Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots Overtime Loss to Seattle Seahawks in Week 2: ‘Monster Keys’ Unturned?

Starting point is 00:00:00 The New England Patriots problems went a lot deeper than a controversial call in their loss to the Seahawks on Sunday. 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. Don't forget, Locked On Patriots is not only a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day, but we are also free and available

Starting point is 00:00:43 on all platforms, including YouTube, so smash that subscribe button and download and follow Locked On Patriots wherever you get your podcasts to ensure you're getting the latest episode as soon as it's available. I'm your host, Mike DeBate. I cover your New England Patriots for Patriots Country of

Starting point is 00:00:59 Avalon Sports, so reach out to me and let me know what's on your mind on X at MDABATEN nfl while you're out there showing some love to locked on patriots social media style that is please be sure to follow our account there as well at lo underscore patriots and pats fans today's episode is brought to you by game time download the game time app create an, and use the code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Seahawks kicker Jason Myers hitting a 31-yard field goal in overtime to lift Seattle to a 23-20 win over the Patriots on Sunday. Folks, passing game problems, offensive line struggles, controversial calls, they're all going to get the share of the headlines.

Starting point is 00:01:48 And even though we're going to talk about all those today, if you want the real reason why the Patriots failed to achieve victory on Sunday, it's simple. They didn't turn this man's monster keys. And that man is the legendary Thomas Murphy, who joins us here today on a melancholy Monday, unfortunately. Nonetheless, thank you for joining me today, Don Murph. Oh, happy to be here. And that was really difficult to say. I can imagine. I can definitely imagine. Once again, we're snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Starting point is 00:02:21 And so many times that happened last year and it happened again now and uh yeah the the bloom is off the onion yeah leaving winnable games on the table is never a formula for success and that's why i think this hurts so much i think patriots fans are realistic enough to realize that this team is probably going to struggle more than it will succeed uh the losses are probably going to outnumber the wins. So the win-loss record, I think, is something that the Patriots and Patriots fans especially have come to understand. But this was a very winnable game for the Patriots. And, folks, we're going to get into all that today.

Starting point is 00:02:58 Still got 81 rushing yards and one touchdown from Ramondre Stevenson, who came back to earth a little bit from a monster performance in week one, but in my opinion, Murph, still fantastic. Oh, yeah. Get into some silver linings in a little bit, but 96 rushing yards from Antonio Gibson. That was a nice little addition to the running game, so to speak, but just wasn't enough to earn the win.

Starting point is 00:03:21 The Patriots falling to one and one on the season. Seahawks quarterback geno smith leading seattle on an eight play 71 yard drive to the new england 13 obviously to set up the myers field goal but more throughout the game we saw things that the patriots did well in week one that didn't translate so well into week two in your, which of the monster keys to victory that you outlined was the most egregious to be left unturned? More pop, more better. More pop, more better.

Starting point is 00:03:52 Right there at the top. And we had no pop again. No pop Douglas. Unseen. The man has three targets in two games. This is ridiculous. Pop and Jalen Polk needed to be more involved in this game, and they weren't. Okay, and you can lay the blame on a couple of people with that.

Starting point is 00:04:13 This offensive line, which can't seem to get anything done with, you know, when they're up helmet on helmet. You know, we need extra tight ends. We need extra linemen out on the edge to keep this running game going. Nobody can pass block. No one. No one on this team can pass block. It's ridiculous. They can't keep anybody out of our quarterback's face for three Mississippis. This Patriots passing game.

Starting point is 00:04:43 It was completely one dimensional. We talked about this all last year that this team was, was too predictable and it continued. It continued. They, they basically begged you to run the ball and, and, and we did and we did it well.

Starting point is 00:05:00 And it just wasn't enough in the end. We talked last week about how you were going to need more than 16 points to win i said 17 um and uh it was they they needed even more a lot closer to mike's prediction than it was to mine score wise and uh it's just frustrating because this was a winnable game even with all the mistakes that could have happened and didn't or did happen. And they were still, you know, right there. They still could have put this game away before overtime started. Thank you for the plug, by the way, on the final score prediction. I do appreciate that, Murph.

