Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots: Turning the Keys to Victory vs. Jets, Offensive Line Improvement, Game MVPs

Episode Date: September 26, 2023

The New England Patriots turned the Monster Keys to victory in their 15-10 win over the New York Jets in Week 3. Host Mike D’Abate welcomes the “key master” himself, Thomas ‘Murph’ Murphy of E2G Sports to break down the Pats steps toward earning their first victory of the season. The duo also discuss the performance of the offensive line, Jets quarterback Zach Wilson’s difficulties against the Patriots and Mike and Murph award their “game balls” on offense and defense.Find and follow Locked On Patriots on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-patriots-daily-podcast-on-the-new-england/id1140512627Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1c5ZxFmwg3WbfxAU3tR5Ve?si=k196wH-yRqifUcQQz8SjIQStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-patriotsAnd follow host Mike D’Abate on Twitter, where he’ll be sharing the latest news about the New England Patriots and talking with fans.Twitter: @mdabateNFLSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Harry'sGet your best shave ever this summer with Harry’s razors and skin care products. Get a $13 Starter Set for just $3 at harrys.com/NFL.  NutrafolTake the first step to visibly thicker, healthier hair. For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners ten dollars off your first month’s subscription and free shipping when you go to Nutrafol.com/men and enter the promo code LOCKEDONMLB. DoorDashGet fifty percent off your first DoorDash order up to a twenty-dollar value when you use code lockedonnfl at checkout. Limited time offer, terms apply.Jase MedicalSave more than $360 by getting these lifesaving antibiotics with Jase Medical plus an additional $20 off by using code LOCKEDON at checkout on jasemedical.com.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.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit. eBay Motors dot com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Right now, NEW customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED. 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

The New England Patriots won an ugly one in the trenches against the Jets on Sunday, but don't buy into the semantics. It still counts as one in the win column. 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.

Thank you once again for making Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Download, subscribe to, or follow for free on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts to make sure that you get the latest episode as soon as it's available. I'm your host, Mike DeBate, and I cover your New England Patriots for Patriots Country of Sports Illustrated. So reach out to me and let me know what's on your mind on Twitter, on the Bird app, on X at M-D-A-B-A-T-E-N-F-L. And while you're out there showing some love to

Locked On Patriots via social media, follow our account there as well at L-O underscore Patriots. And Pats fans, 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 of conditions apply. And Pats fans, we continue to break down all the ins and outs, the ups and downs of the Patriots. 15-10, week three victory over the J-E-T-S. Jets, Jets, Jets down in East Rutherford, New Jersey. A little bit of a mucky day in the Meadowlands, but that's all right. A win is a win.

And here to help us remember that a win is a win is my good friend, the counter Murphy Fisto himself, the legendary Thomas Murphy of E2G Sports. Thank you for coming to me in friendship today, Don Murph. It's always a pleasure, Michael. Always a pleasure, especially on a victory Monday. And yes, unlike in other corners of Patriots Nation, we're a little bit happier about here than than some other people are well you know there is something to be said about being one and two as opposed to being oh and three doesn't necessarily matter how you get there just as long as you get there and even a even an ugly win can teach lessons that can help you get prettier wins down the line you don't want them all to be

unprepossessing like they were here yesterday and And Murph, one of the big reasons why I think the Patriots were victorious in this game, I'm noticing an awful lot of monster keys being turned. Getting the running game going, protecting the football. The Patriots did all those, but you are the key master. So I don't want to step on your toes here, my friend, which of your monster keys were you happiest to see turned on Sunday that turned into a Patriots win? They sold out. Okay. They sold out to stop the run. This was my, my biggest key of the week. I thought that they were going to have to hold the, the jets in check and their running backs in check. And they did that without a doubt. It was one of the best defensive efforts on the ground that I've seen all year.

And they've got some studs over there on that side of the ball. Yeah, when Patriots came into this game knowing full well the formidable nature of that Jets defensive front, that is not an easy front to run on. We talked about that here on Friday. They're very formidable as well in the middle part of that defense and a very good secondary. So if you're scoring on this team or you're moving the ball at all, you're definitely doing something right. And once again, one of your monster keys was turned. I thought it was great. Kept making notes to myself all during my viewing of this one. And that's getting Mac Jones back under center. Under center.

