Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots vs. San Francisco 49ers Crossover: Biggest Storylines, Path to Victory

Episode Date: September 26, 2024

Can New England Patriots rebound from a dismal Week 3 loss to the New York Jets? Will quarterback Jacoby Brissett navigate through a makeshift offensive line against a fearsome San Francisco 49ers fro...nt seven? Will Niners quarterback Brock Purdy be targeting Jauan Jennings and Brandon Aiyuk against Christian Gonzalez and the Pats secondary? Join hosts Mike D’Abate of Locked On Patriots and Brian Peacock and Eric Crocker of Locked On 49ers as they preview this Week 4 between the Patriots and the Niners from Levi Stadium in today’s Crossover episode. #nfl #newenglandpatriots Find and follow Locked On Patriots on your favorite podcast platforms: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1c5ZxFm... Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-... And follow host Mike D’Abate on X, where he’ll be sharing the latest ne ws about the New England Patriots and talking with fans — @mdabateNFL  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! 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. RobinhoodThe new gold standard is here with Robinhood Gold. Sign up at robinhood.com/gold Terms apply, for product specific disclosures visit robinhood.com/gold. Investing involves risk. Rate may change. Gold membership is offered by Robinhood Gold, LLC. DoorDashUse promo code LOCKEDFALL24 for 50% off up to $10 value, when you spend $15+ on your first order. Limited time offer. Terms apply. Promo is not valid for orders containing alcohol. PrizePicksGo to https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL and use code lockedonmlb to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game. 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. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuelPlace your first FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - guaranteed !  Visit FANDUEL.COM 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)

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Starting point is 00:00:00 It's a showdown of one and twos in week four. It is the New England Patriots at the San Francisco 49ers crossover style here on the Locked On Podcast Network. Biggest storylines, key matchups, and paths to victory for the 49ers and the Patriots. Coming at you right now. You are Locked On NFL Crossover, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to another Locked On Podcast Network crossover episode. Locked On 49ers, Locked On Patriots, getting you ready for week number four. Brian Peacock and Eric Crocker of Locked On 49ers with Mike DeBate of Locked On Patriots.
Starting point is 00:00:47 And an interesting matchup this week, guys, with a couple of teams that have records that I think we expected the Patriots to be around the one and two range. I don't think we expect the 49ers to be one and two right now. So we'll dive into this game, what's going on with these teams, the key matchups, and what might shape the final score of this one. Who can get back to 500 after four weeks of the NFL season? Today's episode of Crossover Thursday on the Locked On Podcast Network,
Starting point is 00:01:12 as always, is brought to you by PrizePix. Go to prizepix.com slash lockedonNFL and use code, all lowercase, lockedonNFL to win $50 instantly when you play $5 at prizepix.com slash locked on NFL. Mike, how you doing, man? Interesting team over there with the New England Patriots. Some very different outcomes in the first few weeks of the season. And the first thing up is biggest storyline.
Starting point is 00:01:37 So what's the big story coming out of Foxborough and New England and those Patriots after three weeks of the NFL season? And a long, long layoff. I was, we were just talking off the air. I had to go double check if the Jets game was last week or not. Cause it feels like ages ago already. Yeah. It almost feels like a mini bi-week up here in New England, having Sunday off and coming back and trying to get back into the swing of things after an abysmal showing on Thursday night football last Thursday, the Patriots losing 24 to three to the New York Jets. That's the biggest storyline up here right now, Brian.