Starting point is 00:05:38 It's always nice to hear that. But bottom line, I think where your prediction was spot on, where you said that this passing game needed to be more involved. The run was almost exclusively called during overtime and it makes you one dimensional. It makes you predictable and it also makes you much easier to defend. And that's exactly the problem that the New England Patriots ran into. I completely agree with you on Pop Douglas. He needs to be more involved. I would have liked to have seen Jalen Polk more involved when he was. He's proven that he can be a very effective red zone weapon. This is something we saw throughout training camp.

Starting point is 00:06:10 This needs to happen a lot more, Murph, and it needs to happen at the play calling level. And yeah, exactly. At the play calling level. I thought during the first half that they did well using the tight endage. Claire was having a blast. She was really enjoying herself. I thought they would scheme up more, especially when Seattle countered and got a safety up there on Hunter Henry, and they had to start going in a different direction. That's when I thought we were going to

Starting point is 00:06:39 see the Pop Douglas breakout. That's when I thought we were going to see more of Jalen Polk, our second-round pick. I was at nauseam this year that he isn't a number one, but he's a very fine number two. And both of these guys are good number twos. They need to get involved more. There were guys missed down the slim reaper. There were people open, and Brissette did not get them the ball. Now, I don't know what the glitch is with him in focusing up on his first read,

Starting point is 00:07:13 but it's got to stop. It's got to end. He needs to start processing quicker, or they need to start scheming up a first read that is a little more diverse than what we had going on. Why? It's simple, people. I lay it out. I do.

Starting point is 00:07:33 I lay it out. Things that worked in the first half were no longer working in the second half. I love the way that Romandre ran up the gut. I told you, folks, that was where they needed to attack this team was up the gut. But what they didn't do was get play action going. Open receivers were not noticed. Covered receivers that, in my estimation, are NFL open were ignored. I don't know if it's a confidence thing or what or just take care of the damn ball.

Starting point is 00:08:04 But, no, it was awful. In the second half, they tried to pass the ball. It wasn't working. There were too many missed opportunities, especially on third down in the second half. I think the number, hold on, let me look. The number, the Pats were six of 16 on third down okay at one point in time they were uh three and out on five straight drives in the second half which between the the end of the first half and the second and um and ungodly ungodly and i have to bring it up the clock management at the end of the first half of this game was viciously bad. Viciously bad.

Starting point is 00:08:47 Everybody who wants to sit there and pat Gerard Mayo on the back for the job that they did last week, you can stop now. Look, I think in a lot of ways, the job that Gerard did in game one, in week one, winning his debut, you kind of almost had nowhere to go but down at that point. I mean, I guess it could have gone up. I think there are arguments to be made. From a logistical standpoint, you're absolutely correct.

Starting point is 00:09:11 But eventually, things are going to catch up with rookie head coaches. And whether it's week two or week three, those breaks are going to start to go the other way. That's exactly what happened on Sunday against the Seahawks. But a lot of those breaks going the opposite way were self-inflicted. Right. Blocked field goals, special team snafus. These are all things, folks, that we're going to get into when we talk about the biggest slice of the blame pie and who deserves that in just a moment. But Jacoby said something very interesting in his post-game press conference that he thought that there was a tell essentially going on when it came to telegraphing their plays when it came to

Starting point is 00:09:47 the Seahawks picking up on what the Patriots wanted to do this is something that concerned a lot of people but one of which our good friend Evan Lazar of Patriots.com made this a focal point of his postgame column if this is indeed the case where the Patriots may be tipping or they may indeed be showcasing their play before it's called, how big of a problem can this be for an offense that's already struggling with logistical problems, with missing key pieces on the offensive line? Huge. It's humongous. It's the Lord humongous. If you're tipping, if the packages that you're sending in are a tell, then yeah, this goes right onto Alex Van Pelt and Gerard Mayo. The buck stops there. They need to get more diverse.

Starting point is 00:10:34 They need to be able to do more things out of these sets or at least show more things out of these sets to keep opposing defenses off kilter. And we're talking about week two here. All right? We're talking about week two that you couldn't mix things up to make or disguise something to throw off a defense. It's a terrible thing, and that's got to change. It's a great pickup by Brissette. If he had picked it up, when did he pick it it up on his way back to the locker room after overtime yeah exactly you

Starting point is 00:11:11 know you have the power you can stand there and and and call an audible all right look across the field figure out what's happening and do something else with the personnel that you have in there. All right? I can jump on Van Pelt. I can jump on Mayo for prep. But you're the one standing there. You're the veteran presence. All right? You've got to see this. You've got to dissect it and say, okay, we're going to switch out to this.