To facilitate play action, to facilitate the run. According to NFL Next Generation stats, Mac was under center on 27 plays. A lot of those personnel groupings included two and three tight ends, which we're going to get to in just a moment. But more downhill schemes. That opened up New England's game. And I think it really was the precipitous for the longest play of the game, the longest play of the season for the New England Patriots,

and a very impressive one in the touchdown to foul round. Yeah, it was. Two keys right there that are basically, you know, two sides of a key that are basically the same key was to run the ball well and stop their rushing attack. The Patriots stopped their rushing attack, and they did. They got under center. It facilitated a lot of guesswork on the part of the Jets defense, which is, as you said, quite formidable. This is a fantastic front line. This is one of the better defenses in the league

and uh they were able to do some things i wasn't really happy with remondre on this day um he did not look fantastic um but uh that that's why you have more than one running back and we all know ezekiel had one hell of a day remondrere was held to, I think, three yards a carry. I'm not sure. You'd have to look that up for me. But Zeke more than made up for it on a day. Ramondre looked like he was not hitting the holes that were there as quickly as he has in the past.

And maybe he just wasn't feeling it. Maybe he just wasn't feeling it maybe he just wasn't feeling well yesterday yeah and i think you have to also factor into the weather uh or factor the weather into this as well um it's very difficult sometimes for runners to get on track when the field is in bad shape when you know that it's difficult to secure the football i said last night here on the postcast these are professional football players they're supposed to be able to play through these conditions, but they're also human beings and you're going to have bad games. Unfortunately, when the bad games do come up, you're going to be criticized for it.

But again, that's why you have the solid compliment in Ezekiel Elliott. And on the field on Sunday, he proved that he can be that guy. 80 yards on 16 carries. And the thing that I loved seeing about what, how they were using Ezekiel Elliott in this game, Murph is they're doing it in the second half, going down the clock. This is what he did for so many years with Dallas and why he was such a

formidable part of that offense and why that offense worked so well with him as a key cog in it was because of what they did, not just in the red zone, but also him being able to grind down the clock. But, you know, the, the, the Pats did what they needed to do in a bad weather game. This, this was another the, the talk today is, is on,

on talk radio was going to be the points that were left on the field. Joe Cardona did not have a very good day. And you can, you can basically put that on, on the weather. I mean, Cardona gets paid better than anybody else in the league and he's paid to be perfect. Um, and yesterday he was not, there were, there were two bad snaps on, on, uh, on some very long field goals that our young kicker just could not put through the uprights. One, the laces were not out. Laces out, people. Laces out.

And the other one, it was just such a high snap, his timing was off. So as people are talking about this final score and only 16 points, it could have been more. Yeah, it definitely could have been. Yeah, you can make the argument that it should have been. I was impressed with Ryland yesterday being able to nail one. He's got the leg. They're not ideal conditions for a kicker, especially a rookie kicker with a team that's 0-2 facing potential 0-3 deficit. And every miss piles up.

Every miss becomes a potential missed opportunity, you've got to give at least the rookie credit there for being able to come through when they needed him and make some kicks yesterday. But yeah, uncharacteristically bad day for Joe Cardone. You chalk that up, you know he's going to be better this week against the Cowboys, undoubtedly. That's not a guy that strings together bad performances.

He'll put this one behind him very quickly, and he'll move forward. And I thought Bryce Beringer, under the circumstances yesterday, performed well, pinning the Jets down inside, getting the ball where it needed to be. These are things that you see veteran punters do regularly. For him to do it as a rookie, very impressive. Yes, and he did this from all over the field. It didn't matter if he was at the Patriots 30 or inside Jets territory. It was a fantastic game by him and it shouldn't

be overlooked. Good point, Michael. A lot of people within Pat's nation right now continue to use Mac Jones's performance as the polarizing dividing line. Whatever division there is in the fan base, Mac Jones seems to be the dividing force. In this game, when you look at his final stat line, you look at what he did in the weather, there were a handful of missed throws, there are missed opportunities, but there are also circumstances where it looks like he does have more command in leading this offense. How would you grade his overall performance in this matchup? It was a B-minus performance, maybe a B performance. You can still see the fact that DeMario Douglas is not on the field often enough.