Starting point is 00:02:08 Can the New England Patriots and rookie head coach Gerard Mayo rebound from what was a terrible showing in all three phases of the game? It's going to be incumbent upon this team to improve on the defense, set the edge a little bit better. Special teams need to be a little bit cleaner when it comes to tackling and it comes to coverage. But really, it's all about the offense and especially the passing game, which has been abysmal right now in New England. An average of just 102 yards per game, that ranks them dead last in the NFL right now. Things need to change. Jacoby Brissett missed
Starting point is 00:02:40 some throws. He's been under pressure an awful lot uh the receivers have not been great but the protection in front of him has been dire and the new england patriots offensive line has had its share of injuries but also its share of inexperienced players that are playing key roles right now in that old line things need to change in new england and they need to change fairly quickly the problem is not sure the personnel right now is going to lend itself into the types of changes the Patriots need to remain competitive. You know, hey, Mike, last Thursday on Prize Picks, I ended up picking more on Jacoby Perkisett's passing numbers. I think it was like 160 yards. I said, oh, surely he can throw for 160 yards. I'll definitely smash more on that.
Starting point is 00:03:25 And he was far below that. So the New England Patriots, they did just draft a young quarterback out of North Carolina, Drake May. At what point do you say, you know what? It has been so bad as far as the passing game goes with Jacoby Percet. What do we lose by throwing the young guy in there? Or do you try to protect the young guy and say, you know what, let's continue to let Jacoby Brissett get beat up behind that offensive line
Starting point is 00:03:51 that really didn't give him much protection last week, and you try to save the young guy from maybe eventually seeing ghosts or some of the things that we've seen Bryce Young go through, Sam Darnold go through early in his career, and say, you know what, let's wait until we can get a better offensive early in his career and say, you know what, let's wait until we can get a better offensive line in front of them. But at some point, do you see the New England Patriots saying, OK, the season is too far gone, the offensive passing game has been protruded, let's get the young guys some reps? Yeah, that's a multi-million dollar question in New England right now, Eric.
Starting point is 00:04:19 And I think you share the curiosity of a lot of people, not just Patriots fans, but really all throughout the country that are looking at this patriots team objectively and i described a little bit of the numbers that kind of give you a hint of what the patriots passing game has looked like look if drake may is in the lineup and he gets a chance to get a start and i think that day is coming sooner rather than later won't be this weekend but it will be sooner rather than later because of the progress he's making the patriots can run a more quick hitting spread offense that can mask some of the problems that this offensive line is having right now. When Drake is in the game, a lot of what he did at North Carolina can really help elevate a struggling offensive line. You can run the gun
Starting point is 00:04:59 runs. You can run a little bit more RPO, action quick game those middle of the field combinations that he ran so well in north carolina as a collegiate quarterback can really help to invigorate maybe some life back into this offense um the flip side to that is right now the offensive line is struggling and struggling mightily and your left tackle position right now is in the hands of a rookie that played mostly right tackle in his senior year or his final year, I should say, at Penn State. And that's the rookie Caden Wallace. The Patriots' interior of that offensive line right now is banged up with Cole Strange out indefinitely. Hopefully the Patriots hope to have him back at some point. Leighton Robinson is playing over on the right.
Starting point is 00:05:41 He's been playing well, but there have been situations where he's looked like a rookie. And Michael Wenu now on the right side playing right tackle is your best lineman. And he's been beat on occasion as well. So virtue has to lie in the middle. You don't want to run Drake out there and get him hurt or risk maybe derailing some of the fundamentals and some of the skill that he's trying to develop.
Starting point is 00:06:03 It's footwork, you know, coming out of the skill that he's trying to develop, his footwork, coming out of the shotgun, running play action. These are all things he's learning to do as an NFL quarterback, as opposed to what he did at North Carolina. He wants to learn that Alex Van Pelt offense. When the Patriots feel he's done that, that's when I think you'll see him. And again, it may be within the next few weeks, but Patriots are still taking a temperant
Starting point is 00:06:24 approach. And at least for the next couple of weeks, but Patriots are still taking a temperant approach. And at least for the next couple of weeks, I think you'll still see Jacoby Brissett under center. And I know Jane Daniels played more college football and might've been a little bit more ready to entering the NFL than Drake May, but Patriots fans got to look at what's going on in Washington and being like, yeah, we can do that, right?
