Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots: Preseason Expectations, Bill Belichick’s Legacy, Training Camp

Episode Date: August 8, 2023

As the New England Patriots prepare for their preseason debut against the Houston Texans, there are still lessons to be learned in training camp. Host Mike D’Abate welcomes Thomas ‘Murph’ Murphy to discuss the expectations for the Patriots heading into Thursday’s matchup, whether Bill Belichick deserves the criticism he receives, and whether the Pats will fill the remaining two open roster spots on #MailbagMonday.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/id1140512627Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1c5ZxFmwg3WbfxAU3tR5Ve?si=k196wH-yRqifUcQQz8SjIQStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-patriotsAnd follow host Mike D’Abate on Twitter, where he’ll be sharing the latest news about the New England Patriots and talking with fans.Twitter: @mdabateNFLSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!birddogsGo to birddogs.com/LOCKEDONNFL or enter promo code LOCKEDONNFL for a white tech hat with any order. You won’t want to take your birddogs off we promise you.Underdog FantasyThis episode is sponsored by Underdog Fantasy! Sign up HEREwith the promo code LOCKEDON to get your first deposit DOUBLED up to $100.Must be 18+ (19+ in Alabama and Nebraska, 21+ in Massachusetts and Arizona) and present in a state where Underdog Fantasy operates. Terms apply. Concerned with your play? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit www dot ncpgambling.org; In Arizona call 1-800-NEXT-STEP; in New York, Call 1-877-8-HOPENY; in Tennessee, call 1-800-889-9789eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit. eBay Motors dot com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.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.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Right now, when you bet on a Super Bowl Winner, you can GET BONUS BETS EVERY TIME THEY WIN IN THE REGULAR SEASON! FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With just a couple of days until the Patriots preseason debut, what do you want to see from the team this week? Stick around. It's Mailbag Monday right here on the Locked On Patriots podcast. You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all of you, Foxborough faithful. Thank you once again for making Lockdown Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage.

Welcome to the pod. We are a proud part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Subscribe or follow for free on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts to ensure that you get the latest episode as soon as it's available. I am your host, Mike DeBate, and I cover your New England Patriots for Patriots Country of Sports Illustrated. So reach out, let me know what's on your mind on Twitter, on X, whatever you happen to be calling the Bird app these days at M-D-A-B-A-T-E-N-F-L. While you're out there showing some social media, love the Locked On Patriots. Follow the account as well at L-O underscore Patriots. And folks, today's episode is brought to you by our good friends at Bird Dogs. Go to birddogs.com slash

LockedOnNFL or enter promo code LockedOnNFL for a white tech hat with any order. You won't want to take your bird dogs off, we promise you. And Patriots fans, thank you once again for joining me here today on the pod. Hope you all had an amazing

weekend and as always, special shout out and a tip of the cap Thank you once again for joining me here today on the pod. Hope you all had an amazing weekend. And as always, special shout out and a tip of the cap to all of you Locked On everydayers out there. Those of you who make Locked On Patriots possible. And of course, to all of you Locked On loyalists that sent in some amazing questions for today's Mailbag Monday. We have some great thought-provoking questions. And of course, if it's Mailbag Monday, that means another hashtag is in effect. That's right. It is hashtag LockedOnMurphMonday. And that means our good friend, the Count of Murphy Fisto himself,

the legendary Thomas Murphy of E2GSports.com, going to drop by, help me open up the LockedOnPatriots Mailbag. You know what? Without further ado, let's welcome the man in. Thank you for coming to me in friendship. And thank you for joining me here today on Mailbag Monday. Don Murph. Always a pleasure, Michael.

Always a pleasure. Hello, Newman. Let's get into it. Oh, Newman. When you control the mail, you control information. Wayne Knight delivering that line will never, ever get old. It's his birthday today. It is Wayne Knight's birthday today.

Happy birthday, Wayne. Absolutely. Some amazing characters that he's played over the years. One of the great character actors of our time, of any time. Wayne Knight is fantastic. He really is. Just a tremendous guy. We got Dotson here.

Absolutely, yeah. See, nobody cares. Nobody cares. He's brilliant. He's brilliant. But we're not going to get cheap on you people. We're not going to be Dotson. We're not going to get cheap on you.

