the field but also emotionally well yeah I think it's really quite significant I think he's one of the pieces in the in the whole team really that you sort of really feel when he's absent and it's not just the whole he's a captain you know he's a center so he's kind of literally the center of the offensive line. So, you know, there's the metaphorical sense and the literal sense in that respect. But there's also the, as you said, the behind the scenes, the locker room sort of thing. And something that we found that's quite poignant this season, that I believe anyway, is the impact or the sort of effect it's had on Cole Strange when Andrews is out we saw that Cole Strange seemed to be you know he was a good offensive

lineman sort of going forward beginning of this season it looked it was looking good for him the absence of Andrews really shone a light on, you know, he's sort of, I would say his faults, his weaknesses, you know, whichever word you prefer. You know, I don't want to be too detrimental to him because he's still a good player and he's still a rookie. So I think having Andrews there really helped maintain the training wheels on him with regards to his, you know, his start in the NFL. And I think bringing Andrews back is is good

in that respect of the confidence level I think the confidence level that it's going to give Mac Jones standing behind him the confidence it's going to give Cole Strains that he's now got that little bit of safety net returning the confidence it's going to give the rest of the airline because as you said he's their captain so it's always a good thing like that but I think it's yeah it sort of oozes out or the ripple effect of his return is sort of significant because it does it impacts so many others it impacts the whole line that we've seen has had weaknesses has got problems and then as I said as I mentioned you know the impact it has on cole strange and then ultimately then you've got the ripple effect again of how that affects mac jones so then you've got how that affects his production so that then in turn affects how the wide receivers are how the tight

ends are utilized because if mac's got more time because he's behind a more solid line he can make his reads better so he can take you know the the better choice when it comes to who he's going to throw to or that kind of thing to get into the really nitty gritty of the play calling. So, yeah, I think it's very important that he's going to be back. Now, there's also that thing of the concern of him being rushed back but I think there's the confidence in Bill Belichick that I think really in the league wide now after what happened to Tua I think concussion injuries concussion protocol it's it's really transcended you know everything else so I can't see him coming back before he's ready and the would there's always that worry that they they would make that because of the need because as you mentioned at the beginning of the show, this is a must win.

Now, statistically, it's not yet a must win. But if they lose this, they lost against a team that they could have won against in regards to the Vikings. And, you know, more power to the Vikings that they did a good job. But that was a winnable game. We saw that that was in reach. And whether you want to blame the officiating or not, I think it's still something that they maybe should have got out of their own way and would have still had the opportunity to win

because it wasn't a huge margin that they lost by. So it was still there. And because of that, because of the road lost when things are starting to come together, as you mentioned, the offence is starting to come together, with regard to it being a must-win, I think it's needed for that confidence, that pressure of we know that the Bills

are such an elite team at the moment. Yes, they've got illnesses, they've got injuries and things like this. So can we exploit the weaknessesills are such an elite team at the moment. Yes, they've got illnesses, they've got injuries and things like this. So can we exploit the weaknesses that are there to bring out a win in that, to build the momentum on that? Because there's always that divisional thing. It's always the divisional rivalry. And at the moment, I really think that the Bills are definitely one of those teams

that the Patriots need to win so that they can feel like they've got that momentum going forward. So to answer your question in a very long winded and now repetitive short way. Yeah. Having him back is it's as big as he is, you know, that as his personality is. That's how significant he is. It really is. So, yeah, fingers crossed that he can be back there. Because, yeah, as much as we all love him, it's obvious from what we see on the field. Just the eyeball test. You don't need to be a football expert. You don't need to be someone that crunches the numbers, that watches the All-22, that does any research just to watch the game

and see how he's impactful in regards to the Patriots and the O-line. So, yeah, definitely fingers crossed there. Yeah, without question. And I'm glad that you brought uh the head injury and the concussion that he went through because the league's protocol right now is definitely under a microscope especially with everything that happened with tua and knowing what has led up to all of this and the controversy surrounding head injuries for the nfl for a number of years now even decades uh as we go back into some of the difficulties that they've had so

i think the patriots have been very mindful of that with david i think david being out there a couple of weeks ago definitely showed that uh they erred on the side of caution kept him on the shelf until he was 100 ready to return and obviously you're in league protocol you have to do that anyway but there is things that the team and steps that the teams have to make and i've just remembered that that's not the injury why he's out is it it's a leg injury oh look what i just did it's no problem it is no problem because that well it all is shocking i apologize viewers listeners yes he's out with um yeah he's he's leg injury he's thigh injury yes oh i apologize oh he did have a concussion injury previously so yeah folks do not worry about that we're gonna get into some clairvoyance we're gonna get into some clairvoyance in just a minute and claire is much better at