He really isn't. I am completely out on a move that I liked at the beginning of this year. Juju Smith-Schuster should not be taking reps away from Demario Douglas at any point during a football game. He also shouldn't be taking away reps from just about anybody else here. There is no separation when Juju Smith Schuster is on the field. There is no, uh, he's not getting off the line. Well, he's not getting into his breaks, uh, as quickly as he should. Uh, and he's just, he's, he's making mistakes that, that, uh, that illegal block was, was just terrible. It was, it was drive killing. Um, you can basically go to, uh, to the, the

Patriots wide receivers this week as to why this team was, was not more productive in the passing game. Yes. They, there were a couple of throws that look like Mack was not on the same page as some of his counterparts there that were trying to catch the ball. But I'm not saying that you need a better playmaker out there, but I'm saying you need a better playmaker out there than Juju Smith-Schuster. Yeah, and I know a lot of people are wondering why the situation with Juju has gotten to where it is. I mean, you can make the argument that maybe some of the passes on which he was targeted were not passes that are normally intended for someone with a skill set.

But at the same time, you're a professional football player. It comes back to what you're paid to do. You're saying, I want Myers here. I mean, it would be nice. It would be really nice. The Patriots were, oh, my God, were, what was it, eight of 19 on third down this week. And that's a key every single week is to own third down, and they did not.

They did not own third down. With Myers here, that might have happened because he's the guy that is the possession guy. He's the guy that gets to the sticks and helps them move. But for that kind of money, you need somebody that is going to get yards after the catch, and that's what Bill thought he was bringing in with Juju Smith-Schuster. I just don't think his knee is allowing him to do that. Yeah. And that's a very good point.

And I know a lot of people are talking about the knee. We've talked about it here on Locked On Patriots. Several of our colleagues in the media have written about it several times. Yeah, it definitely looks like something is not right. And whatever it is, the Patriots or Juju are not catering to this. He's not showing up on injury reports. We're not seeing anything. So all we can do is evaluate what we're seeing on the field. And again, you made a very good point. Juju is brought in here to be a third down threat, especially with yards after the catch. Continuously on third downs,

you're seeing Mac Jones go to Kendrick Bourne. You're seeing him go to Devontae Parker. You're seeing him go to Demario Douglas, which is smart. I love to see that. We still want to see him for more than 17 snaps. It's definitely better than three last week, but I think the Patriots need to start ingratiating DeMario back into the offense a little more than they have, but it's good to see him get his feet back. But at the same time time juju is not developing the rhythm in this offense and he needs to a player like him feeds off of rhythm and it's not working whether it's injury related or whether it's something else the patriots definitely need to uh address that going into the the better part of these couple of weeks because they're going to need him to move chains especially

against another fearsome dallas defense that they're going to have to go against this weekend. So, Pats fans, always an honor, always a pleasure when my buddy joins me here on Locked On Patriots. And we're not done yet, folks, because we're going to talk about a subject that Murph loves to talk about, and that is the performance of those big round men protecting Mac Jones and facilitating the run. It wasn't a perfect performance, but the offensive line looked a lot better yesterday than they have in the previous two games. Murph and I are going to break down why, and don't forget our handing of the game balls. And we're also going to give Murph a chance to take a victory lap on his evaluation of Zach Wilson 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, these days every new potential hire can feel like a high-stakes wager for your small business. You want to be 100% certain that you have access to the best qualified candidates available. That's why you have to check out LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the right people for your team. They help you do it faster and they help you do it for free. Add your job and the purple hashtag hiring frame to your LinkedIn profile to spread the word that you're hiring. Simple tools like screening questions make it easy to focus on the candidates with just the

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spending time on your Victory Monday here on the pod. My good friend, the counter Murphy Fisto himself, the legendary Thomas Murphy joins me here today as he does each and every Monday. It is hashtag victory Monday. It is hashtag locked on Murph Monday, and it's even still hashtag mailbag Monday. And we're even going to throw a mailbag question in there just because we love to do it. So Murph in the previous segment, we talked a lot about what the Patriots did well, why the turning of your monster keys led to a victory.