Starting point is 00:11:39 Look, Jacoby Brissett, after the game, clarified his comments and basically said that whenever the team was trying to push the ball downfield he would immediately see the seahawks go into two deep safeties and that at that point really i think showed him that they knew what was coming they could tell what was coming and when your offense is one-dimensional in that fashion it makes you very easy to defend and i think the patriots ran into some problems there and it definitely led to some lack of success when it came to the play action game yeah it definitely led to lack of success when when you came to the play action game because you didn't audible out all right that's perfect you're gonna you're gonna jump into too too high

Starting point is 00:12:19 shell okay fine i'm gonna pick you apart underneath and'm going to let my speedsters go out there and get me yak. All right. That's when Jalen Polk should be at his best. All right. That's when Pop Douglas should be at his best. And you didn't utilize them in that way. All right. So once again, that key was broken off right in the ignition.

Starting point is 00:12:41 Absolutely. And again, if you want to look at what type of production that they got from that wide receivers team, folks, three targets, 19 yards, 19 yards, 19. By comparison, just DK Metcalf and Jackson Smith Njigmeh on Sunday for the Seattle Seahawks, 22 catches, 246 yards between the two of them. That's how you utilize the wide receivers group. I understand that the talent level that Seattle's working with is not the same talent level that the Patriots are working with. Not trying to compare the two,

Starting point is 00:13:14 but you've got to give these guys a chance to get out there and to flex their muscle to show what they can do. Otherwise, you're going to have some difficulty moving the ball. And the Patriots had a ton of problems moving the ball on Sunday. And that was the most egregious of the monster keys that were not turned. But Murph, there was plenty of blame pie to go around for the Patriots loss, whether it be the offensive line, whether it be a controversial call toward the end, whether it be special teams breakdowns.

Starting point is 00:13:41 New England found itself on the opposite side of a lot of what went right last week against the cincinnati bengals burke and i are going to slice up that blame pie and we're going to serve it a la mode in just a moment when this episode of the lockdown patriots podcast continues a proud part of the lockdown podcast network your team every day. Listen up, Locked On listeners. Football is back, and there's never been a better time to use PrizePix, America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over 5 million active members. PrizePix is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. And unlike those other apps, on Prize on prize picks it's just you against

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Starting point is 00:17:24 overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks, dropping your beloved New England Patriots to 1-1 on the season. Here to break it all down and to enlighten us as to which monster keys needed to be turned but weren't is our good friend, the legend himself, the counter Murphy Fisto, Thomas, Murphy, and Murph. In the previous segment, we talked a lot about the monster keys being unturned and the passing game being one of the biggest culprits as to why the Patriots struggled. But there's a lot of blame pie to be sent around for this loss. When you look at this team and you look at blame pie for this loss, where are you pointing your finger first? Who is going to get that biggest slice? Elliott Wolfe.

Starting point is 00:18:05 Elliott Wolfe. Elliott Wolfe has sent this team into the season underprepared, unprepared. The equipment is not there. Okay, we saw it when Vidarian Lowe went down. I saw Vidarian Lowe on the sidelines gripping his back and stretching out and not reentering the game. I pretty much knew that it was over. All right? And we're talking about Vidarian Lowe here, okay,

Starting point is 00:18:32 who did a serviceable job last week. There's no depth on this offensive line whatsoever. None, okay? Anybody goes down and they are toast. And so that's where my biggest slice is going. The next biggest slice goes to Gerard Mayo and Alex Van Pelt for this game plan and not being able to get, you know, what playmakers we have involved and completely relying on this predictable offense. And lastly, special teams. OK, those are my three big, big pieces of this pie. When you look at the keys, you know,

Starting point is 00:19:13 they did really well with limiting the laundry. They didn't play from behind the chains too much when the turnover battle, you know, always, always, they didn't, you know, on paper, turn anybody over, but they got a big stop on fourth down To me, that's turning the ball over. You turn the ball over on fourth down. So, you know, that worked out. But the predictability didn't allow them to own third down. I said they were going to have to be above 50%, and they weren't. All right? And this goes to, you know know the other side they were just six for 16 um seattle was just seven for 15 on their side and uh but they were one for two

Starting point is 00:19:55 on fourth down efficiency okay so that's that's uh that uh it gives them that key. All right. The red zone trips were awful. Okay. And I'm going to put that all on Alex Van Pelt. I didn't understand, you know, what he was doing with some of the personnel packages that he was putting in while he was in the red zone. I really didn't. So, yeah, there's plenty of blame to go around. But, you know, right there, you can't have that kick blocked. You can't.

