Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots Takeaways from Victory over Denver Broncos on Christmas Eve

Episode Date: December 27, 2023

In keeping with the theme of the season, the New England Patriots pulled off their own miraculous moment in the Mile High City, earning a 26-23 victory over the Denver Broncos on Christmas Eve. Joining host Mike D’Abate is Thomas ‘Murph’ Murphy as the duo break down rookie kicker Chad Ryland’s game-winning field goal, Bailey Zappe’s impressive second-half performance, Christian Barmore’s monster defensive night and more.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.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

As Hans Gruber from Die Hard might say, it's Christmas, Patriots fans. It's the time of miracles, so be of good cheer and 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. Remember, Locked On Patriots is available and free on all platforms,

including YouTube, so smash that subscribe button, 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. Bad Hans Gruber impression at all. And 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 MDABATE NFL. And while you're out there showing some love to lock on Patriots social media style,

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I hope that you had an enjoyable holiday. Thank you for starting your post holidayholiday week here on Locked On Patriots. And in keeping with the theme of the season, folks, your New England Patriots pulled off their own miraculous moment in the Mile High City. That's right. On Christmas Eve, a 26-23 victory over the Denver Broncos with only two seconds remaining.

Chad Ryland's 56-57 yard field goal. I'm seeing it reported as both Mervs. We're going to go with both right now. Either one extremely impressive. Splitting the uprights at Empower Field, capping a wild second half, but delivering New England its fourth win of the season. Folks, there is a lot to break down in this one, and your questions are going to be mixed in here on Telegraph Tuesday.

And how can we even think about opening a Lockdown Patriots mailbag without welcoming in the man who coined the phrase to begin with? The legendary Thomas Murphy is with me today, as always. Thank you for coming to me, spreading your holiday wisdom, your counsel, maybe a little sacramental wine, but most of all, your good cheer today, Don Murph. The sacramental wine. Oh, I missed the sacramental wine. But Michael, it was a great holiday. What a fantastic holiday. You know, the Patriots win, Patty Mahomes loses, and here we are on a Telegraph Tuesday with some really great questions. You know, Murph, I'm always of the school where a win does more for a team short-term and long-term than a loss that only perpetuates an uncertain future. Right. Let's stick with that theory for a second because the New England Patriots offense

early on in this season was maligned to the point where they were essentially in Clark Griswold territory. They were getting ready like cousin Eddie to get thrown in the back of the car, driven up to the middle of nowhere, left for dead. They're showing signs of life. And one of the big reasons why they're showing signs of life is the confidence of Bailey Zappi, right? The only reason folks, but you got to give the kid his due. He is exuding it and the Patriots are buying into it.

And that's as much about being a leader and being a quarterback a starting quarterback for a team as any other trait and when we take a look at the job that he did in this game murph um not going to absolutely blow up the stat sheet 25 of 33 256 yards two touchdowns, one turnover to begin the game, but then turnover-free football, no interceptions in this one, started to show that leadership that the Patriots have been craving. So much to the point where our listeners are picking up on it. And where would we start on Telegraph Tuesday with a question from one of our most valued everydayers out there?

Leslie at Cape Cod Burley, happy holidays, Leslie. Hope you had a wonderful holiday, and thank you for sending this great question. We had some space constraints here, so I had to snip this one and paraphrase it just a little bit, but Leslie's full question, I thought, should be read because it was worded very eloquently. It appears the Patriots have their offensive game, although the Broncos almost managed to make a comeback of a 23 to 7 deficit did the Pats finally find the leadership they were looking for in a quarterback

when Zappi led a seven play drive that set up the winning field goal or was this game more of a Christmas miracle Murph I leave it to you, my friend. When you look at this game, especially that final drive, what's going through your head? What is your evaluation of Bailey Zeppe in that situation? My thought during that drive was getting to the end zone. Getting to the end zone. Fair enough. We'll get to that in a minute with another question.

But, no, I do believe. We've talked at length about the confidence that Bailey Zappi shows in the pocket, in the huddle. And this exudes his, you know, out throughout the entire offense. You could tell not only during this drive, but during the entire game that, you know, people were just a tad bit more comfortable, you know, and when I mean people, I mean Bailey Zappi's pass catchers, especially Ezekiel Elliott. They know that if they are the first read on any given pattern that the Patriots are running, any given play that the Patriots are running, that if it's not there, Bailey Zappi can get back to them. I can focus on one play and tell you why. When Zappi hit Parker on that one 50, 50 ball.