One of the things that I think contributed most to a Patriots win was getting at least some solid play or adequate play out of this offensive line. We haven't seen that in the last couple of weeks. Definitely not against the Miami Dolphins. But the Patriots switching it up a little bit. Almea Culpa on this. I was wrong. Berdarian Lowe getting the start at right tackle over Calvin Anderson,

proving to be a very smart move by Adrian Clem, Bill O'Brien, and Bill Belichick. Overall, Murph, how would you grade this offensive line performance based on what you've seen in your viewings of this game? B-plus. This is a B-plus performance. It really was. The offensive line came in in the best shape it's been all season long, but these guys still have not spent a lot of time on the field together. The interior offensive line was fantastic. The tackles were maybe a C grade on my report card, but the interior was a definite A, A minus at the very worst.

And these guys did their job, and then some, they gave both these running backs holes to move through. And, you know, quite honestly, Mac Jones had time. Mac Jones had time to get rid of the ball this week. And that's why I was a little more upset with the performance of the wide receivers than I was in earlier weeks. Because he had the time to, you know, scan the field, make the right call. And some of these guys just were not there.

Yeah, without question. But the offensive line was brilliant it really was it was the best i've seen all year maybe the best i've seen since maybe week 10 of last season yeah i'm glad that you mentioned pressure because there was still pressure that mac was under his ability under bill o'brien now to play through that pressure and actually be able to complete throws, step into them and trust his receivers a little bit more is improving the numbers. But the offensive line deserves a lot of credit for keeping that clean. And again, facilitating the run, using the run blocking that they needed to do to make sure that they were effective. And we heard David Andrews talk about this last week we heard him you mentioned that

the defensive line movements the slants the stunts were causing too much problem for this line and it absolutely looks like bill o'brien adrian clem got in a room together decided this needs to happen and they practiced it last week and there, there was an emphasis on improving that. And you saw it out on the field. I think the coaches did a much better job in preparing this offensive line for some of those front mechanics that you know, you were going to see from a Jets defensive line that is known for giving you a lot of wrinkles. And I also thought that again, putting for Darian Lowe in there with a little bit more athleticism, maybe a little bit more fresh legs, definitely made the difference. As much as I love Calvin Anderson, it's a great story to see him come back from the

non-football illness, coming back here to New England, making his mark. He really had difficulties in containing Andrew Van Ginkle last week. And I think Patriots realized that trying to contain someone like a Bryce Huff is going to be a little bit too much on him especially when you saw some of the spin moves the speed that he couldn't handle last week keeping Huff keeping guys like Franklin Myers at bay definitely helped this team and of course having big Trent Brown back out there on the left didn't hurt yeah no not at all and and also having Pharaoh Brown out there for, uh, for, uh, the snaps that he was out there for, you know, not just including the, the, the fantastic touchdown

that he and Mac, um, connected on, but having him there in the blocking game opened up stuff for everybody else and, and gave, uh, gave Mac just a, just, you know, that half, it's half a second more that he needs yeah and i talked about this a little bit on the postcast last night and saying better mac than zach and yeah yes i know i took a little alliterative license with that one but um bottom line the point behind that was not so much that i was comparing the two quarterbacks it was really more about the little things it took to win were things you saw much more out of Mac Jones than you saw Zach Wilson.

Murph, you don't have to get into all the colloquialisms that we've used to describe Zach throughout the years here on Locked On Patriots. But when you look at this game yesterday, what led to Zach Wilson's demise more than what we saw Mac Jones do right yesterday to help his success? IQ. IQ. Mac Jones' football IQ is that much higher. This is where too many coaches and GMs screw up and thinking that, yes, this guy has all the physical tools to be an all-pro, to be the next guy, to be the guy to take us to the playoffs in the Super Bowl.