Starting point is 00:20:28 You can't take a sack there and push yourself back that far when a game is on the line. Jacoby Reset needed to get rid of that ball. So the last piece of pie goes to Jacoby Reset who, you know, had flashbacks of Matt Ryan in the Super Bowl. You can't take a sack there. You can't do it. Yeah. You can't do it.

Starting point is 00:20:54 Yeah, exactly. And, of course, you know, pressure on the left side was a problem all game for Jacoby Brissett. But then even Michael Wenu, who was supposed to be your most accomplished offensive lineman your right tackle looks fat out of shape and he just got burned all day long just burned and that goes back to elliot wolf yeah jacoby was pressured on nearly 50 of his drop backs again on sunday now we don't have the final tallies in yet, but once they do come in from the game film, when you get the all 22 and you watch the coaches film, you'll get a chance to see a little bit more. Seahawks did lock eight quarterback hits. We do know that they got to the quarterback. A lot of the hits that Jacoby Brissett started to take definitely factored into some of the

Starting point is 00:21:40 more conservative play callings. And that's, again, one of the big reasons why the Patriots struggled so much offensively rosters unprepared yeah and it looked at yesterday I'm going to flip over to the defensive side of the ball because we've been giving them a lot of plaudits we've been giving them a lot of laurels on which to rest and they've deserved it for the most part this defense has been very good and I don't want to make the mistake of implying that the defensive side of the ball cost them the game yesterday because i don't the game plan did but there are elements that we saw in this defense now that are troubling one of them is such a departure from the way the patriots have typically defended and i'm going to point the

Starting point is 00:22:21 finger right now and the secondary because the new New England Patriots secondary always did their job, quote unquote, so to speak, by taking away at least one of the opponent's top receivers. You always had that. There was always a lockdown guy that was capable of keeping that player on an island. And that player did not come back to burn you. The two top receivers, all respect to Tyler Lockett, who I love, by the way, and I do believe is underrated when it comes to his abilities in the NFL.

Starting point is 00:22:52 But if you're looking on paper and you're looking at the Seattle Seahawks, you're looking to stop two names, D.K. Metcalf, Jackson Smith-Najimbo. Patriots could not stop either one yesterday 10 catches 129 yards a 56 yard touchdown for DK Metcalf was the burner JSN 12 catches 117 yards you've got to shut one of these guys down you can't let the both of them go off the way they did that to me was an egregious hole in what the Patriots wanted to do defensively yesterday that deserves a pretty good size slice of the blame pie in my opinion it really does you could see in the first half that um you know the the Patriots were getting burned when they were in man they

Starting point is 00:23:34 were getting picked and uh and it worked Mike McDonald it uh had a had a fantastic game plan he he knew saw the Patriots well they saw the Patriots running man and it was not working. It was not working. He had his, these are three fantastic wide receivers. We talked about it on Friday and they picked apart, literally picked, you know, this team apart. And then when they switched into zone, it seemed like nobody knew where they were supposed to be or what they were supposed to do. And what happened? What happened?

Starting point is 00:24:10 Okay. It was just the most egregious play of the game. And DK Metcalf ran off a 56-yard touchdown because there was nobody there to help over the top. Absolutely. Very, very well. Gonzalez is not standing there watching him run past him if he didn't think that there was going to be somebody back there to pick him up.

Starting point is 00:24:35 Yeah, exactly. I'm not putting that on Gonzalez. Yeah, I'm glad that you said that. He was there running the right play. He was there for the hook and there was nobody over the top. And that's why Metcalf went off. And that was the game changer right play. He was there for the hook and there was nobody over the top. And that's why Metcalf went off. And that was the game changer right there. That was the game changer.