We got the mailbag, and we dug deep this week. We had to sort through some fantastic questions. And we got a couple of new folks on the line, don't we? Yeah, we do. The first time submitting here, a longtime supporter of the show. And we're going to get into that in just a moment because he's got some questions, Murph, on Bill Belichick. And believe it or not, this is a subject that even I get passionate about. So stay tuned, stay locked in. You're not going to want to miss that. But as always,

we're going to dive right in with the topic of the day. And that is brought to you by a good friend of the program, Matt Urban at Matt Urban. Matt wants to know what do you want to see this week from the team? And Matt's question to me is as poignant and as timely as you could possibly get. The Patriots set to open this Thursday at Gillette Stadium, 7 p.m. start time against the Houston Texans. First preseason game of 2023, Murph. Hard to believe, but football is back and in-game action is only days away. And of course, we are a little past now the midway point of training camp. I know training camp technically lasts directly through the preseason.

I don't know if you want to get into technicalities there, but there's always learning going on, but the New England Patriots continue to put the work in on the field. We've seen a lot of improvements from 2022. There's still a lot of improvements left to be made. So, Murph, the ball is yours first. What do you want to see from these New England Patriots, especially this week in Foxborough?

I want to see a full and healthy offensive line. I want to see a number one unit, the number one unit. Okay, that's what I want. Get these guys on the field by hook or by crook. And let's start giving, uh, at least us and you fans out there a little sneak peek at what the top unit is going to look like. That's, that's the first thing on my, uh, on my menu this week. The second thing is I want to see, um, I want to see some more consistency built between Mac, and this is all related between Mac and the wide receivers.

Steps were taken this week. We all heard and saw about it over the week. Mike talked about it over the weekend with our good friend Steve Balistrieri. And it's been some really good news. You can take this one or two different ways. I'm going to take it as, as a positive. And, but I, I need to, lastly, I need to see Taequann Thornton on the field and catching balls from Mac Jones, which he was doing after practice on Friday. Absolutely. And, you know, I mean, Taekwon on Sunday worked mostly with the second, third team unit, mostly the second team unit.

It's been a mismatch. Yeah, there's a lot of rotation going on. So it's not really a situation where just because Taekwon is working with the second team offense in one moment, working mostly with Zappy, even a little bit with McSorley, does not mean, folks, by any stretch of the imagination, that we're not going to see Taekwon running with the ones very soon. We're starting to see what the primary unit is going to look like in terms of pass catchers. And right now, folks, that's Devante Parker, that's Juju Smith-Schuster, Kendrick Bourne is getting a lot of looks with the ones. Good to see that. Very good to see that um Hunter Henry Demario Douglas and Mike Gusecki these are the guys that are really starting to round into form and one of the things that I'd love to see this week Murr is to see Mike Gusecki get a little bit more play in the offense

than he's been getting I don't think this has been a situation where the Patriots are holding him out for any reason or anything to that effect I think they're just looking to see what they have. They know what they have in Gusecki. And what they do have is a guy that can not only be a red zone threat, but he proved yesterday, Murph, on Sunday, he can be a pretty slick receiver down the sideline as well. This guy can be good on the perimeter. Really beautiful throw from Mack Jones, 25 yard pass. This is someone that is capable of really taking your offense to another level. So what would I like to see, Matt? I'd like to see more of that from Mike Gusecki. But Murph, I think you hit the nail right on the head. I think everybody wants to see this offensive line and they want to see some of these guys start

to return. The first team offensive line yesterday consisted of riley rafe and conor mcdermott at the tackle positions atonio moffitt cody russi at the guards and james ferentz at center now that is not a knock to any one of these guys i think moffitt's been very good i think rafe and mcdermott have had decent um training camps i like what i see from russ. I think he stepped it up. Yeah, that's been a real surprise. Considering what they put on his shoulders. But this is not the starting unit that you're going to be used to seeing, folks.

These starters, these offensive line starters yesterday, the defensive line made really, really quick work of these guys in just a flash. Matt Judon back out on the field. I know it's shorts and shells, not full pads, but I had Judon getting three sacks yesterday. Some people had him credited for more, a couple of people for less, but it just depends on what you see. You also got the bill for the pizza.

Yeah, absolutely. But in any case, this is a concern for the New England Patriots because that offensive line needs to be able to provide solid protection for Mac Jones, solid protection for whatever quarterback is under center. Both Jones and Zappi had their moments where they were really kind of struggling to, you know, find accuracy, find comfort in the pocket. Find a lane to throw through. Exactly.