And I said, and I actually tweeted, it was nice for Mr. 70, 30, 30, 70 to come down with one, but Zappy's throwing that ball.

Um, Mack Jones was not throwing that ball. Mack Jones in the back of his head had so much. Don't turn the ball over. Don't turn the ball over that, uh, that, uh, it was affecting his relationship with his wide receivers. Zappi's trusting guys, letting them go out there and make a play,

and that's a prime example of it. Another one was the bullet that he threw to Pop Douglas that Pop didn't come down with, but they didn't go away from him. You know, monster key. You know, you run the wrong route, you drop a ball, no worries, go back out there, kid, and do it. And he made plays later on in the game. Zappi trusted him to do that.

So, yeah, no, I agree. This wasn't a Christmas miracle. I think, you know, Zappi's leadership is something that has been sorely missing here. You can't just go out and demand to be a leader. You know, people have to want to follow you. Right. And people want to follow Bailey Zappi. So, yeah, I think they found the leader. I don't know how long that's going to last. I don't know if it's going to go into next season or not. But right now he's turning keys and we like guys who turn keys.

We definitely like guys that turn keys. And you know what? I agree with Murphy or I do think they have found a leader. Now, does that mean they found their long-term solution? Jury is very much still out on that. It's probably, I would say tipping the scales more toward the 60 end and the 40 end that they're still in search of their long-term solution at quarterback. But one thing that I will say about Bailey Zappi is he's looking at what needs to happen in order for a quarterback. Who's a second stringer,

a guy that's running the scout team, a guy that is a career backup, a guy who gets to the level of being exactly to get to the level of being a starter ball security protecting the football is point one that's exactly what he's doing in four previous starts the bailey zappy has made he's thrown an interception in every one didn't throw one on sunday night in fact pro football focus estimates that 33 of his past attempts all of them were considered non-turnover worthy not one of them was labeled as a turnover worthy throw that's impressive when you're doing it on a national stage in a hostile environment he was blitzed on 40 of his drop backs on sunday i thought bailey did such an amazing job

of deciphering denver's defense this is not an easy defense to read votes. You know, this is not Vance Joseph, Sean Payton. They give you nickel looks. They give you a lot of base defense. They give you some dime looks and they mix it up in a way that makes it very confusing for a quarterback. And those packages are unreal. You really don't know where they're coming from. And Bailey handled it really well. He stepped up. He filled the holes that didn't get filled last week on those hot reads that we were talking about. And he extended plays. He may not have moved the chains with his legs, but he extended plays and then gave his guys an opportunity to make plays down the field.

We talked about attacking the seams this week, and that was one of my keys to victory, and they definitely did that. Devontae Parker's big 30-yard catch, that was on the 50-50 ball, but he made another nice grab going down the seam. Pharoah Brown, once again, he just makes plays. He goes out there and he catches balls.

I don't think he's dropped a ball thrown his way this year. I really don't. Farrell is so good at doing what he does there. He really is. And people in the know, people that I respect, say that you can't build your offense around a talent like Farrell Brown. I'm not asking anybody to build their offense around Farrell Brown. That would be ridiculous. There are three tight ends in history that you can actually build your offense around. Two of them were Patriots. One was

Russ Francis and one is Rob Gronkowski, who's the greatest tight end to ever walk the face of the earth. That's not what I'm asking here. I'm just asking him to be a part of it. And then you can even go and look at Gasicki's two catches this week. You know, two for two. He hauled in a nice touchdown. It was fantastic. Confidence that he shows not only in the huddle, not only in the pocket,

but the confidence that he shows in his so-called not playmakers is just infectious. That's what it is. And this team is playing that way right now. Yeah, absolutely. And again, you've got to give the kid credit for turning the keys not just in a situation where showing the confidence exuding the confidence but executing on the field folks this is where i've seen a lot of growth from bailey zappy he's attacking the field he's attacking downfield he's not right afraid to make those throws