reading the tea leaves but folks no all kidding aside the thigh injury that he's uh you know undergoing right now it's been unofficially labeled as a leg contusion but there hasn't been an official confirmation on that so when you look at that there is a great deal of pain in those types of injuries it explains why a tough guy like david andrews had to be helped from the field and really invisible pain after that uh injury but for him to be back out there for him to to get the results from the MRI that he got, it apparently is something that he can play through. And he's starting to show more and more prowess, more and more physical ability each and every day. So him being out there is a true testament to his toughness and his abilities to get back on the field. Several people,

including quarterback Mac Jones, has really made a lot about David being out there and giving them an emotional lift without any questions. So from an emotional standpoint, from an example standpoint, this is going to be huge for the Patriots if he can get back out there. What I'm watching when it comes to the logistical return on the field of what he can provide, it's that solid presence in the middle. And you mentioned Cole Strange and I thought you mentioned this perfectly and I'm so glad that you did because Cole is someone that has been able to feed off of David Andrews taking out Thursday night's game against the Vikings he has not looked like the same player without Andrews in the lineup and this is a tough game if you're going to be missing David for Cole

because you're going against a very difficult Buffalo defensive front. Ed Oliver is one of the best defensive tackles in the league, folks. If you haven't checked him out as a Patriots fan, if Bills fans are listening to this, hate listening, to try to get enemy lines, you know the prowess of Ed Oliver. There are very few you know defensive tackles in the league if any that i respect more than ed one of the better guys uh around and he can definitely make life difficult for opposing quarterbacks and opposing offensive lines

we've seen him do it before and get after quarterbacks so if david is not in the lineup james ference is going to get the start under center. And that's going to mean that Ed is going to try to utilize that quote unquote weakness in the Patriots offensive line. It could mean a long day for Cole strange. And I've noticed a lot of similarities in the playing style from Ed Oliver to Quinn and Williams of the New York jets. Someone who Cole had a lot of problems with took a lot of losses one-on-one if that becomes an issue you can probably see ed oliver getting the better of him a little bit more often than not so if david is in the lineup even if he's not a hundred percent he's going to take a little bit of that pressure off and even if ed tries to exploit cole anyway david is going to be there to try to take some of that

pressure off so that's how important david andrews is folks it's not just the emotional lift it's the logistics on the field and ultimately giving Mac Jones all the time he needs to complete passes one thing that would be that will be interesting it's not really a risk that I want to take but it's something that will be interesting if David Andrews isn't in the lineup is if Cole Strange has learned from that matchup against the Jets and if he can really utilize himself utilize his skill set and really use that against the bill so that would be an interesting thing to sort of an eyeball test like I said not to repeat but not a risk I really want to take but if we have to take that risk it'll be interesting to see if he's kind of making that development within the year if he's being versus you know development within the year, if he's being versus,

you know, a very similar opponent in that respect. So, yeah, that is an excellent point. I'm so glad that you made that spot on because not only has Cole gotten one look at Quinn in this year, he's gotten two.

So you get the opportunity to grow, to maybe develop a little bit as a pro. This is going to be a big test for him, but I think the kid is up to the challenge. He's proven to be up to the challenge so far, some minor rookie sputtering which you're going to get from a rookie lineman i think he's had a solid season and this could really be an opportunity for him to showcase his talents on a pretty big stage on a national audience thursday night folks we are almost at the time where claire puts on her thinking cap or puts on her, I don't know,

clairvoyance cap. I really can't think of a better way to put it, but she is going to read some tea leaves in just a moment, folks, and let us know what her thoughts are on the Buffalo Bills and what the Patriots' chances are of pulling the upset on Thursday night. We are going to do that when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast wraps up. But first, folks, these days every potential new hire can feel like a high-stakes wager for your small business.

You want to be 100% certain that you have access to the best qualified candidates available. That's why you have to check out LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs helps to find the right people for your team to help you do it faster, and they help you do it for free. Simple tools like screening questions make it easy to focus on candidates with just the right skills and experience so you can quickly prioritize who you'd like to interview and who you'd like to hire. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to and they help you do it faster. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash locked on NFL. That's linkedin.com

slash locked on NFL to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Patriots fans, the illustrious Claire Klazik, Claire Cooper, columnist extraordinaire for patspropaganda.com, podcast host extraordinaire for full Press Coverage Patriots, where her podcast, The Claire Perspective, is absolutely one of the great listens, folks. The guests that she's able to get and just the insight that she's able to provide, the camaraderie that she has is truly amazing.