And it really stemmed from the fact that they were running for their lives again. This simply cannot happen as we progress now into the preseason part of training camp. It is. It really is. It's paramount that these guys all get on the same page. Now, each and every, like Mike said, don't panic. Each and every one of these guys on their own is a fine backup. There's somebody that you can plug in and get for a series

or a set of downs that if somebody goes down, it's as a collective, it's so glaring that they are not starter quality caliber offensive line here. But like I said, as depth pieces, these guys are fantastic. I'm not losing any sleep over it. But let's just get the number ones out there, get them healthy, and let's see what we got. Yeah, exactly.

Trent Brown, I'd like to see him see the field a little bit more this week. I know conditioning is always a concern with Trent. I think they've been smart to this point, exactly uh trent brown uh i'd like to see him see the field a little bit more this week i know conditioning is always a concern with trent i think they've been smart to this point but there's got to come a point where you got to get these guys out on the field a way new and strange i know we're still continuing right to convalesce from injury uh i'm not a medical expert so i don't know what their medical readiness is so i'm not going to force them back out on the field david andrews is in a fixture out there they gave gave him a day off yesterday. He's entitled to it. So I'm not going to get really concerned over that, but I really would like to

see Trent get back out there with the starters because if it's going to be Rafe or if it's going to be Connor McDermott, you need to get that continuity out there. And even just having one or two of those guys back is going to mean a world of difference. And I'm not losing sleep over conor mcdermott actually being the the starting right tackle i'm really not when when everybody else is out there yeah got a great season last year for the new england patriots some limited sample size that we had from him but uh in all uh you know actuality he's been a very consistent performer through OTAs, minicamp, and now in the training camp. Rafe has shown signs that he's capable of carrying the load as well.

So probably not going to go wrong with either one of these guys here. But if my hand is being forced right now, I'm going with Connor. I think he's been more consistent. But that's going to be up to Adrian Clem, Bill O'Brien, and Bill Belichick, ultimately, as to who gets the nod when this team is healthy and ready to put that complete unit out on the field. Murph, the defense has been phenomenal. Everyone continues to sing their praises.

We're getting continuously great reports about cornerback play, safety play, front seven looking dominant yesterday. Even despite that, though, there's always room for improvement. Anything that you'd like to see from the defense this week that maybe we haven't seen yet? That's a really tough question. It really is. Again, there are so many moving parts and interchangeable cogs

in this defense that it's unreal. I'd like to see a little more out of white this week, a little more of that dropping into coverage that we were talking about off the air a little while ago, something that Mike said on draft night. And I'd also like to see a cooler, calmer Jack Jones. Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned Jack because that is something that I would like to see. Look, there's no question about it. The fire and the desire are both there when it comes to Jack Jones. He is very serious about wanting to prove his worth on this team.

He's very serious about improving from the player that we saw last year on the field, which, by the way, for a rookie was pretty good. He started off pretty well, and he's coming in making improvements on that. I would like to see him on the opposite side of Christian Gonzalez a little bit more with John Jones in the slot. I think if you start to get closer to the season, that to me is your strongest, most competent, most potent trio that you're going to see of cornerbacks on the field for the New England Patriots. I say that with a lot of respect for Marcus Jones because I really love the way Marcus plays. And I even say that with some respect for Miles Bryan.

I know that a lot of people, you know, wanted to talk about how Mario Douglas absolutely left him in the lurch yesterday. You know, Miles makes contributions that a lot of people don't see on the field. I really do admire everything that Miles does on the field. There are times where he looks overmatched, and there are times where he is overmatched. But I think the good he brings to the table outweighs the bad. I'll get off my soapbox right now for Miles Bryant. But a lot of respect for both of those guys, especially for Marcus Jones and the speed that he has. But I think this is the unit that if the Patriots are going to have a quote-unquote elite-style secondary,

this is the unit they have to put out there. I really want to see these guys align a lot. And we'll know more toward the end of the month exactly what's going to happen legally. But if Jack is going to be able to be out there, this is without question your best unit. That's it. And without a doubt and sticking with that unit i would really like to see uh a little more of joshua bledsoe this uh this coming week um he's on on the wrong side of the bubble shall we say right now um and i i would really

