Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots Takeaways from Giants Loss: Mac Jones, 2024 NFL Draft and More

Episode Date: November 28, 2023

The New England Patriots may be on to 2024, but still have questions regarding the remainder of their 2023 campaign. Host Mike D’Abate welcomes Thomas ‘Murph’ Murphy of E2G Sports to discuss the Pats problems at the quarterback position for both Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe. The duo also delve into the amount of blame to be placed on the coaching staff, as well as their potential plans for the 2024 NFL Draft.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-new-england-patriots/id1140512627?i=1000632782469 Spotify: 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!DoorDashGet 50% off up to $10 value when you spend $15 or more on your FIRST order, when you download the DoorDash app and enter code LOCKED23. Subject to change. Terms apply.BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON today to get 10% off your first month. PrizePicksGo to PrizePicks.com/lockedonnfl and use code lockedonnfl for a first deposit match up to $100!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed.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.FanDuelScore early this NFL season with FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook! Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your team wins! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG(CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat(CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Remember, Locked On Patriots is a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And because of that, you want to make sure that you download subscribe to follow locked on patriots wherever you get your podcasts to ensure that you get 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 sports illustrated reach out to me let me know what's on your mind on x at mdabatenfl while you're out there showing some love to locked on patriots social media style, please follow

our account there as well at LO underscore Patriots. That's today's episode brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to and they help you do it faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash Locked On

NFL. That's LinkedIn.com slash Locked On NFL to post your job for free in terms and conditions apply and pats fans as you can see today is not a victory monday it's not even a melancholy monday honestly no it really isn't even a monster mad monday it's more like a malaise monday We're kind of kind of resigned to what the New England Patriots might be. A 2-9 record. Once again, headed for a losing season.

And it's tough, folks. It is tough. But you know what? In the spirit of trying to push through and persevere, we have none other than the toughest guy in Patriots Nation. We have the legendary Count of Murphy, Fisto himself, Thomas Murphy of E2G Sports with us today.

Thank you so much for coming to us in friendship. We need your wisdom and counsel today more than ever, Don Murph. Well, I don't know about the toughest guy in town. You know, that's still Steve Balistrieri. I'm not messing with Steve. I'm huge, and I'm not doing it. That's a good point. Always a pleasure, Michael. Even on this malaise Monday, as you dubbed it, it's terrible.

I've thrown my hands up in the air. They keep changing the ignition to my keys and um you know maybe we can hot wire something uh this coming week when the uh when uh the uh the san diego uh superchargers come to town and and but other than that now i'm not calling them la i refuse i won't do it i won't do it not now not ever. But we're a Patriot show and I've got nothing. I've got absolutely nothing. All right. I have never seen a team not show up in the way that this team did yesterday. I have never seen, and I've been around here for a long, long time, a quarterback that is as completely lost as this man is, as somebody that a good friend of ours, Matt Chatham, tweeted out during the game on Sunday that this is what happens when players don't take the coaching and they don't. And I've seen Bill O'Brien do better with less than what's happening right now in Foxborough,

both at Penn State and down in Texas. He's done better with less. And I have to put the blame for this squarely at the feet of Mac Jones. It's no secret that Murph and I have been Mac Jones proponents throughout the course of his career here in New England. Every time things have faltered, we've looked for a little bit of silver lining in the cloud. And for the most part, we've been able to find it. There's no prefab positivity here for the sake of clicks or for the sake of, you know, social media engagement or, you know, attempts at being able to increase your subscribership. That doesn't happen here.

What you're seeing right now here in New England is a deterioration of a quarterback that came into this league with a great deal of promise with a pretty good resume but like murph said you're not seeing him take that next step we're going to talk about coaching in just a minute because i think that in terms of blame pie that may deserve a whole segment of blame pie folks but when you look at mac jones and i talked about this a little bit last night on the postcast he looks like a quarterback that is anticipating something going wrong nearly on every snap brilliant when you're a quarterback in the nfl and you're doing this on a routine basis that's a sign folks that the circle of trust in new england has been broken and all of a sudden

those reports that you start to see trickling out about him losing 80 of the locker room make a great deal of sense and And I talked about this earlier. This is not a knock, a personal vendetta against Mac Jones. This is not, oh, the players in the locker room don't like him. And by all accounts, Mac is very well liked, very well respected among his teammates because of the work ethic he puts in, but they're not confident in his ability, his mental makeup to lead this team. You need to show that and exude that in the huddle.