Starting point is 00:24:51 And to his credit, Kyle Duggar in his post game conference did take responsibility for that. He was responsible for the busted coverage. But I think that's a great point because I do see a lot of that still saying, Oh, Gonzo got exposed today. He got all folks. He did. This was a secondary problem, but it wasn't Christian Gonzalez problem. i do see a lot of that still saying oh gonzo got exposed today he got all folks he did no uh this was a secondary problem but it wasn't christian gonzalez problem so i'm glad that you

Starting point is 00:25:10 made that distinction because i think that needs to be made murph we've danced around this subject long enough where we've talked about questionable calls and no fans are starting to hop on this a little bit uh because of what happened with Jonathan Jones and the slam the light coverage and you know getting whistled for a penalty um obviously I mean when your opponent comes to you and says I don't believe that was a penalty it's going to be a little bit more egregious um ESPN's Mike Reese is someone that doesn't typically show his emotion but when he goes all capital letters on a tweet during the game, you know that it's got him a little bit steamed.

Starting point is 00:25:50 How much of the blame pie are you going to put on this? It was still, you know, shake it off, next play, let's get to it. You know, these things happen. I'll give it a dollop of homemade whipped cream on top of somebody else's sliced pie. How about that? It happens. It was a bad flag. It was.

Starting point is 00:26:13 It showed on the next play, at least they didn't make the same mistake twice. For the most part, it didn't help, but it shouldn't have hurt in the way that it did. Very good. I think that's perfectly said. I couldn't have said it better myself so i'm not going to even attempt to do that folks that's exactly what that call was in the end yeah it could have gone the

Starting point is 00:26:35 patriots way was it a call that should have been made probably not but that shouldn't have been in a position where that was the determining factor and again i think it only speaks to all of the mistakes that were made right up until that go back to the tuck rule okay there was still time on the clock and the raiders quit i'm not saying the patriots quit but there was still time left on the clock to do stuff and they didn't do it absolutely absolutely and again it's just these little things that add up and nom Nomechek right now is not happy, and he's definitely not happy with a lot of the miscues, most of which he's not happy with Murph. There's a blocked field goal, a 48-yard field goal

Starting point is 00:27:13 that would have made this a six-point game with 354 left. Instead, the Seahawks, all they needed was a field goal to send the game into overtime. That's a big swing in this game. I think we need to give a just slice of blame pie for this loss to that. I think the biggest breakdown was allowing someone like Julian Love, a defensive back who really, I think is playing at such a high level. Again, another very underrated player. You didn't know it before this game. You knew it afterwards, man. Julian

Starting point is 00:27:43 Love brings the lumber every single week. He does. He does. And shame on the Patriots coverage unit because you're allowing this guy to come in as the inside rusher, second to the end of the line. You can't have that happen. You've got to get wide. You just can't have that happen. You can't.

Starting point is 00:27:58 You've got to get wide. And honestly, for so many years, we were spoiled with Gronk out there. Everybody talking, why is Gronk playing special teams? This is why. That's why. Okay? This is why. Because he's a big, wide body out there that gets his elbows out

Starting point is 00:28:12 and makes sure that he slows somebody down there. I forget. I'm not sure who else was out there with Junior, why I'm at a loss, with Austin Hooper, because it was Austin Hooper didn't get his elbows wide enough i'm not sure i you know i i have to go back and watch a third time please don't make me do that and uh but those guys have got to do something more they've got to do something there was problems last week and um with this unit and and they they just, you know, completely, they did a fine job up the middle and, uh, but on the outskirts, man,

Starting point is 00:28:48 you've got to take care of the outskirts. Folks, obviously the melancholy mood will continue for at least a couple of days. The good news is the Patriots do have a quick turnaround time and a Thursday night football matchup with the New York Jets. And that may not be the best news for the New England Patriots because those J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets, look like they're starting to figure things out in the green side, in the metal

Starting point is 00:29:12 winds, and we're going to continue to cover each and every aspect, including a return visit from Murph to kind of break it all down and get us ready for kickoff, but in the meantime, Murph, you know, we both love to end on a high note. We love to leave our adoring public here on Locked On Patriots with some positives to take away from a loss or a win. And in yesterday's case, it was a loss, a tough overtime loss.