like to see joshua get back over that hump that hump and maybe be on the right side of it. You had a good day Sunday from what I heard. Joshua Bledsoe had a very good day on Sunday, and, you know, it's a trend that he continues. He plays very well during training camp and during practice. This is a kid that continues to project as a very versatile safety. He showed it yesterday, had a couple of interceptions out there, one against the second unit, one against the third unit, but his ideal fit is a role right now that

the Patriots may not have a guy that fits so well into that type of a role. I'm talking the D-gap, the slot, big nickel-heavy defensive schemes. This is where Joshua Bledsoe can really shine, and when he's in there, he really does an amazing job. He can do very well in his man-to-man assignments, and he can be a rotational guy that subs in on late downs to play some of the man coverage looks that the Patriots may employ. So if you're wondering why Joshua Bledsoe continues to get press from those in the media and also continues to get attention from the Patriots coaching staff, that's a big reason why I'd

love to see this kid make the team. Admittedly, I had him on the floor because there's just so many spots that you can put these players. But I'd like to see him continue to put the good foot down. Exactly. And if he can do that, he's going to make it very, very difficult for the Patriots to cut him loose because, yeah, some team is going to really love what they see from him and he can make another team very happy so if you're the New England Patriots you don't

want him walking another team in this division absolutely and that could be uh something that could haunt the New England Patriots this is one of those one that got away that could end up haunting the team uh for a number of years to come. So Matt, excellent question. As always Murph and I always say, you know, appreciate your wisdom, your counsel that you bring to the show. And of course, all of the support. So folks, what would you like to see from the team this week? It may be mailbag Monday, but this question that a lot of you had drop your comments in

the section below, or send us a note and on Twitter at MDABATENFL or TeamMurph207, or you can just add the Lockdown Patriots account as well at LO underscore Patriots. Murph, we spend an awful lot of time talking about who's up, who's down, studs and duds, winners, losers, however you want to package it. We talk about guys that have really exceeded expectations during training camp or maybe failed to live up to them during training camp. But one guy that has continuously been, I don't want to say beaten from pillar to post, but has continuously been criticized. Okay.

Surprisingly enough, has been the main man on the bench. Bill Belichick has gotten a lot of grief this year from the fan base there's a lot right now that is in the belly of patriots fans when it comes to cash spending when it comes to their recent records it really is um interesting when you bring up bill belichick he's become very polarizing here in new england for the first time in a long while. But is he really on the hot seat? And is that talk about him being on the hot seat even warranted? Murph and I are going to discuss that here in just a moment when this hashtag mailbag Monday episode of the Locked On Patriot Podcast continues.

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slash LOCKEDONNFL or promo code LOCKEDONNFL for a free white tech hat. You won't want to take your bird dogs off, we promise you. Patriots fans, thank you once again for joining us here today on Locked On Patriots. It is hashtag Mailbag Monday.

Thank you all for taking the time over your weekend to submit phenomenal questions. We tried to pick three of the most poignant of the hottest topics that we could find, but some of the great questions that you've put in, folks, make Murph and I want to do a bonus Mailbag episode one of these days, and who knows? Maybe we will to get to everyone uh that submits great questions because you really truly really hate leaving anybody out it really is the stars of lockdown patriots are you all out there that make this show what it is and hopefully your feedback continues to make us everything we can be as well so thank you

kindly for all of your support but But Murph, if one thing consistently has been the case for the Patriots offseason, it has been that Bill Belichick will continue to be second guest for pretty much every decision that he makes, whether it be a good one, whether it be a bad one. There's always going to be people on opposite ends of the spectrum taking a polarizing take on it and our good friend the cornell hockey fan who's been a number it was been a supporter of what's on patriots for a number of times our good friend david we always appreciate his support but this is the first time that he submitted a question here to locked on patriots and it's a good one and he also has a little commentary here, folks.