Every snap, every time things go wrong, you need to instill the confidence in your team that, hey, it happened, shake it off. We're going to come back at them. We lost 10 yards. Let's go get 20. Right. We fumbled the football.

We're going to gain a tremendous amount of yards on the ground. We're going to use that running game in order to get traction and to get ourselves back in this you're not seeing it from mac jones and what you see on the field and what you see on the bench particularly is a quarterback that looks like he's checked out of this season folks and if that is indeed the case then yes now is the time to pull the plug yep you got to go with bailey zappy as your backup at this point. See what the kid can do from a starter standpoint. But Murph, what we saw yesterday did not exactly instill a whole lot of confidence. I mean, where do the Patriots go from here? Do you give Malik Cunningham a shot at this? I mean, this is where we are, folks. It's not easy right now to be a Patriots fan. I guarantee you it's not easy to be in that coach's room. Don Murph, we need some guidance. What do we do, Don Murph?

Yeah, Bailey Zappi is not the answer. I've been saying this. This is why Mack started last week. This is why, you know, as reports came out today, I can't say who said it. And it's really terrible of me. I'm sorry. That Bill knew all week that he was going to be the starter. It was a foregone conclusion because he is that much better than Zappy.

And when everything is controlled in a controlled environment during a practice, he looks like Mac Jones. He looks like the Mac Jones of the first eight weeks of his rookie season. But when, as you said, when things come out and when he leaves that huddle, he looks like somebody that wonders, you know, what's going to go wrong. Where's the breakdown coming from? Is it up the middle? Is it off the edges? Am I not seeing a safety coming over? And he's not uh he is he he's hesitant he's going

up to the plate thinking don't um don't swing you know and and i teach kids go up to the plate with a mentality that you're going to swing and at the last second you say no not at the last second you say yes um he's got too much dip on his chip when he's throwing balls down the field it's um he doesn't have he's trying to pull clubs out of his bag that he doesn't have and it's aggravating and it's it's all in his head it's all in his head right now that that he yeah once once something breaks down it's gonna steamroll and it's steamrolled on this team yesterday. I mean, the thing that I was most worried about. Going into this game. Couldn't have happened.

Dexter Lawrence wasn't even on the field and he was the guy that I'm cutting personal keys for. And this team just could not figure it out. Now, you could do this by you know talking about game plan but i thought the game plan was fantastic it was just that mac mac let it down three interceptions you can't do this you can't lose the turnover battle when you are this team this team right now needs to be perfect because they're not good enough to be imperfect in any way, shape, or form. I'm so glad that you mentioned game planning because with Dexter Lawrence out of the lineup,

the Giants shifted to an off-coverage scheme that I think for the most part we expected. And I think O'Brien expected this as well when he found out that Dexter was not going to be in the lineup. So what do they do? They surround Mack with a lot of slant concepts. There were moments where Mack looked like he could handle it, they surround mac with a lot of slant concepts there were moments where mac looked like he could handle it and he did have a couple of tough luck moments yesterday i do have to give him that parker slipped on a route taekwon horton seemed off his timing

um our good friend taylor kiles of clns media anticipates he might be putting a couple of extra steps into his gate into his route running and if the case, folks, then that can throw timing off. So be, you know, very mindful of that. I know we're being heavy on Mac today. If you can touch it, you can catch it. This is, you know, a founding, a foundational type philosophy. He had both hands on that ball and he dropped it. And people are screaming, oh, it's a bad pass.

It's behind. He threw to the back shoulder. Tom Brady does that. He's screaming at Wes Welker. All right. You know, and losing the Superbowl and, and, but you know, Mac does it and it's his fault. These receivers have got to catch their ball. They've got to run the right routes. They've got to be where they're supposed to be. Now, you know, during times, um, he, he did, he, he looked fantastic, you know, during times, he did. He looked fantastic, you know, hitting DeMario Douglas. The pass that he hit to Devonta Parker going over the middle that, you know, I was shocked that Parker caught because, you know, it was put in the perfect place.