in passes that went 20 plus yards in the air in this game Murph five of five 137 yards one touchdown you know what else is impressive about him going down the field he's doing it on third down too he's not afraid to convert now the Patriots were not perfect no third down in this game by any stretch three of 13 is not going to win you a lot of games folks it did on Sunday not going to be the regular but look at where Zappi is attempting to make plays on third down you mentioned Mike and Siki that came on third and nine the other I thought was the Devante Parker the 27 yarder that ended up setting up Chad Ryland's game-winning field goal these are clutch situations where Bailey Zappi is making these throws and then

you look when he's a little bit more relaxed Murphph mentioned the 20-yarder to Farrell Brown. He had a couple of nice completions to Parker, a few great ones to Demario Douglas. The seam route, you mentioned seam routes, the one to Jalen Rager I thought was an excellent throw. These are moves, these are plays that are made by a quarterback that's serious about making the adjustments needed to become a serviceable and maybe even a very good starting quarterback. Perfectly said. You know, it really was. Pre and post snap. He kept his head.

He didn't lose it. This is a man that was under pressure all day long, handled it really well. And just, you know, just turn the knob a little bit to take the pressure off himself. Absolutely. He did it himself in the way he commanded the pocket on Saturday. Absolutely. And to bring it all back full circle, Leslie, yes, to lead that seven-play drive to set the Patriots up

when it comes to the game-winning field goal, Bailey Zappi deserves a lot of the credit. But we wouldn't be doing our job, Murph, if we didn't give some credit to Chad Ryland, and we're about to do so in just a moment. But first, a tip of the credit, but we wouldn't be doing our job Murph if we didn't give some credit to Chad Ryland and we're about to do so in just a moment. But first a tip of the cap, Leslie, thank you for your great question. Always appreciate your support on Locked On Patriots folks. Great questions like this, get them in. We love to feature them.

And next segment is going to feature a couple of great questions because Murph, we're going to talk some special teams. Yeah, it deserves its own segment. Special teams may have been the star of the day for Chad Ryland, but leading up to it, not so much. Or maybe it did, folks. Let us know what your thoughts are. But Murph and I are going to talk about the special teams woes and how Chad Ryland helped

to save Christmas Eve when this episode of the Lockdown Patriots podcast continues. A proud part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Lockdown listeners, as the weather gets colder, the NFL offers Stay Hot on FanDuel. And right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 Moneyline bet. That's $150 if bonus bets with any winning $5 money line bet. That's $150 if your team wins.

If you've been thinking about joining FanDuel, there is no better time to get in on the action. Make the Pat's Sunday afternoon matchup in Western New York a little bit more interesting with our good friends over at FanDuel. The app is so easy to use, and there's a wide range of betting options, including spreads, player props, over-unders, and so much more. So visit FanDuel.com and stay locked in to NFL season action. Patriots fans, thank you once again for spending portions of your day after Christmas here on Locked On Patriots, opening up the Telegraph Tuesday lines as we break down the New England Patriots 26-23,

Christmas Eve miracle and mile high, the Patriots over the Broncos. We're opening up the mailbag. It's a lot of fun here on Locked On Patriots today. And the reason why it's so fun is because of this guy right here on the other side of my screen, the legendary Count of Murphy screen a legendary count of murphy fisto himself no no no don't let him he's tons of fun folks don't let him fool you

the legendary thomas murphy the kind of murphy fisto himself joins me here today murph we've talked a lot about offense we've given a lot of praise and i think rightfully so to bailey zappy for his performance maybe his best game as pro. Definitely his most poised game as a pro. But if we're talking why the Patriots might have been in a little bit of a difficulty to win this game to begin with, yeah, I think we'd be remiss if we didn't mention some special team snap booms. Of course, all of that erased by Chad Ryland's field goal and the Patriots riding the era of good feelings all the way back to foxborough from that plane ride in my eye but murph you and i both know that this has not been a pretty

time for the patriot special teams no we're being honest it really has not been the best of times in the recent years for the patriot special teams we're noticing a marked decline each and every year and this year has not been the year that everybody thought it would be before we get to the highs the Rocky Mountain highs of that Chad Ryland field goal because you know we love to end on a high note let's talk about the lows first and great question from of our very favorite everydayers out there our man Joel from all at Joel Shapiro 20 happy holidays Mike and Murph. Happy holidays, Joel.