You can find David on Twitter, at fan underscore Cornell. I am astonished by criticism of the coach, meaning Coach Bill Belichick. Some even say he is on the hot seat. What do you think? I see him as the GOAT. Murph, I'm going to let you take this first. I think everyone in Patriots Nation is in agreement that all-time Bill Belichick is most likely going to take that top seat that top face on the Mount

Rushmore of NFL coaches in history but there are some that believe he's passed his prime what do you say to this I I say there's there's no way in hell that he's past his prime. I agree. He is the GOAT. Just take a look at anybody's top five or top ten coaching ranks in the NFL right now. What do they all have in common? Bill Belichick beats them. He beats them in AFC title games. He beats them in the playoffs. He beats them in the Super Bowl. All of those guys live in Bill Belichick's

shadow. It's a very long shadow for a very short man. And I do not understand, except for people searching for something to talk about every day between two and six o'clock in the afternoon, as to why this is a subject. I really don't. I mean, I have gotten on Bill countless times, many times for his approach to the draft, but I understand the madness. I understand what he was doing back in the days that Tom Brady was here and he was able to roll the dice on some people that did not exactly work out because he didn't want to see them go anywhere else. Still winning championships. They're still in the hunt. Now, time and again, I've mentioned that in a four-year span,

a five-year span, this team lost four of its greatest players in the history of the franchise. Four guys who are arguably hall of fame caliber players. Now we're talking of course, Tom Brady, when you got to start with Tom at the top and then there's Julian Edelman. Okay. Which, you know, regardless of what you think, I think Julian Edelman is a hall of famer, because I've never seen a receiver come up as big in the big spot ever.

All right. So sorry, Lynn Swan. I I'll, I'll take, I'll take Edelman 11. All right. And then on top of that, of course, you have Rob Gronkowski. All right. Hands down the best tight end that has ever played this game. And lastly, Stefan Gilmore. Okay. These guys all walked out. All right. By hook or by crook or trade or trade or injury, they just got old. It was just time to go. It was. But it takes time to rebuild these things. It takes time to to. And this team, this town has become so impatient, impatient that it's unreal. There are teams out there that have been searching to get back to relevance for 20 years, 25 years.

All right. When was the last time the Dallas Cowboys won a world championship? Okay. And part of the issue is the fact that they change head coaches like other guys change their socks. Okay. You can't keep doing that. Bill Belichick, if Bill Belichick

got fired tomorrow, he would have, he would have a job by Tuesday. I mean, next Tuesday, somebody would fire their head coach, their entire front office and say, Bill, come on in. And he would give, they would give them him five or six years to write their ship. This isn't baseball. You can't just plug and play and fix it with money. Okay. This is a, this is a game that needs to be played by 22 different guys that all work together as a same, as the, as a, as one cohesive unit when they're on the field. All right. And it, it takes time to do that. Tom left, he went out and got, you know, what some people say was the last quarterback in the barrel to replace him. And it just didn't work out.

Things went downhill after Junior got COVID. He went out. He drafted a quarterback. The quarterback had a fantastic rookie season. Last year, there was a step back. And it was because why? Bill was trying to be innovative and get these guys to do something new, and it did not work out.

Okay? The stopgap did not work out. And now we're back on pattern. And like I've said before, like Michael and I have said before, O'Brien was always the endgame. Bringing O'Brien back in here was the end game. Last year was a stop gap. We'll see if we can compete doing this. We've seen a lot of other teams that are not very talented, put up a lot of points. So let's see if that'll work. And it didn't.

Give it some time. Bill's not on any hot seat. Yeah, I agree with you. I think the only way Bill Belichick walks out of Foxborough is A, if he wants to, and B, if things implode to the level where it's simply not salvageable in that locker room anymore, then obviously, I mean, Brock Kraft is a proud owner of the New England Patriots, and he's not going to watch his team deteriorate to a point that's either detrimental to their future or really detrimental to their present that i could understand but if there's a situation where this team is competitive and they just miss or anything of that nature uh my sincere opinion is that bill belichick is not going anywhere now i'll play devil's advocate for a moment because i know there

are a lot of fans out there probably a lot of fans watching or listening to this right now that are, I don't want to say fed up, but they're anxious. They want the Patriots to return to the glory days that we saw a few years ago. Everybody does if you're a Patriots fan. You look at the record, the recent record so far, once again on the outside of the AFC playoff picture last season, finish the season 8-9. They lost three of their final four games for the second consecutive time. That's something that naturally is not going to sit well with the New England Patriots. Last time, they won a playoff game, Super Bowl 53, to close out the 2018 season, and they failed to qualify for the playoffs twice in that regard. And for the two seasons that they did quickly

ousted in the wild card round including tom brady swan song here uh with the new england yeah exactly and so you're looking now at a situation where fans are looking at bill belichick and they're looking at the track record and they're saying okay well since brady's walked out the door bill hasn't looked so great has has he? You look at the draft record. You look at all these blemishes on the resume, so to speak. And yeah, it's going to add up to some animosity. But I always come back to this, Murph, and I think this is the most poignant question. If you want Bill Belichick out the door, that means you have to have someone else coming into the door.