And Parker doesn't normally catch a ball that's put in the perfect place where nobody else can grab it. And he turned that into something. But you get down into the red zone and you don't take care of the ball. where nobody else can grab it. And he turned that into something. But you get down into the red zone and you don't take care of the ball. That's where you turn it over. And this is what happens. I'm talking way too fast today. No, you're absolutely right on the money. And you know what?

I think you're feeding into the angst that's being felt by Patriots Nation right now. And look, bottom line, folks, it's hard to sit there and to break down and to try to look for silver linings. There are minuscule silver linings right now in the quarterback room. And we've talked a lot about Mac, and I do want to get back into the coaching and the concepts in just a moment, because one of our everydayers out there is really slowly but surely becoming a favorite of ours here on Lockdown Patriots, submitted such a great question that we're going to break protocol today. And we're're going to break protocol today, and we're actually going to incorporate that question

into our second segment for Mailbag Monday here on Locked On Patriots. So don't go anywhere, folks. You're not going to want to miss this. Bailey Zappi coming in in the second half. A lot of people started to chirp away that, yep, Bailey looks a little bit more comfortable in the Patriots system.

He ran that 11-play 60-yard drive and gave the Patriots a little bit more comfortable in the Patriots system. He ran that 11-play, 60-yard drive and gave the Patriots a little bit more life. You can start to see it, and then you start to see the difficulty and the reason why he's not on the field on a regular basis. Having difficulty picking up the reads, getting the ball downfield, not his strong suit. These are all problems that you see with Bailey Zappi. If you're a New England Patriots fan. If you're an New England Patriots fan, or if you're an New England Patriots coach right now, Murph,

how confident are you in giving him the ball to start this Sunday against the Chargers? Not at all. I'm not any more confident in giving him the ball than I am on Mac Jones. I'm really not. I think the reason that he looked so good when he was coming in in relief a couple of years last year and he started those games were it was a completely dumbed down situation.

All right. It was basic. It was, you know, but the people that were surrounding him were actually in the right places at the right times. Part of it is not knowing what's going to happen with a relief quarterback. When a quarterback comes in, you've seen this a thousand times. A quarterback gets blown up, has to leave the game. Hopefully he's okay. And the backup quarterback comes in and the game plan goes out the window

and things work until they see what you're doing all right they they pick up what you're doing and you know what happened in the second half is what happened the key to that drive what was was not bailey zappy and we all know it it was the run game all right it was my first key on the on the They got it to Ramon Dre, and he went with it. To say he's not ready for prime time is an understatement. He's not ready for Saturday morning cartoons. All right, so, you know, honestly, I would go, I would see what Malik Cunningham has in his bag just to keep somebody off balance.

Yeah, it felt an awful lot yesterday, like the Patriots just did not have a viable option to quarterback. I really think the Patriots are a team in search of answers right now, and Murph, I think that's going to lead us very nicely into our next segment here, because one of the big reasons why the Patriots are searching for so many answers is because the players aren't getting them from the top. You can talk all about the players on the field. They're the ones that have to make the plays. But if they're not put in the proper position or given the opportunity to learn the proper ways to win on the field,

not going to happen. And right now it's not happening in New England. And Murph and I are going to examine why that's the case and how much blame really deserves to be placed on the shoulders of all of the Patriots coaches, not just Bill Belichick, 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 listeners, football season is here and there is no better time to use PrizePix, the largest independently owned daily fantasy sports platform in North America.

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the legendary Thomas Murphy has all the answers, and we're picking his brain today on the Patriots' 10-7 loss to the New York Giants, dropping them to 2-9 on the season. Murph, it's been since 1993 when a young rookie named Drew Bledsoe was taking snaps that the Patriots have had this type of record this late in the season. They were 1-10 that year. The Patriots are 2-9. Not much better.

