Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots Silver Linings Despite the Loss? Rhamondre Stevenson, Kyle Dugger and More

Starting point is 00:00:00 Patriots fans, are you still looking for the silver linings from Sunday's loss to the Raiders? You have to really look for them, but the New England Patriots did have some. So 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.

Starting point is 00:00:56 Remember, Locked On Patriots is free and available on all platforms, including YouTube, so smash that subscribe button, download, subscribe to, follow Locked On Patriots wherever you get your podcasts. Today's episode brought to you by Ultimate Football GM. To download the game, just visit ultimate-gm.com or look it up on the app stores. Our listeners get a 100% free boost to their franchise when using the promo code LOCKEDON. That's all one word, all caps, L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N.

Starting point is 00:01:27 Look it up in the game store, Ultimate Football GM. Patriots fans, thank you once again for joining us here on Locked On Patriots. I'm your host, Mike DeBate. I cover your New England Patriots for Patriots Country of Sports Illustrated. Let me know what's on your mind. Look me up. Anything you want to talk about, reach out to me on the Bird app, aka Twitter, at MDABATENFL. And while you're out there doing some love for that Twitterverse, please be sure to follow

Starting point is 00:01:54 the Lockdown Patriots account as well at LO underscore Patriots. Pats fans, before we get started, if you're viewing us on YouTube today, some non-system related video problems but unfortunately we weren't able to come to you on video today but we will be back on wednesday but that's not enough to keep this pod down we're still going to continue to bring you the very latest from foxborough patriots fans we're a couple of days removed now from the pats loss to the raiders and you've heard all the descriptive words, all the adjectives to describe that one. A lot of them used here on Locked On Patriots.

Starting point is 00:02:31 Egregious, unfathomable, perplexing, gut-wrenching. A lot of descriptive $50 words to describe the Patriots' 30-24 loss to the Raiders. Week 15, Allegiant Stadium. But to me, the one that keeps coming up over and over again in my mind is calamitous and not only do I like the sound of the word it really is appropriate because it could mean the end of the Patriots season little over dramatic I understand but bear with me for a second the loss drops the Patriots to 7-7. 500-ball club, hardly a terrible record, but not exactly where you want to be if you want to qualify for the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:03:10 The loss dropped the Patriots back into the eighth spot in the playoff hunt, and right now they're on the outside looking in. They've been leapfrogged by teams like the Los Angeles Chargers and their Saturday opponent, the Cincinnati Bengals. We'll get back to them a little bit later in the week we're still focusing on the raiders right now here folks but they do hold the tiebreaker with the new york jets so they have the equal record with seven and seven but the patriots face a very tough road not only do they have the bengals on christmas eve they've got the miami

Starting point is 00:03:40 dolphins on new year's day and then of course on on January the 8th, they closed the season with a matchup with the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park. So a lot to digest if you're a Patriots fan, and not a whole lot to look forward to. And unfortunately, it means that losses like this can really sting. And again, if you're watching us on YouTube, you can see that the heading of today's show is Patriots Silver Linings. There are not a lot of positives to take away from this game. Losses like this can really sting. They can have an impact on the team, and that's my fear as a Patriots fan. As a Patriots writer, it's definitely something that I'm keeping my sharp eye on. Now, losses like this can either make or break a team season. We've seen it several times before, but what really makes or breaks a season is the resolve of a team.