Who do you want to replace Bill Belichick? Who is going to outbill bill belichick i don't think there's anybody out there that can do it um the only name that i would say that could come in here and maybe garner some immediate veteran respect don't say that was ready to return to the bench would have been sean payton and i I'm not saying that it's a like for like folks, but that to me is the only name, the only free agent name before he's obviously before Payton, you know, made his agreement to go with Denver that could have come in here and commanded similar type of respect because of the pedigree, the championship, um, reputation as being the

players coach. There's a lot there that could have given Patriots fans a little bit of hope saying, okay, well, no Bill, but we've got a guy that's been on the top before. Exactly. I mean, you talk about elite coaches in the NFL landscape right now. I mean, you want Andy Reid? He's not leaving Kansas City, folks. There's no way he's doing that. You know, you mentioned Brian Dayball and some of the younger,

he's not leaving New York. These guys that ball and some of the younger questions he's not leaving new york these guys that are entrenched that are good coaches right now are not leaving their posts to come here to new england so if you want bill bella check out the door who's going to come in here and do a better job than bill can do i don't think you can find any well according to the talking heads in this town mike v Vrabel. No. No. I like Mike. Mike's a good coach. Okay?

He's not a great coach. He's not a Hall of Fame coach. What has Mike Vrabel won in Tennessee? Okay? What has he done? The guys just aren't out there. There are a lot of people that have done less with a lot more along this coaching landscape than Bill Belichick has been able to do here in New England. Give it time, okay? Wait, just give it time. And for anyone

that believes that the gameplay has passed him by, I can still tell you, Bill is out there. He is directing traffic. He's not leaving everything to his assistants. His assistants are doing much better this year. You're seeing a lot more control on the offensive line from Adrian Clem. You're seeing much more control over the offense and the quarterbacks from Phil O'Brien. Even Jordan Mayo is a lot more hands-on with the defense this year. And Bill is not spread as thin as he was last year in any way, shape, or form. You're absolutely right. And Bill is still out there. He's still teaching basic hand techniques to the rookies and the young players. He's teaching them

where to place their feet. This is all Bill Belichick out there on the field each and every day. These guys are learning how to bat down a pass, how to shed a blocker, and how to gain leverage. 71-year-old Bill Belichick is out there showing them how to do this on the field each and every day so for anyone that doesn't think that bill belichick can communicate with the younger players i'm here to tell you he can do it and he does it each and every day so again folks i understand the angst i understand the anxiety about wanting to get back to winning i think every patriots fan should feel that way. If there is a little anger directed toward the head coach or the front office or whatever, that's normal. I totally completely understand that. And I'm not knocking you for feeling the way you feel. I just always ask you

to look at the opposite end of the spectrum. And if it's not Bill Belichick out there, what are your options about who would be out there? I just don't think there's a guy out there that can do what he does. That includes Bill O'Brien. That includes Josh McDaniels or any of the assistants on staff. Like Murph said, that includes Mike Rabel. I just think what Bill Belichick brings you is something you can't replicate.

And that's why he's here. And that's why I think he will continue to be here. That's it. That's it. Well said, bud. Well spoken. Murph, we are not done yet. Imagine that.

Hashtag mailbag Monday continues with a great question from one of our defining everyday there he is not just an everyday or in terms of support he provides to the show through listening and viewing but he's also a regular contributor here on Locked On Patriots that's why I call this man the pharaoh of Foxborough finance. And once again, he has done very well. Miguel Benzon chimes in with a question on the Patriots remaining two roster spots. What will they do with them? I think the bigger question is,

do they need to do anything with them? Murph and I are going to talk about that subject in just a moment when we wrap things up here on Hashtag Mailbag Monday on Locked On Patriots, your team every day. Locked On listeners, football season is about to kick off and FanDuel is giving you the chance to win all season long.

Because right now, when you bet on a Super Bowl winner, you can get bonus bets every time they win in the regular season. Just pick any team to win the Super Bowl and you'll get bonus bets for every victory. Feeling a little lucky when it comes to New England? Channel your inner Dirty Harry and show some love to your favorite team from Foxborough. You can use your bonus bets on spreads, player props, over-unders, and so much more. So visit Fanduel.com slash Locked On and start earning bonus bets with America's number one sports book.