Thank you so much for the question, my friend. Why has special teams play been so inconsistent this past year? Again, Murph, if I'm giving my opinion, I think it's been a lot longer than just this past year. But what is it about this Patriots special teams unit that just can't get it done consistently? You can't sum it up in a word or two. Coaching has been awful. It has been completely awful. Honest to God, guys, I really want to know why Joe Judge is standing next to Bill Belichick so often

and he's not down there with his special teams units. I want to know why Cam Accord is still employed here. All right. They miscues, missteps, mistackles. It's, it's God awful. And every week it, I can't even, I can't even blame the, the same people because it keeps happening over and over again. How many tackles has Brendan Schooler whiffed on this year?

How many has he missed? All right. This team really needed him yesterday with Matthew Slater out. This is a guy that is paid really, really well to play special teams. And he has been a detriment to this special teams unit all year long. Now, when we're talking about the kicking game, of course a, a, a field goal attempt that went through the wind. It should have pushed it the other way. And it didn't, he hooked it so bad. It went through the wind and then on the extra point, it actually pushed off the other way. Yeah. Okay. That's a guide. So yeah, I was a little bit nervous. I was a little bit more nervous. We were talking earlier was about that final drive. And I wanted to make sure the Patriots got six there and didn't put it on his foot,

but they did. And he made the catch. Now you can go back in time and, you know, talk about guys, talk about Steven Gostkowski. He did not have the greatest start to his career here. Anna Venetieri, people forget.

You know, that's a man that is a Super Bowl hero because he missed kicks earlier in the game. Okay? The man wasn't perfect. This kid's not perfect. There's been a lot of pressure put on him, you know, since draft night when the Patriots took him in the fourth round and, um, it's shown he hasn't, he hasn't really lived up to expectations and he hasn't, um,

overcome that pressure in the way that, uh, that, um, some other, some, some people out there expected this young kid to do. Um, yes, he's kicked in the elements before. Yes, he's been around. But it's really different when you're collecting a paycheck for it. It's really different when you are that high of a draft pick. And that's a really high draft pick for a kicker. It is.

So everybody was coming in and expecting him to be Mr. Perfect. But I'm sorry, folks. Not everybody is Gostkowski. Not everybody is Tony Franklin. How about that? We'll go all the way back to Tony Franklin. Every once in a while, you get a Mike Nugent in there. You get a Gogolak in there.

It's, you know, it's... I don't want to say the yips. you get a gogalak in there. It's, you know, it's... I don't want to say the yips. I don't want to put that on him yet. But it's a pressure-filled job. And when the pressure was turned up on Sunday, he came through. Yeah, absolutely.

And I want to give Chad an awful lot of credit because he's doing it with almost all of the fan base, a good portion of the media, and even some of expect it to mean nothing shows that the Patriots are keeping their options open. And they had to because Chad was struggling. But the one thing that I think he showed in this game was like we talked about with Bailey Zappi, maybe not consistently enough at this point to say that he's on his way or on the right path, but it does prove that he can get the job done. You mentioned this Patriots special teams unit, Murph, and their inability to grow from last year. The Patriots finished 32nd in special teams DVOA in 2022.

You would think that having Joe Judge take on a little bit more of a role, which reportedly was supposed to happen this year, the re-signing of Cody Davis, the drafting of Marte Mapu, the savvy and the veteran leadership of Matthew Slater and Adrian Phillips and guys that are career special teamers, the addition of Chris Board was supposed to take that group and at least bring it back to respectability. You wanted them at least at the equator when it comes to teams.

That did not happen, folks. That did not happen this year, folks. Crucial penalty on Chris Board. I mean, you know, these are not, this is not typical of someone that's a career special teamer, folks. Let's not even get to the fact that the game began with a 52 yard punt return by mims that really set the tone uh that could have been a real disaster um miles bryant muffing the punt now i'm not going to get on miles because i think miles is really giving you everything in his arsenal so i'm willing to let that one slide because of everything he's

given you but once again you're not seeing the fundamentally sound team. You're not seeing that fundamentally sound unit. Yes, exactly. I kind of do. I really kind of do because I think Miles is the guy, again, that does it with everyone laughing in his face, and he always delivers. So I'm going to continue to beat that Miles Bryant drum. Go ahead.