Starting point is 00:04:30 And if the Patriots don't come back with a resolve to win and correct the mistakes that they made, yeah, they're probably going home early, folks. That game up in Orchard Park in early January would probably be the last time you'll see the 2022 Patriots on the field. If they do, when they do make that resolve to make those improvements, then you're looking at a team that could qualify for the playoffs. And look, bottom line, whether the Patriots qualify for the playoffs or not, really what comes out of these next three games is going to be how their core players respond to a loss like this and how long it can have impacts on their careers. I'm talking guys like Mac Jones,

Starting point is 00:05:10 Ramondre Stevenson, Jacoby Myers. These guys were all involved in the end game debacle that we all saw on Sunday. And it's becoming a situation where they're younger players that are starting to come into their own or should be expected to come into their own, either in their second, third, or maybe even fourth years in the league. These guys are professionals. Ultimately, the onus is on them to make those improvements. But I've been saying this for the past couple of days here on the pod. The miscues that we've been seeing all year long, not just on Sunday, but all year, they've largely come because the players are not properly coached to handle the situation, especially the unexpected. Situational football is not just about X's and O's, game planning, and following the roadmap

Starting point is 00:05:58 to a tee. It's about coaching your players to deal with the problems that come up that might be unforeseen. And in the years past, as Patriots fans, we've all seen it. We've seen the New England Patriots capitalize on other teams' miscues. In fact, Patriots fans have whacked for years at some of the bonehead moves that a lot of other teams, a lot of other franchises continuously made, tripping over themselves, and the Patriots were there to pounce on it and get the win because they played smarter football and they played mistake-free football at least for the most part under Bill Belichick. Right now the Patriots are the ones making these mistakes and it's a different situation for New England Patriots fans. There's no question about it. A lot of us are not used to this. And to me, I really think the perfect example of this was in Sunday's game.

Starting point is 00:06:49 And I know a lot of you were going to point to the end play. Yeah, the end play was a disaster. There's no question about it. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. I'm not going to try to put a positive spin on it. It was a debacle, one of the dumbest plays I've ever seen. But at the same time, I really think a better analogy or a better metaphor for the Patriots season might end up being Michael Polardi's blocked

Starting point is 00:07:11 punt at the end of the first half. That to me is the one that really, I think, encapsulates what the Patriots struggles have been all year. That mistake immediately set the Raiders offense up on the Patriots 20-yard line. It led directly to a touchdown. That is something that the New England Patriots just typically don't do. They've done it this year, but they haven't done it in years past. And to me, the most difficult thing to watch was it appeared that the Patriots protection unit was still getting organized when the ball was snapped. No one was on the same page, and very few people on the field were ready for that snap when it

Starting point is 00:07:49 happened. And some of the players even talked about this after the game, and even a little bit on Monday in very bit pieces where they were exposed and able to talk to the media, meaning Bill Belichick and Mac Jones most definitely on their weekly radio spots. But that being said, most of the players have pointed to confusion or miscommunication regarding the clock. Again, something not typical of a New England Patriots team. According to what a lot of the players had been saying, Matthew Slater mentioned this, so did Jabril Peppers, there was an expectation that the play clock was going to be bumped.

Starting point is 00:08:29 In other words, folks, that means it was going to be reset. They expected the officials to come in, reset the clock, so the Patriots waited to punt the ball. That would have allowed them a little more time to bleed some of the time off the clock before kicking the ball back to the Raiders. Technically, it's the right strategy, and I understand why the Patriots would want to do it. The problem is the reset did come, but it came later than most people expected, and the players weren't ready for it. Jabril Peppers, who at this point was in the middle of the field, he starts pointing to the clock after the late reset, really trying to get the players' attention, telling them they've got more time to burn, but long snapper Joe Cardona has his head down.

Starting point is 00:09:05 He's immediately thinking, I don't want to delay a game penalty I want to be on time I'm going to go ahead and snap the ball didn't realize the clock had not been reset Peppers and the others they weren't ready that led to a lot of unblocked rushers coming in they swarmed Palardy and of course the rest is history and unfortunately the New England Patriots found themselves on the receiving end. A pretty bad play to end the first half, and credit the Las Vegas Raiders for capitalizing on this. Derek Carr finding Matt Collins for the touchdown, putting them up 17-3, and all of a sudden, the Patriots are in an insurmountable hole heading into the half.