Starting point is 00:06:40 Let's get this young guy on the field, get the ball out quickly and let him utilize his legs. He's not as athletic as Jane Daniels, the ball out quickly, and let him utilize his legs. He's not as athletic as Jane Daniels, but he can clearly run and create things with his legs. That first, second read, be quick. If it's not there, get out of there. And maybe you can negate some of the problems on the offensive line, actually even more than Jacoby Brissett can.
Starting point is 00:06:58 I was talking about this with Peacock and Williamson today, by the way. Peacock and Williamson, daily, Locked On Podcast Network. Make sure you subscribe. We were talking about, it was like kind of feel bad for Jacoby Brissett. Cause they're like, Oh, Oh, the line's too bad. Let's let him get killed. Not the young guy.
Starting point is 00:07:13 And then let's wait. It was like, how long do you wait to build an offensive line before you put Drake may in there? Like you're not going to wait three more years to build a perfect line. Then you plug in your, your young quarterback. So you can't really coddle him but the the big problem i've had watching and especially this last week watching the patriots offensive line
Starting point is 00:07:29 wasn't so much just getting beaten one-on-one and the other guy across from you is better it was like and i don't know if this is an alex van pelt thing or if this is just you know the running backs not helping out right or maybe it's the the quarterback not getting the right protection or the center making the calls i don't know who makes the calls for the Patriots offense, but it's almost like they were shocked to get blitzed. It was like, is that cheating? What are you guys doing? Bringing an extra rusher? They had no answers for games and stunts up front.
Starting point is 00:07:55 That's almost a bigger problem than just not being as good up front as the guys that are rushing you. Yeah, absolutely. And the Jets took full advantage of that on Thursday night. They looked at the first couple of games and said, well, you know what? The Patriots aren't really getting blitzed that much. They came right at them and the Patriots simply had no answer for it. And that's something that you know, this San Francisco 49ers front seven is looking at and salivating and saying, I can definitely be able to showcase my talent against this Patriots O-line and against this quarterback because they don't have that young athletic quarterback that can create off script, that can scramble when necessary. Jacoby can do that when he's back up against the wall, but at the same time, he's not showing the same type of youth and vibrance that someone like a Drake May would. So I definitely see the argument in doing that.
Starting point is 00:08:46 And I see the advantages of having someone like Drake May play over Jacoby and Mass, some of the offensive line. I think the Patriots right now are taking a temperant approach and we'll see if it pays off for them in the long run. But ultimately, the cries to get Drake May in the lineup are definitely getting louder in New England, and they will get a lot louder if this team is not able to put some points up on the board, utilize the run to be able to open up play action.
Starting point is 00:09:14 That's where the Patriots offense is at its best. They did not do that at all on Thursday. They need to try to do it against this San Francisco front, but it's not going to be easy. All right, next, we're going to talk biggest storyline going on with the San Francisco 49ers entering week four, some key matchups in this game, and maybe draw a picture of what it would look like with the Patriots and or 49ers win coming up on this episode of Locked On Podcast Network,
Starting point is 00:09:38 Crossover Thursday. Today's episode of Locked On 49ers and and locked on Patriots brought to you by game time and the game time app. It is the place for last minute tickets. It's the place for any tickets. If you're going to an NFL game, a college football game, going to a baseball game,
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Starting point is 00:10:48 and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off. Download GameTime today. What time is it? GameTime. All right, crossover Thursday, Locked On 49ers, Locked On Patriots.
Starting point is 00:11:08 We got Mike DeBate of Locked On Patriots with myself, Brian Peacock, and Eric Crocker of Locked On 49ers. Croc, what's the biggest storyline going on with the San Francisco 49ers right now, and why is it injuries? It's definitely injuries, just how banged up this team is.