Zach Wilson doesn't have that. Zach Wilson is a complete product of his environment at BYU. Not many people saw that. But when you get under center, he's just too easily confused. We go back to the days of the boogeymen and treating these Jets quarterbacks as guys that just are in classes that they can't comprehend. And Zach Wilson is another one of those guys. Again, I think we talked about this very well on Friday. Bill Belichick's defensive strategy, keep the ball in Zach Wilson's hands.

Make him hold on to it one second, a half a second, two seconds longer than a quarterback should be holding on to the ball. And it's going to lead to problems. And that's exactly what happened yesterday. If you want to give Zach credit for not throwing an interception, I'll give him that. He didn't throw an interception, but there were plenty of skipping stones in the dirt yesterday that really probably should have been completions. There were a number, not just a handful, but a number of missed opportunities where he could have connected with his receivers and did not.

And ultimately the safety in the end zone is egregious. One drive. He put it together for one drive in garbage time. Not essentially garbage time, but when the Patriots were back there and they were working on a few other things, I would have been a lot happier if they hadn't scored that touchdown. But it was one drive. He had one drive in that entire game where he looked like an NFL quarterback. And unfortunately, he went home and I'm telling NFL quarterback. And unfortunately, he went home. And I'm telling you right now, people, he went home and hung his hat on that one drive. And that's just not the way to be a successful quarterback in this league. On the other side of that coin, Mac Jones went home last night or got on the bus last night to go home,

and he's probably killing himself over what he left or what was left on the field in the way of points. And as I said, I'm not putting the blame on him. Yeah, that's a good point, and I'm glad that you mentioned that about Mac because you always hear that contrition after the game about needing to do better that's not lip service folks I think we can anybody that's covered this team and has watched Mac during practice following practice and moments when quote-unquote the camera is not on you uh Mac is working to improve each and every day so you can say what you will about his skill set some of you are buying into it some of you are not that is

your right as a fan and your prerogative and your opinion. And you're absolutely 100% entitled to it. But anybody questioning this kid's work ethic, I think, is a little off. And I haven't seen much of that, I'll be honest with you. I think most people agree that he is giving 110%. And believe me, folks, that counts for something. It actually counts for a lot. First one in, last one out.

Exactly. When you're talking about quarterback play and improving, this is a kid that's definitely in there doing that. And for all intents and purposes, I don't know if that's the problem with Zach Wilson. We've heard that knock on him. And let's not forget that that 87-yard drive that was fawned over by Tony Romo and Jim Nance on the broadcast yesterday was helped a little bit

by Randall Cobb's Broadway flop. And I said that yesterday, um, apparently that's pass interference, but I don't know, I guess hitting DeMario Douglas on the helmet, right in the face. That's not, there's nothing wrong with that. I have no idea. I have no clue what a catch is anymore. And now you can add in defensive pass interference because I lost my mind when Douglas got... Oh my... Unreal.

I don't know how Bill contained himself to that degree. It was gone awful. There was no turn. He was grabbed and held the entire day. That's another thing. Go over there and look at Sauce Gardner who didn. He was grabbed and held the entire day. That's another thing, you know, go over there and look at Sauce Gardner who didn't get a flag thrown at him every day. I think you're absolutely right on the money. You know, all of these things have to be factored in.

And when you take a look at what players are able to do in certain moments, yeah, I'm not taking away from what Zach did to get to that point, but to say that he was not aided by that in a very questionable PI call, which, I mean, there was the slightest hint of a shove by Miles Bryant there. It was costly. It put them on the one-yard line, but that doesn't get whistled, and all of a sudden you're probably looking at simply three points on the board. He barely grieved on him. I mean, the only flops that I've seen that were better executed have been done by LeBron

James. Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. But no, all kidding aside, folks. Yeah. Credit to Randall Cobb. He played it to perfection. The referees bought it and it got them seven points. So you know what? Bottom line, the New England Patriots were able to do just a little bit more in this game to earn the win. And that's why they deserve the game balls to be handed out this week. We haven't had a chance to do that in a lot of weeks here, Murph. But in this next segment, folks, we are going to hand out our offensive and defensive players of the game. And we're even going to use that as part of Mailbag Monday in a question that I think might have been answered yesterday

by one player in particular and his standout performance. Who is that? Find out in just a moment when this episode of the Lockdown Patriots podcast continues. A proud part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Lockdown listeners, if you need fresh groceries for the week but don't have the time to go to the store, try grocery delivery from DoorDash. You'll get everything you want delivered when you need it right to your door. You've trusted DoorDash to deliver your restaurant favorites,

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subtotal, and $0 delivery fees on your first order when you download the DoorDash app in the App Store and enter the promo code LOCKEDONNFL. Don't forget, that's LOCKEDONNFL as your code for 50% off your first order with DoorDash. Cats fans, thank you once again for taking time out of your busy schedule to join us here on Victory Monday, on Mailbag monday on locked on murph monday here on locked on patriots we're getting a lot of hashtags to

describe these days murph but joining me here today is the connor murphy fisto himself the legendary thomas murphy of e2g sports and murph we've talked about the offensive line we've talked about the monster keys we've talked about zach wilson and we've even cut into the refs a little bit. But it's time now to hand out the offensive and defensive game balls, because as you know, we love to do that here on a Victory Monday. So when you look at the New England Patriots, you look at their performance on the field, who gets your offensive game ball first?

Oh, without a doubt, Ezekiel Elliott. Elliott came up huge on Sunday in a game where for my keys to turn that, you know, my get under center key to turn, we were going to need a running back to go out there, hit the holes, and do the right things. And Zeke did all that and more. It was fantastic. He was a little sketchy there in the first quarter, and I got a little upset. But after that, man, he was just money. He was just money. On a day that the Patriots really needed some guy to go out there and get more than four

yards of carry, he's got my first game ball on the offensive side excellent choice and i completely agree with you and i'm going to give a half a game ball as well on that to pharaoh brown who i thought really had a great game and love the play fake to remandre stevenson that mac jones had to set that up and credit to pharaoh he was ready for it showed his ability to recognize the play fake which means that he's learning the playbook which is impressive considering he joined this team in late august just after roster cut down so he didn't spend training camp here he's doing this on the fly and i think he did a great job yesterday of doing that but when he's deployed as the lead blocker murph and you alluded to this in

our first segment the patriots were finally able to gain some much-needed yards on the ground it just opens up so much for this so credit to Bill O'Brien uh for uh utilizing uh Farrow in this way and giving him the opportunity uh to set a career high that's a career high long uh play for Farrow and also a career high in receiving yards as well with 71 yesterday so Farrow deserves a tip of the cap and a nod to the gods. But I agree with you on your game ball being handed out to Zeke Elliott. Yeah, he had some help along the way. Like we said, the line did a fantastic job.

Farrow Brown slipping back there and working in as a fullback was amazing as you just brought up. And no, hats off, man. Good call. Absolutely. We're going to flip it over to the defensive side of the ball murph and there are a couple of guys that could walk away with this uh but one is getting an awful lot of press an awful lot of media coverage and an awful lot of accolades on this morning and i think he deserves it i'm not going to steal your thunder though

to you who should get the defensive game ball in the week three victory over the Jets on Sunday? Christian Gonzalez. I love this kid. He's a number one cornerback. He's a shutdown cornerback. We saw him making plays, breaking up passes and making tackles. Okay. Which is, which is something that a lot of GMs questioned going into the draft. Not this one, but a lot of them. And he's just been everything that's been advertised and more. Gonzalez is the number one corner. He is a lockdown corner.

He has shown to this point in time that he can cover anybody in the NFL, anyone. There are people making a lot more money than Michael and I out there giving young Mr. Hill credit for being the best in the business right now down there in Miami. And look what Gonzalez did to him last week. He's just carried it over week after week after week. You do not have to worry about one side of this defense when it comes to pass defense. He can shut down anyone. He can play from anywhere.