Starting point is 00:09:44 They scored 21 straight points to get themselves right back into it, but you have to wonder how the complexity of that game might have changed if they didn't give the Raiders an easy shot at an extra seven points at the end. Now, in the interest of being fair, I know a lot of you are probably screaming right now saying it's one play. You can't get on these guys for a mistake. Mistakes like this are going to happen, and they even happen to good teams without question. But mistakes like this are happening in New England this year far too often, especially on special teams. When you think about the fact that the Patriots had always prided themselves on being a solid, almost flawless team on special teams, they've had four blocked punts in their last two seasons.

Starting point is 00:10:26 That's a pretty high number, especially for a team that places such a premium on the game's third phase. And when you sprinkle in issues like clock management, awareness problems, it's going to lead to the issues that we saw on Sunday. And that's where the coaching staff comes in. That's where the team captains have to come in. They have to take this team and they have to make them realize that mistakes like this happened. Unfortunately, it put them in a bad hole. But when you take a young team right now,

Starting point is 00:10:56 that's trying to find its identity, you've got to get back to basics and you have to show them situational football. The captains can do only so much on the field. It's really up to the coaching staff. And you can bet that Bill Belichick and the coaching staff are going to be practicing that this week as they take a scrutinous look into their performance in all three phases. Needless to say, folks, the Patriots, there are plenty of areas that they're going to continue to seek that improvement

Starting point is 00:11:22 in all three phases of the game. Game film analysis is going to be big. Practice drill is going to be even bigger. But they're going to be looking to correct their mistakes from Sunday in a lot of different ways. So in that regard, in a little bit, we're going to take a look position by position at what the Patriots did and whether any of those silver linings can be found from the Patriots loss to the silver and black. We'll do so when this episode of the Locked on Patriots podcast continues.

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Starting point is 00:12:59 That's LOCKEDON in all caps, so make sure to check it out today. To download the game, just visit ultimate-gm.com or look it up on the app stores that's ultimate-gm.com ultimate football gm start your dynasty today patriots fans you know that the holidays are nearly upon us. And it's the week before. It's the crunch time. And you need to get where you need to go without any question. And when you need to get there in a hurry or you need to get there safely or you just need to get there, period, you can try our good friends at Turo,

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Starting point is 00:14:12 Every trip is backed by liability insurance. Terms and conditions and exclusions apply. Find your drive at Turo.com. Patriots fans, thank you once again for making Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Welcome back to the pod. I am your host, Mike DeBate. And Pats fans, when you look at the Patriots' performance, again, there are not a lot of

Starting point is 00:14:38 silver linings to be found. But one thing I have found is that there are some hidden gems in this game for the Patriots when you look at their performance position by position. So in that vein, let's start with the offensive performance on Sunday. And despite the week-long rally cries for the Patriots to right their offensive ship, the unit just, they regressed against the Raiders. An overall dismal performance by the offense. But a lot is going to be written about that controversial ending.

Starting point is 00:15:08 A lot's going to be talked about. We talked about it here on Locked On Patriots for the last couple of games, last couple of days, I should say. There's a lot of people talking about it all over terrestrial radio, but their problems on offense, they run a lot deeper than one botched play. Let's start with the quarterback position. Let's start with Mac Jones. And completing only 13 of 31 passes for 112 yards without a touchdown, that's very much below par for Mac Jones's standards. If you take out the 39-yard completion

Starting point is 00:15:39 to Jacoby Myers in the fourth quarter, which by the way, was a nice pass. Nice play max best drive of the game without question. Mac would have averaged only a mere 2.4 yards per pass. You add it in, he goes to 3.6, which is still not a tremendous amount, but it's a little more respectable than what you see from the 2.4 and his performance in the fourth quarter helped to kind of pull himself out of the doldrums a little bit, but things we're still seeing with Mac accuracy issues suspect decision making a little bit squeamish when it comes to making the plays that he needs to play and these are problems that we're seeing happen this year that we didn't see happen in his rookie season ultimately the finger is going to be pointed at the coaching staff. And I can't necessarily disagree with any of you. If that's what you're saying right now, you're probably correct. And I believe you are correct because there definitely is a change in