Starting point is 00:29:36 But Murph, we will indeed go through some silver linings because there were a couple yesterday that shined through the dismal nature of the outcome of Week 2's matchup. Murph and I are going to talk silver linings from the Patslots to the Seahawks when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues, a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team, every day. Locked On Patriots listeners, we've all been there. You want tickets for the upcoming home stand at Fenway to watch the Sox, or you want to close out the summer in style by watching your favorite music group in concert. You want tickets, but you're not quite sure how to get them.

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Starting point is 00:31:21 Download GameTime today. What time is it? GameTime. Patriots fans, thank you once again for joining us here today on Locked On Patriots and we continue to break down the New England Patriots 23-20 overtime loss at Gillette Stadium on Sunday to the Seattle Seahawks.

Starting point is 00:31:42 The Patriots dropping to 1-1 on the season and now starting to turn their attention very quickly to a Thursday night matchup with Aaron Rogers and the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium. And that's going to be an interesting matchup and a tough one for the New England Patriots. But Murph, before we turn the discussion back to doom and gloom, which I think a lot of people are expecting, considering what the Jets look like right now and what the Patriots may be looking like this Thursday, we do want to end on a high note. We like to end on a high note. We'd like to send some positivity out to Patriots Nation. And there were a few bright spots yesterday for the New England

Starting point is 00:32:20 Patriots. We touched upon these a little bit. Hunter Henry with a career day. The running game coming up big. In your estimation, when you're looking at monster keys to victory and things that weren't turned, what was turned in your opinion? And what do you believe the Patriots brought to the table that could give you optimism heading into week three? They're able to stuff the run. Okay. I got on Keon White and he had another fantastic day, not just getting to the pass or what's stopping the run. Yes, they were depleted in their run game there. They were running with the backup running back, but they did well against a very good Seattle offensive line. Okay. It all starts with your offensive line, people. That's right.

Starting point is 00:33:03 All of it. Have you seen Joe Walt lately? He looks amazing. But no, that and recognition. Okay? These guys recognize that the problems that are plaguing them are our problems, and they need to fix them. So hopefully they'll be able to regroup over this short week and get some of this ironed out.

Starting point is 00:33:26 OK, so hopefully Ramondre won't be the the second most targeted receiver on this team. All right. After Hunter Henry, it was Ramondre Stevenson with five targets. All right. It's they need to get more diverse and they recognize that. So hopefully they'll be able to do that and maybe pick up an offensive tackle off of the scrap heap somewhere and and be able to do something to to fix this offensive line because it's just a mess. I'm sorry. I know I'm supposed to be upbeat during this freaking. It's just it's just too soon i i should not have watched the game a second time at 6 a.m this morning because i haven't had

Starting point is 00:34:11 my third cup of coffee yet yeah silver linings don't always have to be sunshine and rainbows murph so no i can definitely understand where you're coming from and i think we all do look silver linings at this point and folks i say silver linings tongue in cheek i thought the silver pants look good on the new engings tongue in cheek i thought the silver pants look good on the new england patriots yesterday i thought they need to make that the uniform combination that they're playing when they're at gillette that definitely looked good but all kidding aside when it comes to the all whites the old school all the old school all white all broken all whites man yeah just like that is the cleanest looking professional there's the hartford whaler

Starting point is 00:34:46 jersey and logo and and sweater i'm sorry i didn't mean to say jersey hartford whalers uh sweater and then there's the patriots all whites that are like top top shelf exactly folks go out google raymond clayborne 1985 and that image will come up. There is not a finer image of the NFL right there. You want to put something on the logo? Put that on the logo. I guarantee it. People will love it. I know New England fans will love it, but yeah, that is such a clean look. Such a great point to make. See, you brought the positivity back, Murph. You may have taken it out a little bit with some of the negativity on the offense. Stanley Morgan couldn't get hit on this team right now, though. There I go again yeah Debbie

Starting point is 00:35:26 Downer you had to go there you had to go there and he looked he looked amazing in the all-whites yeah but you make a great point you really do make a great point and look you mentioned Ramondre Stevenson I think one of the big silver Linings from this game is the Patriots ability to run the football right between he and Antonio Gibson 185 yards on 36 carries that's averaging 5.1 yards per rush using the zone scheme so that is working well to their advantage 43 success rate those are great numbers for a running rain he did he looked great he looked powerful he looked like the type of runner and the complementary runner that the patriots hoped they were getting to Ramondre Stevenson. What we need to see though, is they need to start synergizing that running game to play action success. They need to generate those big plays off of play action. That's when this