And I never, ever want to see him coming off the field. Yeah, I know. You just want to see him out there. Yeah, you just want to see him coming off the field. Yeah, I know. You just want to see him out there. Yeah, you just want to see him on the field all the time, especially in a Patriots uniform. Yeah, I don't think this is one the Patriots are letting get away. They back up the Brinks truck, if that's what it takes, to keep him in a uniform.

In my opinion, he's proving that he's worth every penny. Now, some will argue that Garrett Wilson yesterday was the victim of terrible quarterback play, and I don't think anybody's some will argue that Garrett Wilson yesterday was the victim of terrible quarterback play, and I don't think anybody's going to argue that. I think he was the victim of terrible quarterback play. Still, Christian Gonzalez was able to hold Garrett Wilson to two catches on three attempts for 19 yards, and he had a pass breakup in the process. Now, the pass breakup was on Alan Lazard, so let's be clear of that however you look at what he did in the previous two weeks with solid quarterback play from tua takabaila and from

jalen hurts against every kill and against that miami jalen waddle and by the way yeah that unreal yeah that by the way put up 70 points on the denver broncos yesterday i know the broncos are struggling but that's still an nfl team. You put up 70 points. That's impressive. Two catches on five attempts, 22 yards. That's pretty impressive against Miami. And even in week one, we saw this and we gave him credit there. Seven catches on 10 attempts, eight, four yards and a pass breakup against Philly. And that's against Devonta Smith. That's against AJ.J. Brown. You're talking trial by fire. This kid was thrown into the briar patch. He's done it, and he's proven that as long as he's out there on the field,

that cornerback group, even if they are depleted, I think is good enough to get them by until these guys get healthy. And that leads me nicely into a question that one of our very favorites on YouTube asked, and I could not in good faith end a show without allowing us to at least discuss this point. And that is our good friend, Lucas. I think he goes by the name of wheels on Twitter, but his handle on YouTube is Lucas IK 1979. And he wants to know if he has any, if we have any idea when Marcus Jones will be back. He says from what Bill said,

he's feeling like he's going to be out much longer than the four weeks. Is there a need for the Patriots to upgrade the position in the interim? And Murph, I think seeing Jonathan Jones down, seeing Marcus Jones out, seeing Jack Jones out, and still seeing this quarterback group come up big with Christian Gonzalez. I think they're rolling with these guys until at least one or two of them get healthy and get back out on the field. What are your thoughts on this? My thoughts are exactly the same. These guys have given you no second during any game to pause and say uh yeah we need help here and and i a couple of weeks ago i thought

uh that that might be the case just in seeing these guys go down and and how thin it's become there if there's another injury that might change but as of right now no dance with the ones who brung you yeah completely agreed and to answer the second part of that question for you, Lucas, in terms of when Marcus will be back out on the field, we really don't know anything as of yet. All we do know is what I quoted here last week, and Dr. Jessica Flynn is one of the best in the business of being able to follow. If there is any injury updates, she's the voice to go to. The she had on marcus's injury says and i'm quoting her directly shoulder labrum tears are painful and tough to play through but many athletes try to push through and wait for off-season surgery minimum four games time will tell if this is something that jones can play through so right now we have to assume that it's going to be an

additional three games on top of yesterday's. The Patriots will evaluate it. Marcus will see how he's feeling. I think it's pretty safe to say he's not going to come back in four weeks, but whether or not he's able to see the field again this year is still in question. But even if he's not going to be out there, I still like the chance of Jonathan Jones suiting back up. He's out there on the practice field, folks. He's close.