Starting point is 00:16:34 philosophy in Mac, a change in the way he does things. And I think it's affected his ability to see the field. I think it's affected his ability to be able to lead his team. And I also think it's shaken his confidence a little bit. And when that happens to a quarterback, you're going to see a lot of the same mistakes that you're seeing with Mac Jones right now. I'm not going to get on him. And Murph and I talked about this on Monday's episode, folks, if you haven't seen it, go back and take a listen. You definitely want to hear the green man's take on this game. A lot of fun. Not for the faint of heart, I will warn you.

Starting point is 00:17:11 But I'm not going to get on him for not being able to tackle Chandler Jones. I mean, Chandler is 6'5", 265 pounds. You know, Mack's not taking him down at that point. No one's expecting that. Even though Mack did do the captainly thing and try to say, I needed to tackle him, that's on me. That final play was really not on Mac Jones, but you know, bottom line folks, the Patriots needed their starting quarterback to be better than he was on Sunday, especially when they're vying for a playoff spot

Starting point is 00:17:35 in the home stretch of the season. So the Patriots need better play out of their quarterback. If you're looking for a silver lining, when it comes to Mac Jones, it was that as the game started to slow down for him, he got better. And in the second half, save for that final play, I thought Mac actually played pretty well in the fourth quarter, or at least better than what we've seen. So it showed that he can have a dismal first half, really perform poorly, but be able to pull himself up by the bootstraps and be able to play a little bit better. So there's your silver lining on Mac Jones. Now the rest of the offense sprinkled in. The offensive line played every offensive snap.

Starting point is 00:18:16 The starting unit went the distance. Isaiah Wynn, have we seen the last of him in a Patriots uniform? Looking to make the playoffs, there's a shot that he may be able to be back. But if not, they know now that they're going to have to makeshift that right tackle position. And Connor McDermott continues to be the guy. Surprised me a little bit. But when you look at Yanni Kajust coming back from an injury, not really all that surprising. Kajust has been battling that injury for a little while, so they're taking their time with him.

Starting point is 00:18:47 They had a good rhythm going with Connor. Maybe that's the Patriots strategy moving forward. Kajust did see an offensive play aligned for a jumbo tight end in a select package. We'll see what happens with Yadni when it comes to Saturday's game against the Bengals. Will he sprinkle back in into the right tackle position, or is this something where they're going to ride with Connor McDermott and ride with the hot hand right now? So that's something to take a look at, but the rest of the offensive line was solid. David Andrews is a guy to keep an eye on. Obviously, there was a little bit of an injury issue late in the game. He was helped off the field, but

Starting point is 00:19:22 we'll see. He did speak to the team afterwards, so you have to think that even if he was a little bit banged up, he should be okay. But practice status on David Andrews, something to keep under your hat for the remaining week. For all the negativity that's going to engulf this matchup, I thought the Patriots' running game may have been their brightest silver lining of the day. Pat's running game had a solid statistical day and say what you will about Ramondre Stevenson. Murph and I love to say he looks fantastic and he did look fantastic against the Raiders on Sunday. Take the final play away from this just for a second.

Starting point is 00:19:58 172 yards, 19 carries, 34 yard touchdown run. That really arguably should have been the game winner. That should have been the game-winning drive. But again, folks, I digress. But Stevenson was really able to take advantage of what the Patriots do well when the running game is effective. Getting back to the offensive line, when you have Cole Strange pulling to the play side, when the tight ends are used as protection blockers and

Starting point is 00:20:25 12-man alignments that's when this Patriots running game is at its best that downhill gap-based running style that really Ramondre Stevenson is just so good at and that's where he was able to rip some of his big runs Pierre Strong I thought showed a good amount of ability to spell him a little bit get some yardage when he needs to the stat sheet's not going to wow anybody just four carries for 25 yards but I thought he had a strong game um no pun intended and I thought Kevin Harris mixed in a little bit as well shows that this team has a strong young nucleus they can really build on this moving forward into the 2023 season and beyond. So really good showing by the running backs in this game.