That's Fanduel.com. Patriots fans, thank you once again for making Lockdown Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Thank you so much for being here today with us on hashtag Mailbag Monday. Coverage continues throughout the week as the patriots get ready for thursday night football okay not quite folks pre-season football at gillette stadium against the houston texans we're all looking forward to it murph and murph i think a big question on everyone's mind is training camp practices continue and the patriots get ready for pre-season games

is will it be a full nine-man roster right now it's an 88 man roster right patriots did cut a couple of players last week and they're starting to make trim downs don't forget there's not a cut down level that the patriots have to make mid-camp this way it's one big cut down at the end um i really hate this i really do i can't stand it. It's just not fair. I agree. It plays into the hands of the owners and it makes me sick. Yeah. I just, I don't, I'm not a big fan of it either. I know a lot of you out there are not. Some may be, some may like the opportunity to just see it all happen all at one. But I think it's more fair to the players to kind of bring them along in terms of where they are.

Maybe give them a chance to catch on elsewhere and not have a big mass exodus of a huge pool that everybody is shifting you know through within that four or five day window before you start to really get ready for the regular season so Murph in that thing our good friend the pharaoh of Foxborough finance the salary cap top gun himself the wizard of Ben Zahn. Yeah. He's developing a pretty good amount of nicknames himself. I think that's three by my count with Miguel right now, but, uh, our good friend, Miguel Ben Zahn, true, true legend here on locked on Patriots and, uh, someone who's golden melodious tones, including that laugh.

You may hear very soon here on locked on Patriots, sharp eye folks locked in because you're not going to want to miss Miguel when he does show up. He wants to know, do you expect the Patriots to fill the two open roster spots? And if so, how? Great question, Miguel. And we know that Miguel has the Patriots estimated

at just north of $14 million in available cap space. So clearly they have the room to bring guys in. We're seeing them work out a number of running backs ezekiel elliott's been in here the dinner with mac jones uh according to our good friend jeff house an outside chance of dalvin cook maybe still out there but not looking good there but ultimately the patriots have to get down to a 53-man roster before the start of the season. So my question to you is, do they feel a need at this point to bring a couple of guys in and fill out this roster prior to Thursday night's game? This is a great question.

Of course, you know, it comes from Miguel that Ty Montgomery is going to be able to get back on the field and do the things that they expect out of Ty Montgomery, yeah, I expect them to bring in a running back. I really do. I was happy with this room, didn't feel a need. But with the continuing soaking of Ty Montgomery right now, I just feel that it might be prudent for them to bring in a running back that can do a myriad of things. And if I had my druthers, it would be Ezekiel Elliott. I really do. And he would be put right on the thing.

The other side of the coin is we're still talking about the offensive line. You know. I really do. And he would, he would be put right on the thing. The other side of the coin is we're still talking about the offensive line. You know, we really are. And lastly, this is going to rub a few people the wrong way, but I would like to see Bill bring in Jamarco Jones, who recently released from the Titans. All right. This is a, this is more than a serviceable man. I'm not sure of what demons he's dealing with or what was going on down there, but he was released. And I think that, that he could come in here and contribute.

And I think Bill should bring them in just to at least kick the tires. And if he likes what he has to hear, fill it out, fill it out with him. That is, that's interesting from what I'm hearing. The New England Patriots right now are very happy with the guys that they have in the room, pretty much at every positional depth chart.

I agree with you. I think Ty Montgomery is going to be the pendulum in terms of where they go with the running backs room. I think if Ty is able to get back out on the field and they feel that he's going to be able to get back quickly and contribute to this team in the short term rather than the long term. Then I don't think they bring anybody in, even at the running back position. Even someone as talented as Ezekiel Elliott, because they are very high on Pierre Strong and Kevin Harris. And those two guys showed you last week, folks, on the practice fields why.

Kevin Harris getting a good amount of run with the ones. Yep. Pierre Strong getting some run with the ones. These guys know that they can at least be serviceable options to back up from andre stevenson if they need to you had time montgomery into the mix all of a sudden you're looking really really good right if you're the new england day a nice healthy time montgomery but that's why i put that caveat in there if he's healthy and if absolutely need to look somewhere else because JJ Taylor, as much as I love the kid, is not going to come in here and be able to do that. Yeah, and I love JJ as well.