Lean times here in New England. But a lot of the fingers, Murph, are being pointed at the quarterbacks, Mack Jones, Bailey Zabby. There's a lot of deserved reason why that is the case. The quarterback play was abysmal on Sunday against the Giants. But you and I both know that it's not just about what these guys do on the field. It's how they're prepared in the weeks coming in, in the days coming in, in the hours coming in, in the coach's room. One of our everydayers on here,

truly one of our favorites and one of our biggest supporters, and we appreciate her with a tip of the cap every single time she contributes to the show. Leslie, K-Pod girl, he had a question that I think is so valid that I want to begin this segment with this question, Murph, because I think it ties into everything we're going to talk about in just a moment. And Leslie wants to know, in your opinion, what continues to be the biggest obstacle keeping the Patriots from winning games this season? Murph, I think we both know the answer to this question, but I'm going to shift it over

to you first. What prevents the Patriots from turning these seemingly winnable games into losses routinely week after week? A lack of confidence. All right. Stupidity. A lack of preparation. And yes, I'm pointing my finger at the coaching staff. And without a doubt, it's kind of hard to get on Adrian Clem right now because he's not around.

He's not in the room. But Troy Brown, Ross Douglas, and Will Lawing. All right. Troy and Ross are wide receivers coach, kick returning coaches. And Will Lawing is, is the tight ends coach. And this is where most of the issues are happening right now. These guys are not getting separation. They're not hitting the right routes in the right way. The guys are not getting separation. They're not hitting their routes in the right way. The communication is off, okay?

And it has to go to coaching with that. I'm not even going to jump on Bill O'Brien right now because I thought the game plan was really good yesterday, and it should have worked. The Patriots should have won this game 24-3, and that didn't happen because of stupidity. Okay. And it's, it is Bill O'Brien's job to have the quarterbacks ready to go.

And he hasn't. So I'm not absolving him of anything, but no, it's the receivers coaches that, that need to step their game up. And I am wondering why they're not being taken to task more by some of the people in this town. X's and O's is very important. Game planning is extremely important. Like you said, Murr, coming into yesterday's game, Bill O'Brien's game planning was not the problem. I thought they had a very good concept in terms of how they wanted to play and how they wanted to execute.

But you have guys that are clearly not on the same page. A lot of miscommunication going on. And that does fall on the shoulders of the coaching staff. The first thing that comes to mind is the miscommunication between Mac Jones and Mike Gusecki. It was palpable when you're watching the broadcast and you're seeing Mac Jones go back and talking to Mike Gusecki and drawing at him as he's trying to get back on the field. These two guys are still not on the same page and showing a lack of discipline, really having that type of conversation right out there on the field that shows that either incorrect routes are being run or incorrect concepts are being taught from both sides. The quarterback knew what he wanted to do.

The tight end, in this case, receiver, knew what he wanted to do. But these two guys are not on the same page. It was on that hook play that the Patriots love to run all the time where they run the quick out. That converts usually to a fade. That did not happen. You see, and it gets checked out. And Gusecki just did not get it.

He just did not get it. It did not click with him. And it needs to out. And, and, and Gusecki just did not get it. He just did not get it. It did not click with him and it needs to click with him. I was warned by multiple people who have watched Gusecki religiously while he was down in Miami that, you know, sometimes things just don't, it's got all the talent in the world. He looks great in a uniform, but it just doesn't click upstairs all the time. And it's shown that, and this goes back to my keys last week that weren't turned. You know, where was Pharaoh Brown? You know,

the man who always runs the right route, the man that always completes his block, the man that has moved the chains every time he was asked, I didn't see him yesterday. Did any of you? Arguably one of your most productive offensive players this season. The guy that you go to when you need a big-time play to energize your offense is nowhere on the field or is not being targeted.

In yesterday's situation, going back to the hook play that led to the miscommunication between Mack and Gusecki, Gusecki breaks outside. That's on him because that should have not been the case. That's not where he can catch the ball. That's an uncatchable pass at that point when he breaks to the outside on that type of a hook play. But Mac's got to make a better decision there as well. Tyquan Thornton is off coverage.