Starting point is 00:21:09 When you look at the receivers, one thing that really jumped out at me is that with the exception of Jacoby Myers, two catches for 47 yards, not a whole lot of production here. Taequann Thornton led the receivers in taking snaps. He played for 92% of the Patriots plays, but only hauled in one catch for 21 yards. This is impressive, but we need to see more of Taequann taking those shots down the field. He has the ability to beat guys in coverage one-on-one. The Patriots need to air that out and see what's what down there.

Starting point is 00:21:41 I really think the play calling needs to dial his number a little bit more. I was a little surprised that we didn't see more of Kendrick Bourne. He had 42 snaps in the victory against the Cardinals just a couple of weeks ago. This past game, only 11 snaps missed his only target. He's one to keep an eye on in the offseason, folks. I really, really don't know what happened to get kendrick out of favor in new england i'm not sure if maybe a change of scenery may change things uh change the coaching staff may bring him back into the fold here in foxborough or if this is just something where he just has kind of worn out his welcome uh sources that i talked to are very tight-lipped on this so they're saying all the right So they're saying all the right things.

Starting point is 00:22:25 They're saying all the honorable things. No one is throwing Kendrick under the bus, but got to be something there and a reason why we're not seeing him on the field. But Nelson Aguilar, 54 snaps. He only had one pass caught for three yards. So in that regard, Patriots receivers definitely missing Devontae Parker in this game. He's another one to watch on the practice fields this week to see if he returns, what type of capacity he practices in, if he's there at all. If he is, it's definitely going to be a big help. But a lot of this is also going to be determined on Jacoby Myers. Jacoby was very emotional after the game last night.

Starting point is 00:23:01 According to the reporters that were in the locker room in Las Vegas, red eyes, you could tell he was definitely distraught by what he did on the field. It's hard to get on Jacoby completely for this. He was in the moment. I think he was trying to make the best possible play he could. Again, I put more of the onus on the coaching staff here, not having these guys prepared for a situation like that. But he has to shoulder some of the blame as well. Again, he's a professional. That's just inexcusable to do what he did. But Jacoby is one of the great guys on this team, and I really hope that he's able to bounce back. Every player that the Patriots have put in front of a microphone have rallied to his

Starting point is 00:23:41 aid and have really rallied to his rescue and been a support to him. Hope to see that continue without question. So onward and upward for Jacoby Myers, hopefully this week and beyond. Like to see him snap out from what really is a real tough thing for him to be able to get over. Last but certainly not least, and I know our good friend Claire Cooper is listening to this, tight endage Claire yeah uh not many good things to say I'm sorry uh Jono Smith 38 snaps Hunter Henry 52 snaps they combined for four passes 33 yards the longest was a 32 13 excuse me yard reception belonging to Smith this is a team in the Las Vegas Raiders that had difficulty covering tight ends typically,

Starting point is 00:24:26 only averaging about 50 yards per game per tight end, not a whole lot of production in the red zone. The Raiders are not a very good red zone defensive team, at least coming into this game, they weren't. I really thought this was a missed opportunity for the Patriots. I know they use them in 12-man personnel as blockers. They both did a very good job in that regard, but they have to do more than just be a body when you're pulling to that left guard side to facilitate the run. The tight ends have to get involved in this offense, and they have to get involved off of play action. Did not see enough of that yesterday. I don't know if that's necessarily a negative that marks on the tight ends or if it's a negative that marks on the play calling,

Starting point is 00:25:09 but that needs to change. So, folks, again, a lot of dark clouds there, but silver lining sprinkled through for the Patriots offense. It was a little bit better on the defensive side of the ball, and that's how we're going to wrap things up today here on Locked On Patriots, talking about the Pats D and some of the positives that came from it when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast concludes. But first, I want to tell you a little bit about our good friends over at PrizePix. Daily fantasy made easy. And let me tell you how PrizePix works. You can pick