He's not going to be your superstar back there in that cornerback room, but I still love what the kid brings you, and I just love that ingenuity and his inability to give up. So I think that counts for a lot. But bottom line, folks, yeah, you need to see more. Although I did love what I saw from Marte Mapu on that first fumble and Cody Davis scooping it up. That was a heads-up play by Marte,

something the Patriots need to take advantage of. That's sound fundamental football, folks. That's it. Great instincts. That's it. Mapu, second week in a row, had a nice interception last week, right? Was it last week? Yeah, interception.

And then came up with this this week. But it's just fundamental special teams that are gaffes, that are screwing this team, giving up that big punt return, you know, running out of bounds and costing yourself field position. You know, these are things that add up throughout a game, and you cannot point to a game this year where special teams has not let this Patriots team down. You know, Bill talks about three phases. The Patriots have really been playing, you know, just two phases of football all year, sometimes one and a half. It's true.

And, you know, in that situation, Joel, to answer your question, yeah, you have to put a lot of that on the players. They need to make the plays. They need to take responsibility for their miscues. But when it's happening that consistently, the bulk of that blame pie has to go on coaching. I want them gone. I want them both gone. Somebody needs to come in here and write this ship.

There needs to be some new voices because obviously these well-paid individuals are not listening to their not so well-paid coaches and even extremely well-paid coaches because there are some still working off of their head coaching contracts. Yeah, absolutely, folks. And, you know, it's one of those things. Yes, the Patriots were absolutely missing the veteran savvy of Matthew Slater out there on Sunday. That can account for some of it. But again, we're seeing this far too often. There needs to be a change at the top of the coaching room in special teams.

And I think there will be this year. Just my opinion, not anything I'm reporting, folks. Just my gut reaction. Murph, before we take our leave of this subject, we're going to have some fun at the expense of some of the special teams because it did all end with a happy Christmas ending. But our good friend and everyday are out there, a first-time question submitter, the great Ed Helinski at MrEd315. Ed wants to know, how hopeful were you when Chad Ryland came on the field to attempt that 56-yard field goal against the Broncos? Be honest now. Murph, I have no problem with it. I'll be honest. I was about 10% confident that he

was going to put it through the uprights. I was not. I was one of those guys that, especially after what we saw from Chad earlier in the game, 56 yards was a lot. I would have been a lot happier if it was 46 or under, but I got to give the kid a lot of credit he definitely delivered in a situation where he was most needed but yeah i wasn't too confident yeah 37 37 percent yeah those are those that no no that was 37 absolutely i wanted i wanted to touch down there i was hoping for a touchdown there it just didn't happen I thought when they lined up for this kick that we were going to overtime and we were going to try to work it out then, maybe win a coin toss and take care of that.

But, no, it was not good. My confidence was not sky high. I really thought that this was going to be an overtime game. And, you know, once again, you know, just give me more reason not to have made it to midnight mass. Really? I mean, we came dangerously close to running into Christmas morning. That was dead solid perfect.

Absolutely. It had the distance. It had the accuracy right down the middle. You got to give them credit. If you're going to nail a game winner, that's the way to do it, folks. And a tip of the cap to Chad Ryland for a great move. And a tip of the cap to you, Ed. Thank you for asking us that question and wanting to know what we thought

when we saw Chad Ryland lining up. Folks, now that the Christmas game is over and the Patriots only have two divisional matchups left on the schedule, what are the Patriots going to plan once that final whistle sounds against the Jets on January 7th? Murph and I are going to put on our Belichickian prognosticator hats in just a moment. Courtesy of a great question from another valued everydayer on Locked On Patriots. What is a Pat's post-holiday plan? We'll answer that when this episode of the Lockdown Patriots podcast wraps up.

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Pat 26-23 victory over the Denver Broncos, Patriots' fourth win of the season. A lot of the fan base believes that all this win did was throw a wrench into the Patriots' most prominent plans. It messed up their opportunity to get a top three quarterback, a top three pick in this draft, likely at that point to be taken with one of the top three quarterbacks in the draft we know that you've been very vocal that joe alt is the pick i don't think the patriots have taken themselves out of the alt running if they end up with number four and they grab him there that's a hell of a cornerstone to build around but again i understand the argument

about needing to get a cornerstone quarterback too folks i'm not discounting that just saying that there is an alternative to the straight and forward narrative right but the patriots have a lot of other plans beyond that this is not a team that is simply going to draft one player and automatically become a contender next year we know there's going to be a lot built again one of our great everydayers out there has a question for us, Murph, what the Patriots post-holiday plans will be. And our man Chris at CG the Jedi Master. Chris, happy holidays. Thanks so much for the great question. And he wants to know, if the season ended tomorrow, what is the Murph Mike D plan for the Patriots in 2024? Murph, I put it to you. If you're the general manager making the decisions, you got Bill Belichick's ear or whoever is going to be coaching or making the decisions next year.