I highly recommend checking it out. Download, subscribe, follow wherever you get your podcasts. And, of course, you can also catch her each and every week here on Locked on Patriots. And Claire, we've arrived at that time. And last week's Thanksgiving loss is behind us. We've turned the page. We are ready to turn our attention to the Buffalo Bills. And at this point in the show, folks, mild-mannered Claire, classy Claire Cooper, becomes our

very own famous sage and soothsayer, the all-knowing, the all-seeing, the all-omniscient countess of class. That's right, folks. It's time for a little clairvoyance. I'm working on some music to bring in some clairvoyance. We're still working on some of the logistics here, but you get the gist of it. And the tea leaves that Claire is about to read, they have been hermetically sealed, kept in an ancient ceramic kettle on the shelf of Lockdown Headquarters

since noon on Thanksgiving Day. That's right, folks. Vintage tea leaves about to be read here. No one, not even the illustrious Claire Clazzy Claire Cooper, the Countess of Clazz herself, knows the contents of these tea leaves until now, but her clairvoyance will bring out the hiddeness of Clas herself, knows the contents of these tea leaves until now, but her clairvoyance will bring out the hidden messages. Oh, great Countess, when we look at

this matchup between the Buffalo Bills and the New England Patriots, 8-3 Buffalo right now, riding high, New England at 6-5, trying to climb out of the cellar in the AFC East, trying to stay in playoff contention. How do you see this one shaking out? What should Patriots fans expect when they take the field in their red uniforms, by the way, on Thursday night? Well, this one is a very difficult one because, as you all know, I make no bones about it.

I'm very hate-filled towards the Bills. They're a big rival for me, not a big Bills fan. So it is really difficult when you look at them and you know i say it with yeah i don't want like with pain filledness to admit that they are a good team it's just it's just it is what it is you have to admit it they are really good so this is now a head versus heart situation because my head says, well, it's obvious the Bills are very good. So they're going to win. That's it. And then my heart is filled with Patriots and filled with the yes, but you never know. And this and the other. So it is difficult. The Patriots did start to shine a little against the Vikings, as we as we've said in the show. And, you know, as it as it goes, the Bills have got some injuries,

some illnesses. Apparently, Bill Belichick, as a rumour has it, that he's unleashed a fever across Buffalo in regards to an illness. Yeah, so yeah, he's unleashed this illness so that they win. So yeah, I love the craziness that's out there. But I mean, the Bills make you have to defend the whole field. They've got explosive players and I'm just not really sure at this point, as good as the Patriots defense is,

I'm not quite sure if they can really match up to what the bills have at the moment. Now there's always that chance that they can maybe exploit a slight weakness that Josh Allen has gotten. And by that, I don't mean he's injured that josh allen has gotten and by that i don't mean he's injured actually although he has got an elbow injury at the moment but he's he's impatient you know he's he he's good he's he's movable in the pocket he makes quick decisions and he can change his mind quite you know quite quickly he's very good at that sort of thing but

the one thing that he does have that's negative if you like is he's impatient so he's he's very good at that sort of thing but the one thing that he does have that's negative if you like is he's impatient so he's he's one to get the ball out and if the Patriots can push him to be in a situation where he gets impatient he makes kind of rash decisions and that's when he gets into so you know that's when there's interceptions and I mean he's one of the I think he's one of the highest rated quarterbacks currently in, I think it's in the whole of the NFL for interceptions, for throwing picks. So if the Patriots can push that, no, I don't want to say force, because I did say that earlier and I was kind of corrected of, you know, we don't want to say that we can force them because that's something that

they might not have the ability to do. But if the Patriots can push him towards that, you know, bring out this impatience in him shut down some of the things you know that he wants then maybe they can push some success and then maybe the defense can can win you a game because we know the defense are quite good that there's always that thing of the Bills have got some guys out with illness depending on what happens over today and tomorrow morning as we record this on Wednesday so the the people that are out, the players that are out with illness, there's always that chance that they come back.

But the likes of Von Miller aren't coming back for the Thursday night game as unfortunate as that is. Because you never want to wish injury on anybody. No, absolutely. But you can't deny the fact that as a Patriots fan, that is a plus for you. It's because one of their most you know stronger players is taken out of the game so it helps you you can't deny that it helps you as much as you don't want

any players to be out with injury so because of those little things it makes me feel my heart still kind of winning out thinking well maybe the Patriots have got a shot because there's these things that you can stack up and and maybe poke holes in and maybe use to your advantage. So I always struggle to sort of say a Patriots loss anyway, just because I never want to wish it into existence. I'm a Patriots fan and I always want to wish them to be successful. So I'm just kind of, yeah, check the tea leaves. I love this, check the tea leaves.