I think that would have been a shallow throw. That would have been a much better option for him to be able to hit. He didn't do it. So you're looking at now players that are routinely missing these concepts yes you put a lot on the quarterback shoulders folks i'm not absolving mac jones of his sins yesterday far from it but these things need to be better prepared in the room if bill o'brien is preparing mac jones one way and the professional coaches are not preparing their receivers to be able to be there for him or play to his strengths and

weaknesses, then yeah, you're going to, it's going to lead to what you saw on the field yesterday, which is really unacceptable in a lot of ways. You never want to see that type of miscommunication going on right during a game setting. It's one thing to go at each other on the sideline and really kind of catch up, but when it spills into gameplay, yeah, you know, you have a big communication problem in New England you have a big communication problem in New England. There is. There's a communication problem

and there's a chemistry problem. And, you know, they're mixing acids and bases out here, people. And if you take in basic chemistry, you know, at any level in the sixth grade, you know you don't do that. I think one of the biggest problems with this, Murph, and I think one of the biggest difficulties the Patriots fans are having,

and especially media that have covered this team for a number of years, is we're just not used to seeing this come from a Bill Belichick-led team. The Patriots are always the most prepared team in the room. They're always the best conditioned team in the room. They may not have the most talent on paper, but they're going to find ways to make up for that, and they're going to be smarter than you on every snap. This season has been completely the opposite. The Patriots have looked out of shape, they've looked out of sorts,

and they haven't looked prepared, and they look very confused. And that's something that you don't see on a Bill Belichick-led team. Out of shape is fantastic. There used to be a drill that the Patriots would do every day at the end of practice where they would run, go and run the Hill. It was fourth quarter, you know, last, last five minutes of the game. And these guys are running up and down that Hill five, six, seven, eight times. And it just, now people look blown out there. I, I, I've,

I've put a lot of this on the fact that a lot of people on this team were new. The fact that depth has been asked to step up and take care of starter type snaps this entire year. But this game really blew it out of proportion, the fact that how unprepared this team is or how this team is not taking the coaching that they're getting. And if they're not taking the coaching that they're getting and you believe in these guys out here, maybe it's the guys on the field that need to change or the coaches need.

Right now, I believe it's the coaches that need to change because for the last three years uh last three plus years uh this receiving core has not gotten it done and you've seen people for for a decade and a half two decades people have come to new england excelled and exceeded expectations gone off and gotten paid somewhere else. Okay. Right now. And then did not perform as they did here in New England. And right now these people are leaving New England, going off and excelling and exceeding

expectations in other places. Yeah. Just take a look out West folks. And the job that Jacoby Myers is doing out there for the Raiders, and by far, he's not the only name, but I think probably the most prominent that Patriots fans are looking at and saying that, yeah, you know what, we could use a guy like that right about now, and ultimately, you're right, Murph, just being out of sorts, being on a different page with your coaching staff is something that the players need to take accountability for. The coaches need to take a great amount of accountability for,

because ultimately, what does it do? It leads to what you saw yesterday, turning the ball over three times on three promising drives. That absolutely kills you. Bill Belichick called it out this morning. Bill O'Brien consistently calls it out. Everybody that covers this team has pointed out how futile the Patriots' opportunities have been because of needless turnovers. This defense just cannot pick you up after three turnovers like that, even against a team like the Giants. It's time to look ahead to 2024. And the big question on everyone's mind is, are you looking at quarterback or are you looking at wide receiver? Where are the Patriots to go from here?

Murph and I will lend our wisdom and counsel on the subject when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues, a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Patriots fans, when you're hiring for your small business you want to have as many top tier candidates as possible to interview that's why you have to check out LinkedIn Jobs LinkedIn Jobs has the tools to help you find the right professionals for your team to help you do it faster and here's the best part folks they help you do it for. And here's the best part, folks. They help you do it for free. LinkedIn isn't just another job board. They have a vast network of more than a billion professionals, which makes it the best place to hire. Hiring is easy when you have that many quality candidates. So easy,

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Hopefully, folks, the disappointment that you're all feeling right now in New England Patriots Nation will be made a little bit better in the coming days because there is light at the end of the tunnel in the form of the 2024 NFL draft and here today to help me break this all down and try to gleam some silver lining out of all of this is my good friend the kind of Murphy Fisto himself the legendary Thomas Murphy of e2GSports.com, talking Patriots quarterbacks, talking coaching, but all of us here in New England are looking ahead to 2024. As I said last night on the postcast, 2023, folks, buried with a shovel, and then yesterday

in the Meadowlands, the Pats buried the shovel. We're done. It's time to move on. If the Patriots right now are in the driver's seat to get a top five pick and right now they hold the number three slot there's still an outside shot at number one and number two folks but if the cardinals keep losing it's probably going to look like the patriots will settle into that third role if in fact the new england patriots have that top five pick a lot of fans are wondering where do you go do you go? Do you go quarterback? Do you go receiver? And Marvin Harrison Jr. having a tremendous season.