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Starting point is 00:26:39 So don't forget to enter the promo code locked on at sign up for an instant deposit match up to $100. prizepix.com Patriots fans, thank you once again for joining us here on this Tuesday episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast, breaking down potential silver linings and position by position going through the Patriots 30-24 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders and the offense may have sputtered it may be the punching bag for the New England Patriots units this year but defense is certainly a unit that has stepped up and the defense has played extremely

Starting point is 00:27:18 well we'll get to their little bit of a defensive breakdown in the final two series in just a moment, but definitely want to give some credit to the Pats D, especially throughout the third quarter and most of the fourth quarter. A team that really stepped it up, identified what they were doing wrong, and made the adjustments necessary to be able to hold what is a potent Raiders offense in check, especially with guys like Darren Waller returning, Hunter Renfro, Mack Hollins we saw be able to be a factor in this game, Keelan Cole. I'm not going to talk about the toe on the white line, folks. It's been done ad nauseum. But bottom line, the New England Patriots stepped up when they needed to step up. And let's start at the cornerback position.

Starting point is 00:28:03 The Joneses definitely went to the wire. They went wire to wire at cornerback, that pair of perimeter corners. And I love to use the Indiana Jones line from Last Crusade. Not that Jones, the other Jones. In this case, the other Jones was Marcus Jones. And I want to give an awful lot of credit to this kid.

Starting point is 00:28:22 Really impressive in his coverage against one of the top receivers in the league, one of the top receivers you'll find anywhere in Devontae Adams. Jones struggled on the team's final two drives, and there was a reason for that. He was aligning way too far away from his target. In yesterday's episode here on Monday on Locked On Patriots, Thomas Murphy of E2G Sports and I talked about his alignment and where he was positioned as a rookie, as a 5'9 rookie,

Starting point is 00:28:50 and that's a big distinction as well. When you're lined up too far away, that's going to be a mismatch no matter who you're covering. But I thought Marcus showed tremendous speed, and I thought he showed great coverage ability. If this kid can hone in on that and really be coached to align in the right spot, Patriots have a keeper here at corner. I know a lot of people talk about

Starting point is 00:29:09 moving him to wide out or moving him into the slot. He may have found his home as a perimeter corner here for the New England Patriots. And you know what? I would definitely not be against it. But the veteran continues to be good as well. Jonathan Jones led all cornerbacks, six total tackles and one pass breakup. And I thought a solid performance from the cornerbacks on Sunday. Safeties, what can you say about the safeties that really doesn't include Kyle Duggar? Want to give all the love in the world to Devin McCourty, who continues to be the Ironman out there. He went the distance snaps-wise, played all 68, and he continues to direct traffic back there. But Kyle Duggar was the standout.

Starting point is 00:29:47 Six total tackles, one pass breakup, and a pretty 16-yard pick-six. That sparked the second-half surge for New England. Duggar not only read and anticipated Derek Carr's receiver screen pass, intended for Devontae Adams, but he took it, returned it for a touchdown. That cut the Las Vegas lead to 17 to 10. And again, this is the formula that the Patriots use to try to win games. It gave you a lot of hope that this game could be turned around. Patriots entered this game scoring 85 points off of turnovers.

Starting point is 00:30:21 First in the NFL, something if you've listened to last week's crossover with your boy Q of Locked On Raiders and myself, we talked about the Patriots' ability to capitalize on turnovers and score off of them. Patriots did it, and this is something that gave us, again, hope to see the Pats be able to turn it around. And that really, that initiated and started a run of 21 straight points scored by the team in the second half should have been enough to carry them to victory ultimately it wasn't but again the new england patriots definitely playing well at the safety position adrian phillips had 43 snaps as the star position jabril peppers 11 snaps they rounded out the depth

Starting point is 00:31:03 chart again we talked about peppers when it came to the missed assignment on the punt block. Clock confusion, no question about it. But they struggled a little bit. The Darren Waller touchdown. Waller beat both of these guys easily to get into the end zone. So have to shore up, have to tighten up that coverage a little bit with both Phillips and with Peppers. But again, Duggar really pulls the weight here on the safeties.