Maybe not right on the money. I think the Patriots made the smart move yesterday, holding him off of that terrible turf to possibly re-injure it. And I think you're going to see Jack Jones out there sooner rather than later. The turf was trash. That field is trash. I don't know how you can send anybody out there on that field if you're an NFL owner. These are men that you depend on, and they have to go out there on that field if you're an NFL owner these these are men that you depend on and they

have to go out there and after you lost your um your franchise quarterback that you spent so much to bring in here uh I I don't know how they didn't address it right away uh this is something that we can go back to a few years ago uh maybe maybe years ago, when the Patriots completely ripped up their turf and put down something new when the players came in and demanded, not demanded it, but complained about it, let Bob Kraft know that this was an issue, and Kraft took care of it like that. Yeah, let's not forget, there were two tenants in that building as well, the Giants and the Jets. Need to pull your talents together, folks. Really address that uh because it's become a liability at times we saw guys go out of this game i mean we still don't know the status of devon godchild we still don't know daniel laquale's status right cole

strange left the game uh these are all concerns for the new england patriots moving forward and we'll continue to monitor injuries we'll continue to monitor all the ins and outs from foxborough but we thank our good friend, the Count of Murphy, for joining us here today to lend his wisdom and counsel the way only he can, especially after a victory over the Jets. You know nothing gets Murph more excited than beating the Jets. Any parting thoughts or words of wisdom, my good friend, as we take our leave now of this Jets matchup?

Turn more keys. There were keys that were ignored. I would have liked to have seen more up-tempo in the game yesterday. Maybe conditions kept that from happening. I'm not sure why. But I would have liked to have seen O'Brien go a little no huddle, go a little more two-minute drill when there are six minutes left in the game or in a half.

Those were what I thought to be huge. Winning the turnover battle is also paramount. I was upset that the Patriots weren't able to turn the Jets over yesterday. You can call a safety a turnover if you, you can call a safety, a turnover. If you want, I don't consider it a turnover. The stat sheet doesn't consider it a sort of a hands off to, you know, hats off to Matthew Judon. It should have actually been two. You should have been two because, uh, because, um, uh, Zach, I keep getting Zach and Mac in my head. Zach had also thrown a ball out of bounds from the end zone that

I thought, you know, if Tom Brady was in the Super Bowl, that would have been a grounding call. So yeah, there should have been two. But other than that, no, there's not much that I can get on him for. Winning the turnover battle is not a stalemate, and that's what it was.

I think Bill O'Brien worried a little bit too much about that during the week he took that key a little bit too literally and maybe could have taken another shot or two and other than that just a great game i don't care about the final they don't they don't ask you how you got them they just just ask how many i know and you know what and folks the new england patriots have been winning this way and winning games like this all throughout the brady butchak era go back and take a look these weren't always dominant wins patriots had to grit out and

grind out i remember several times where the patriots won games without scoring a touchdown so don't let aesthetics ruin a game that I think Patriots fans should be happy about. And yeah, were there question marks? Yes, absolutely. There are still areas where this team needs to grow and still things that concern both Murph and I. But to take away from a victory yesterday in a hostile environment under awful weather conditions definitely says something about your team. And it says something that this team was not willing to roll over and just accept their fate. They're willing to fight. And if they do have a willingness to fight, anything can happen.

And the Arizona Cardinals showed us that yesterday against the Dallas Cowboys, who just happened to be next up on the slate for the New England Patriots. Yeah. Did the Arizona Cardinals expose the Cowboys or did they wake the sleeping giant? Right. We're going to continue to discuss that later here. But so far, Murph, we are having a great day. I'm not going to take away from that.

We're going to continue our era of good feelings. And before I let you go today, please let everyone know where they can find you, where they can absorb all of your great work this week coming up, heading into Cowboys week. Yeah. Follow me on X Twitter at Team Murph 207, and you'll be able to pick up everything into Cowboys week. Yeah, follow me on xTwitter at TeamRF207 and you'll be able to pick up everything that I'm doing. As I said on Friday, I'm working on a jam list for

the Red Sox. We'll get a chief of baseball operations in there instead of a chief of BO. And you know what? I absolutely believe that Murph should be at the top of that list. And I'm telling you that, folks, without hesitation. Should be up there.

I'm just saying. But in any case, I always thank my good friend, the Count of Murphy, Fisto himself, the legendary Thomas Murphy, for joining me here each and every Monday. Any other day, I always need him. He's always here for the handoff, and I know you love when he drops by the pod as well. So, folks, once again, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule

to join us here on Locked on Patriots. 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. 12 and 5, still alive. Not backing off, 12 and 5.