I would love to see him crack this roster because I think he's been one of the hardest workers and the most positive guys in that locker room. Very a la Damian Harris. Always a smile on his face. Always telling you, keep pushing forward. This kid exudes everything you want in an athlete. But I do think that the Patriots would probably prefer to have someone come in that's a little more NFL ready, a little more NFL battle tested. And to me, that ideal person would be Zeke Elliott.

But we'll see how the Patriots monitor that. But I think you can nail right on the head. If Montgomery is not healthy, the Patriots clearly need to address this position. The O-line, I understand what you're saying on owns. I like the thought process, but I also, again, from what I'm hearing from those close to the team, those that I'm talking to, they're very happy with the offensive line

and the pieces that they have right now. Don't forget what we're seeing out there on the field, folks, kind of bringing it all full circle from what we talked about to open the show today. Not indicative of what we're going to be seeing this season. I think the only two guys that have a chance to crack this starting rotation when all is said and done and the Patriots are ready to start regular season games would be either Riley Rafe or Connor McDermott

at the opposite tackle position at the right side. So either one of those guys might get in there, but all the other starters are going to be guys that you're accustomed to seeing. Trent Brown, Cole Strange, David Andrews, Michael Wainu. You add all those guys back into the mix. Now, all of a sudden, you're looking at some very good reserve options. Antonio Mafi, City So, who we don't talk about a whole lot, but is getting a lot of looks and doing very well in one-on-one drills when the pads are on. So keep that under your hat as well.

Then you've got Roosie stepping it up. Bill Murray is in there. Bill Murray, yeah. I think they have so many guys in this area that just filling those two roster spots when they're going to have to probably cut them down anyway is going to be a little bit difficult. I can't imagine anybody then bringing in here that's going to be so much better than what they have with the exception of maybe a Zeke Elliott at the running back position because

of the type of respect he's going to. See, we don't always agree. Absolutely. We don't. But you know what? It's respectful. We can sit there across from one another. I can tell Murph that he's dead wrong.

No, I'm only kidding, folks. He's absolutely not dead wrong you know what there's probably more of a chance of me being wrong than murph but you know what that's why we love him and that's why we have him here on the show saying goes and you got my back i got your back so you have the right to call me an sob whenever you want no i don't think so no i still don't have that right and i never will have that right because you are the don of Locked On Patriots. And again, once again, a tip of the cap, a nod to the gods, to the pharaoh of Foxborough Finance

for taking us home with a phenomenal question today and always. But before we take our leave of Mailbag Monday, Murph, it wouldn't be Monday unless we enlightened all of our Locked On loyalists out there about what you have cooking in Murph's kitchen when it comes to E2G Sports. What can we expect this week, Bud? The floor is yours.

Take us home. Well, I've got a nice little piece on the Red Sox and their weekend against Toronto. You can go over and check that out at E2GSports.com. to have a fabulous piece coming up this week about overblowing expectations of the rookie class there at Fenway. So check that one out. You can follow me on the XBird app, you know, at TeamRF207 to just see, you know, stop by, say hello. Absolutely.

Always stop by. Yes, he absolutely is. Don't let the angry green avatar fool you. He is a very, very friendly human being, except for certain circumstances. And you know what? I'm not going to reveal those. I'm going to let you determine what makes Murph a little on the green angry side, because I just happen to find it funny, and I think it'll be a good opportunity for all of us

to see. But bottom line, I appreciate you always, Don Murph. Your wisdom, your counsel, your friendship are a big key, a huge reason why Locked On Patriots is what it is. And I appreciate it. And I know all our listeners do as well. And folks, thank you for continuing to make us a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage.

Don't forget, coverage continues here on Locked On Patriots Tuesday, Wednesday, and, of course, game day on Thursday when the Patriots get set to take on the Houston Texans at Gillette Stadium, 7 p.m. Not going to want to miss the first and only preseason game held at Gillette Stadium this year. But, folks, what that means is Patriots football is about to be back in a big way,

and I know we can't wait for it. So on behalf of the Count of Murphy, Pisto himself, the legendary Thomas Murphy of E2G Sports, I am Mike DeBate reminding you to stay safe and stay well and to be the change you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone. See you back here again tomorrow on Locked on Patriots. I won't be here.

He will. I'm not me. Murph's be here. He will. I'm a dummy. Murph's always here. He's omnipresent.