Do you go offensive line? These are all valid questions. I leave it to you, my friend, because the most common question that we got for today's mailbag was one that I think all of our everydayers out there should get credit for, because most of our everydayers did have this question. Assuming a top five pick, what should the Patriots' primary position of need heading into the 2024 NFL draft? I leave it to you, my friend. Where should the Patriots be looking at this point?

You know me, Michael. You know how I earn a living. It's Joe Alt. I want the offensive tackle. I want the guy that's going to be on the left side for the next 11 years and then try to find a quarterback either by hook or by crook or by free agency or maybe somebody will fall. I'm just, I'm, I want the sure thing. All right. And, and right now we, we don't know if, if juniors coming out over there at, uh, at, um, out of Ohio state or not, you know, we're really, you know, there's, there's a, a, you know, a coin flip. Do you want Caleb Williams? Is he the, is he the man? Is he the, is he, you know, there's a coin flip. Do you want Caleb Williams? Is he the man? Is he shown you what they believe? And I don't.

I don't want him. I like Drake May, the best out of all of these quarterbacks. I've really been in love lately with Jaden Daniels out of LSU. Now, my plan was hopefully getting him in the second round, but you're going to have to trade back up into the first round right now because I think he's turned himself into a top 20 pick. There's a lot of time between now and then to see what Bill can do or what Bill's going to be able to do during free agency,

who he's going to free agency, who he's going to bring back, who he's not going to bring back. But for me guys, I'm sorry. I know it's not sexy and I know you don't love it. I know you want the, the, the breakout, um, wide receiver, but I mean, tell me how many of those breakout wide receivers are wearing rings. You know, we, we keep talking about the pickings. They're not the guys wearing the rings. They're out there with some fine

quarterbacks. They don't have the hardware. You build an offense from the inside out. Right now, this team needs a new inside. If you take that quarterback, you had better rebuild this offensive line in free agency and go out and spend a ton of money. Okay. If you guys didn't remember last year's free agent frenzy, all the money went to the offensive line, all of it. Okay. And it was stupid money. It was money that people called overpays.

All right. And some of those players aren't even having fantastic years. I think Joe Alt is it. I think he's going to be a cornerstone type offensive tackle. I think that's where you start. This defense is amazing. They're playing this well with their two best players not on the field. All right?

And they have been for weeks and weeks and weeks. But, no, I want the offensive lineman. I want Alt. Alt even over Olu from Penn State with the back action yeah i do yeah and i'm not arguing folks but i believe it should be the patriots number one priority internally to bring back michael wainu at the right tackle position oh sure but joe all as a you put him as a bookend on the opposite side of a wainu that's an impressive have andrews in the yeah still have andrews in the middle you have him on the right side. You work in these guards that you've just drafted.

These kids are being asked to do a lot. They really are. And I've been over, you know, ad nauseum. You people probably turned the channel off how many times that I talk about Dr. Strange, Cole Strange, being brought in here. And him being injured and so far behind, it goes, goes right to being in shape. Uh, he's been injured since, since August. All right. And, and things have not worked out the way that they had hoped to with him simply because of injury and change of scheme. Um, this offensive line is, is going to have to, uh to uh to evolve and i think all is the man

that's going to be able to do it yeah and i'm glad that you mentioned all because i think from most of the scouting reports that i've been reading on him it's coming off as being a little bit more pro ready at this point fewer red flags maybe olu pops off the page ola fashano folks tackle from penn state very highly touted, excellent in pass protection. They're calling him one of the best pass protectors coming out in years, but his ability to guard against the run are a little bit suspect, and he's going to need some work in that category. Alt may not be the prototypical pass protector that Olu is, but he's close enough, and what he brings in the run game really may give him