I've been so successful so far, haven't I, folks? I'm predicting a Patriots win. It's going to be tough. It's going to be slight. But I think the Patriots can push the Bills into maybe some errors, maybe some impatience, and bring out a win on Thursday. Yeah, I think you make a good point. Don't forget, one of the big reasons why the Patriots were so ineffective against the Bills last year, particularly in their playoff game, is their linebacking crew just looked a little bit too old, a little bit too slow to be able to hang with a Bills, with a Bills offense that was simply much faster and much more adept at being able to utilize their lanes. Miles Bryant was absolutely torched last year by Isaiah McKenzie.

I still have nightmares about those crossers that were running. And really, it is. It's just it's a tough situation to go through. Whereas this year, the New England Patriots have gotten younger at linebacker. They can hang a little bit more. They've also brought in a guy named Mack Wilson from the Cleveland Browns, who I know hasn't really been talked about that much here on these airwaves. Although I do want to give a tip of the cap to my guy Murph, who did mention him last week when we spoke, I believe on Monday, about the possibility of him being the quarterback

spy in a five-man rush. This, I think, may be something that the New England Patriots could utilize to help coerce Josh Allen into maybe making some of those errant throws, maybe some of those hasty throws that could lead to some interceptions. Because when you give him the clean pocket and the ability to move out of the pocket and utilize his legs, he'll carve you up every single time. He did that to the Patriots last year in two out of three outings. And really, I mean, just the Patriots did not have an answer for it. So you can't just rush him for the sake of rushing him. There has to be a design to it.

And maybe that five-man rush with four strong pass rushers and Mack Wilson acting as the spy might be something. I'm going to continue to dig into that a little bit. And, of course, folks, we've got the crossover Thursday coming up with Joe Marino of Locked On Bills tomorrow here on the network. And I got a funny feeling we're going to be talking a little bit about that as one of those key matchups that the New England Patriots must look into if they hope to have any success on Thursday.

The Countess has spoken and she has given us her prediction. I'm going to refrain from giving you my prediction just yet. I'm going to save that for the crossover tomorrow. But as always, we appreciate the wisdom, the counsel, the wit, the wisdom, the clas, the pizzazz of the one and only Countess of Clas, Claire Cooper. Claire, thank you for joining me. Before I let you go today, please let everyone know where they can interact with you, what you have coming down the pike, and what we can look forward to in the week ahead from the great pen, the great voice of Claire Clazy claire cooper well thank you so much mike it's always fun to be on here as you guys know as mike mentioned you'll find me at patspropaganda.com my podcast is at fullpresscoverage.com and i am on one page it's placed at e2gsports.com as for what is coming due to my lovely colleague tom shaw's mellas being um pats pop on tour so he's currently on vacay so

i'm covering i'm holding down the fort at patspropaganda.com i know it's scary isn't it folks just me but so yeah so you will find very shortly uh tomorrow more than likely you will find out the um the pats pop preview that tom normally covers so i'll be previewing the bills for you so please keep an eye out for for that on patswapaganda.com then after the game you will find my game recap so please do check out patswapaganda.com again for my game recap so you know please please do look at my hard work I would very much appreciate it as for a clear perspective brought to you by fullpresscoverage.com that will be hopefully out this evening US time maybe tomorrow morning UK time so within the next kind of yeah the next

sort of within the next 24 hours for sure you will find the next episode of a clear perspective so keep a sharp eye out for that as uh as as my lovely colleague likes to say so so yeah so i i'm hitting your airwaves and your and your um web waves very soon so please keep an eye out for me over the next couple of days because I will be previewing, recapping, and just plain chatting when it comes to the Patriots. Absolutely, folks. And again, I can't highly recommend enough whenever Claire puts pen to paper or voice to microphone, it's always appointment listening, appointment reading, and you always end up

more enriched, more informed, and ultimately more entertained. What more can you ask for? It's all we get every single time we have her here on Wednesday, and we look forward to talking with you again next Wednesday, Countess. But until then, folks, please continue to stay safe, stay well, be the change you wish to see in the world, and thank you so much for making Locked On Patriots your first listen every day. And now that you've made us your first listen,

please check out our friends over at Locked On Sports today, your first listen every day. And now that you've made us your first listen, please check out our friends over at Locked On Sports today for your second listen. All the news you need in every aspect of professional and collegiate sports, including the take of the day, you can download, subscribe to, follow Locked On Sports today wherever you get your podcasts, including the Odyssey app, YouTube, and all major platforms. On behalf of the illustrious Claire Classey, Claire Cooper, I'm Mike DeBate. Have a great day, everyone,

and we'll see you again here tomorrow for Crossover Thursday.