Starting point is 00:36:16 offense is at its best. It's creating a lot of run pass sequencing that keeps the defense off balance. They have guys out there that are capable of being utilized in this fashion utilize them we need to see more receivers but i do want to give the well deserved credit to the running game and i don't know how we're not you know finish off the show without giving a lot of accolades and he's already gotten quite a few but i think it deserves even more to hunter henry with a career high 109 receiving yards. This goes back to what I mentioned before in the red zone packages. Why am I not seeing Hunter Henry earlier in the red zone packages? He's out there on third down and goal, third down and six. You know, that's ridiculous.

Starting point is 00:36:58 That's ridiculous for a man that's having the kind of day that he is and beating the defensive backs. And I think this goes back to something that I've been saying since Hunter walked through the door. Hunter is a phenomenal route runner. Give him the opportunity to show that. Give him the opportunity to get out in the open field. He can make things happen. Three third down conversions yesterday. Seven of his eight catches went for first downs.

Starting point is 00:37:21 He was on the receiving end for the Patriots' longest pass play of the season. These are the types of things you want to see if you're looking to get your tight ends involved this is a great synergy talk about synergy talk about marriage between two styles the Patriots had 149 receiving yards through the air Hunter Henry was responsible for 109 of them that should tell you how much of a focal point he was on this offense now guaranteed these numbers are going to go down because teams are going to catch on to what they did and they're going to game plan for it and you can't be one-dimensional that's what really i think was a big problem for the new england patriots down the stretch but it does show you that in the proper setting this guy can be a top weapon he It takes one set of game film for a defense to

Starting point is 00:38:08 catch up. That's it. You've got to be more diverse. You've got to be able to look at your slot receiver and wink. He knows that we're changing the play. Absolutely. Who knows? At the bottom line, maybe he's got another 35 yard screen pass reception in them with a fearsome just defense right now, ready to tee off on this offense. And who knows, maybe the Jets offense saw something in the Pats defense that they can exploit on, on Thursday night, the Pats are going to look to try to continue their dominance in the

Starting point is 00:38:41 Meadowlands and whether or not the Patriots can lighten Murph's mood a little bit by delivering an unexpected victory on Thursday still remains to be seen. One thing is for sure, Murph's going to cut some monster keys on how to get you there and we're going to bring them to you right here on Locked On Patriots. But in the meantime, Bud, I want to thank you for stopping by and lending your wisdom, your counsel, your raw emotion, on occasion a little bit of rage. It's all good because It's all good because it's all part of that stew that makes a New England Patriots season. We're always honored to have this man here on the pod each and every Monday, and whenever I need him to stop by,

Starting point is 00:39:14 he's always available. I can't thank him enough for that. Murph, before I let you go today, please let everyone know, for the benefit of our first-time listeners or our casual listeners, where they can reach out to you where they can interact with you and what you got marinating in Murph's kitchen between now and Thursday night when the Patriots visit East Rutherford yeah you can check me out on zitter at teamer 207 I interact with everybody come on come on down say hello uh ask a question or two keep it respectful otherwise you get the the big. And trust me, I'm a center. I know how to block people.

Starting point is 00:39:46 That's right. Whenever my good friend puts pen to paper or voice to microphone, it's always appointment learning opportunities. You want to take advantage of them because Murph is very seldom wrong. He's usually right, but he's always entertaining and informative. And you can't ask for more than that. And in that vein, folks, we hope that you continue to find your information, your entertainment right here on the Locked On Patriots podcast each and every day.

Starting point is 00:40:10 You're not going to want to miss tomorrow's episode. We're going to be breaking down more of the Patriots 23 to 20 loss to the Seahawks. And of course, don't forget to stay locked in each and every day to the Locked On Patriots podcast. On behalf of my good friend, the legend himself, Thomas Murphy, I'm Mike DeBate reminding all of you to stay safe, to stay well, and to be the change that you wish to see in the world.

Starting point is 00:40:33 Have a great day, everyone, and we'll see you back here again tomorrow on Locked On Patriots.

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