the nod there. So I'm glad that you brought him up and those guys. See folks, anytime we want to get Murph in a good mood, we always talk about those big round men. He loves it. Obviously the fans are going to be clamoring for a quarterback here, especially from what we're seeing with the Patriots. I happen to agree with you. I've said, and I've touted, Caleb Williams' dual threat capabilities. He can create on his own. If that's the direction the Patriots are going to be going into,

that may be the guy that they look at. I personally like Drake May better. I love his ability and I love his arm. Yeah, there's some turnovers there that you need to work with, but what he can do as a passer in this game, I think is going to outweigh some of the bad with the turnovers there. So the Patriots have some big time questions to answer and they need to look internally

at where they're going to focus. Offensive line, wide receiver, quarterback. I don't think you can go wrong at this point because I think all three of those positions are so vital to the future success of this team. And Murph bottom line line even with one of those guys no guarantee that the Patriots are going to return to their winning ways anytime soon this team is not just one player away from contending for a Super Bowl no that's it and that's what that's why I'm hoping beyond hope that the uh that the Cardinals do some winning

and the Patriots end up trading down with them and flipping first round picks and taking all of their seconds. And so they can get the quarterback that they need. And maybe the Patriots can find one down a tad bit lower and fill some of these holes. Because there are just holes everywhere on the offensive side of the ball. Not really worried about the defensive side of the ball. I think what Bill's done over there is fantastic. I believe what Gerard Mayo has done on that side of the ball is amazing. Forgotten in all of this is, I think, a very good effort by the defense

the last couple of games. They've done more than enough. ESPN has basically outlined that the Patriots are the first team in the last 30 years to lose consecutive games despite holding both of their opponents to 10 points or fewer in back-to-backs Indianapolis and now the New York Giants. And you heard Adrian Phillips say this yesterday and Adrian, believe me, from my time covering the Chargers folks, he's not a guy that's going to be overly vocal in giving you his opinion you could hear the frustration yesterday saying 10 points we did you know we're holding teams to 10 points that's not enough right we

gotta go out there and put a zero up there maybe that'll be enough yeah there's a lot of frustration um obviously that's way too much to put on the defense's shoulders but you hear a lot of frustration in these guys right now and uh it's tough, tough times with the New England Patriots, but you got to start somewhere and you got to rebuild. And they're going to have to rebuild with a high draft pick this time around. But that draft capital to good use. So Murph, what can we say? Our everydayers are amazing in Locked On Patriots nation.

And we all appreciate all of the time that you take to send in questions, send in your feedback and help us to make a show here on Monday a little bit easier, especially when your team is 2-9, and it's not easy to be a New England Patriots fan right now. But once again, folks, look at the light at the end of the tunnel. This is a proud franchise and an excellent fan base. Let's let the rest of NFL Nation see that and stay loyal to your guys because they need it right now more than anyone. What can I say? I thank you. I appreciate you.

You're always there for the handoff. Before I let you go, buddy, please let everyone know where they can reach out to you, where they can absorb your amazing content that you do for E2G sports and what you got coming down the pike this week, buddy. No, we got anything I got going on. Just follow me on ZitterX, whatever you want to call it, at TeamWorks207. You'll find out what I'm up to. And just remember, folks, we've been through this. A lot of us have been through this before. Remember, in 1975, this team was 3-11.

In 1976, they were 11-3. It can change like that. I've said it all year long that this team is three players away from being a very good football team again. Just three. Let's see if Bill can go out and find them. Maybe a couple coaches, too. Well, you go back to 2000. That was a 5-11 season, Murph. That was not easy. Belichick was the coach of that team. The following year, 2001, yeah, it was pretty good, wasn't it?

Pretty good. Good times. Good times indeed in New England. And, folks, you make all the difference here on Locked on Patriots. Thank you for making Locked on Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. On behalf of my good friend, the kind of Murphy Fisto himself, the legendary Thomas Murphy of E2G Sports. I say it unequivocally, folks, the best in the business and a great friend and someone

I admire and I appreciate a whole great deal. I'm Mike DeBate reminding you all to stay safe, stay well. Yeah, I'll remind you that you're a little late on that this month, Murph. All kidding aside, folks, stay safe, stay well, and be the change you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone, and we'll see you back here again tomorrow on Locked on Patriots. You owe me $100 for putting George Michael in my head. You got to have faith, faith, faith.

$150, $150.