What is day one, first order of business? What do the Patriots have to do to move forward into 2024 and make sure that it was better than 2023? Built from strength. Built from strength. Absolutely. I need to see Christian Barmore extended. I need to see other key guys on that side of the ball extended and brought back.

I need Mike Onweyu under contract for a very long time. I don't care if you have to franchise him. I can find and move him back in where he belongs. Not that he hasn't done a very good job at being kicked out to right tackle. We've said before that they should have done that sooner. That's the move they should have made sooner. But no, they need to build from strength, and then they need to rebuild this offensive line.

We need a left tackle more than anything. You go out there and you look at any team worth its salt, any team that is out there and succeeding, they do it behind a dominant offensive line. Okay. You can go and find a quarterback in the second round, in the third round. There are guys out there that can come in here and fit. Keep this defensive unit together.

Build this offensive line. And then worry about everything else last. Okay. You worry about the wide receivers last. Okay. I'm not saying worry about a quarterback last. You're going to need to go out and find one. Cause I'm not sure that Bailey Zappy is the answer.

Let's see what happens over the last couple of games and going to, but I do believe that he's earned a spot on this roster going forward into next year. What, what that means for Mac Jones, I'm not really sure. He's somebody I feel right now may be best served by a fresh start somewhere else. And bring in a bridge guy, a veteran. You know, we've seen what those guys have been able to do down in Tampa and in Cleveland this year behind good offensive lines.

Build that line. That's what they need to do. They also need to beat the Jets and the Bills. Yeah, I think there might be some of our listeners that might have a little bit of a bone to pick with that, folks. Definitely let us know what your thoughts are. We're always, always interested to find out what your thoughts are. As long as you keep the comments respectable, folks, we appreciate them.

Good, bad, or indifferent, you don't have to agree with Murph. No. And if you keep it within the bounds of good taste, folks, we're always happy to feature your great work here. And, of course, Chris has done so today. I completely agree with murph the first order of business that i am making i'm making sure that christian barmore is locked up for a very long time and him being a four-year veteran now he has the ability to be extended next year you definitely want to work on that and get that done because when you look at what this kid does eight total tackles on sunday night two of them went for a loss four quarterback hits he's in the

middle of every every play on defense not by happenstance folks that's by design this is his first career three sack game i didn't realize that his sacks on sunday night murph didn't come in garbage time when it was not important These are coming all in the third quarter. And they're coming at times when the Patriots need them the most. Had two eight-yard sacks and one nine-yard sack on Russell Wilson, who is not the easiest quarterback to bring down, folks. Barmore made it look easy on Sunday because of his prowess. Yeah, I love the guy. Definitely want to see him back.

Kyle Duggar, you mentioned mentioned i would make him a priority i'm not quite sure the new england patriots are going to be able to because of the obligations that they have i think michael wainu is a bigger priority and making sure that you have a veteran lineman on the right side whether it be a guard i'd leave him a tackle he's doing a great job i think marty mappo is starting to show that he could be that guy, especially with the production they're getting out of Jabril Peppers. And I'm going to make Claire happy. I'm going to please the countess for a moment.

I'd love to see Hunter Henry back in. I think the leadership that he brings, I think the synergy he's developing with Bailey Zappi, especially if the Patriots fall out of that range to take that next level, can't miss prospect quarterback. You're going to need as much help as you can for Bailey Zappi or whoever is coming in here to try to make a name for themselves going down the line. So excellent question. Chris, thanks so much for all of your support for Lockdown Patriots.

And folks, in the meantime, I want to thank my good friend, the Count of Murphy Fisto, for joining me here today, helping me sort through all of this mail. This guy does his job. He is not the Newman of the Postal Service for Lockdown Patriots. He goes above and beyond. But bottom line, Murph, what can I say? Thank you for joining me here on this post-Christmas episode. On behalf of my good friend, Thomas Murphy, I'm Mike DeBate,

reminding you to stay safe and to stay well and to 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.