Starting point is 00:31:28 As far as the D-line goes, I thought a solidly schemed game for the interior defensive front. Dietrich Wise, he took 36 snaps. This was a heavy rotational game for the Patriots. So not a whole lot of iron men out there for these defensive linemen. But you look at guys like Devon Godchow, Lawrence Guy, Daniel Aquale, all rotating in, all taking big time snaps, all taking the opportunity to have something happen in the defensive front and be able to keep that offensive line at bay for the Las Vegas Raiders. They also did a very good job of scheming against Josh Jacobs, preventing the run. Josh did have 93 yards on 22 carries, but this is a guy that routinely can go off for over the century mark. When you look at some of the personnel that the Patriots rotated in,

Starting point is 00:32:19 I thought they did a very good job of holding him in check. Christian Barmore really facilitating the interior pass rush, bringing some pop back to that position. He finished the day three tackles, a half a sack, in his first game back since being activated from IR. So while Christian didn't necessarily have the impact on the game I thought he would, I thought he looked good out there and there's a lot to build on. Speaking of Christian Barmore, his presence definitely continues to bolster the pass rush and Patriots pass rush again in this game I thought

Starting point is 00:32:50 was very good. I thought they did a great job of simulating pressure and dropping Matthew Judon back into coverage while Juwan Bentley provides pressure up the middle. This frees up guys like Josh Uche for the speed rush and uche again over the course of 30 defensive plays that he played yesterday limited duty in terms of the amount of snaps that the patriots took 68 defensive snaps yesterday for the patriots uche was only on duty for 30 of them collected a tackle and a half a sack but his effort in being a presence in the middle of that defense is a lot more than the stat sheet is going to indicate. So a tip of the cap and a nod to Josh Uche once again and Matthew

Starting point is 00:33:31 Judon, who continue to be beasts in that pass rush, and also a little bit of love there to Dietrich Weiss, who continues to be a great factor there as well. And having Christian Barmore back in the interior is going to make that pass rush a unit that the Patriots can lean on. Is it going to be enough to right the ship against a red-hot Cincinnati Bengals team that's playing very well? That's going to be the question this Sunday, folks. Excuse me, Saturday, when the New England Patriots take on the Cincinnati Bengals on

Starting point is 00:34:00 Christmas Eve at Gillette Stadium, a 1 p.m. kickoff. And folks, we are going to continue to break down that one all week long here on Locked On Patriots, including the much anticipated crossover with our good friends over at Locked On Bengals. So don't go anywhere. Be sure to tune in for that. But we're not quite ready to take our leave of the Raiders just yet. We'll continue and wrap up our Raiders discussion tomorrow here on Locked On Patriots.

Starting point is 00:34:26 So once again, I thank you all for taking time out to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage today. For those of you viewing on YouTube, thank you again for bearing with the issues that we had video-wise. They will be corrected and the ship will be

Starting point is 00:34:42 righted for Wednesday, but in the meantime, please continue to stay safe, stay well, and be the change that you wish to see in the world. And now that you've made Locked On Patriots your first listen, please make your second listen, our good friends over at Locked On Today. Locked On Sports Today has all of the sports information you need, all of the major storylines, and the take of the day as well. What more can you ask for?

Starting point is 00:35:06 So download, subscribe to, follow wherever you get your podcasts, including the Odyssey app, YouTube, or many other major providers. Once again, folks, I'm Mike DeBate. Thank you for viewing us and listening to us here on Locked On Patriots, a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network. We'll see you tomorrow here on the pod. Have a great day, everyone.

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