Starting point is 00:11:21 Heading into the season, especially after week one, you start to lose guys like Debo Samuel. You lose guys, you already had Christian McCaffrey out. And then you start looking at, especially heading into week three, some of the other guys that were banged up entering week three, Nick Bosa, Traverius Ward. You knew you were getting some guys back like Traverius Ward, but then to lose a guy like Javon Hargraves, and he's out for the whole year. And then you get more news on the Christian McCaffrey front where he's traveling to Germany, trying to figure out something to maybe expedite this injury situation with his Achilles tendon,
Starting point is 00:11:55 Achilles tendonitis that he's been dealing with. It almost feels like 2020 again. And in that season, the 49ers just dealt with too many injuries and they couldn't really overcome it and right now you know are they one or two of those players being back away from maybe being three and oh as opposed to one and two I think that's a big question for the 49er fans I think everybody just wants to see the 49ers play better but I think a lot of what's going on right now a lot of these issues can be attributed to the injuries that they're dealing with. I didn't even mention George Kittle. I mean,
Starting point is 00:12:28 it's another guy. And it's, and we'll see, we don't really have the full injury report and know who's going to play. I know now Kittle and Debo and a lot of those guys are close. McCaffrey is looking more and more like it's going to be a post by week thing in week nine. And Javon Hargrave, as you mentioned,
Starting point is 00:12:44 is out for the season for, and there's already a little light up front on the defensive line too. So it's even if Javon Hargrave hasn't been like the guy that the 49ers thought they were signing in free agency, he's still a really good player. And he was super disruptive at the beginning of the Rams game before he got hurt. And they're really thin on the defensive line.
Starting point is 00:13:02 This is the thinnest defensive line they've come into a season with in a while, since 2019, basically. And so you hope the 49ers can take advantage of the porous offensive line for the New England Patriots and pressure Jacoby Brissett. And maybe if we see a glimpse of Drake May in this game, I hope that means that the 49ers are up big and not that they're down big in the fourth quarter because that would spell a major disaster for the 49ers,
Starting point is 00:13:24 be big-time panic time over here. If the 49 quarter, because that would spell a major disaster for the 49ers be big time, panic time over here. If the 49ers drop this one to the new England Patriots, I want to talk about the line, which is quite a large line here for two teams that are coming in under 500 in week number four. Mike, I want to, I want to talk about some key matchups here, but specifically what is the thing for the New England Patriots
Starting point is 00:13:46 that you can count on right now? Is it just the Bill Belichick disciple, and you can count on them making things tough for opposing offenses? Is that where you hang your hat if you're the Patriots? Is there certain things on offense that they're doing that you believe that they will be able to do against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday? Well, I think right off the bat, Brian, I think what the Patriots want to try to do is establish the run. Now, you said that this is a thin San Francisco 49ers line
Starting point is 00:14:14 right now that is a little bit banged up, and the Patriots need to try their best to take advantage of that. Ramondre Stevenson is a solid runner, and he's got a lot of mileage on those legs in the first three games of the season. Patriots are going to need Antonio Gibson. They're going to need Jermichael Hastie. They may even look to call up Kevin Harris from the practice squad and get some fresh legs and make sure that the Patriots' running game rotation is complementing Ramondre and giving him the opportunity to be able to do what he does best,
Starting point is 00:14:42 and that's the outside zone run being able to set that up and allow the Patriots to utilize play action to set up deep shots down the field that's I think what they would love to do and that's what they're trying to hang their hat on the problem is the passing game has not been complimentary and we talked about that in the previous segment so the Pats are going to have to be able to find a way to establish the run and keep the run established throughout the game in order to be effective on offense. Not an easy task, but that's what they're going to try to hang their hat on. Conversely, the Patriots were a team that felt that they could shut down opposing
Starting point is 00:15:14 teams running games. They could force you to beat them through the air because this was a very good, very strong run defense. They were fourth in the league against the run last year. The absence of team captain and middle linebacker Juwan Bentley is going to be a very, very key matchup or a key void for the Patriots in this game. And that's actually one of my questions to you and Eric. With Christian McCaffrey out of the game, Jordan Mason has proved that he is more than capable of being an understudy here and has carried an awful lot of the load early. Do you think this is an area that San Francisco is going to look to exploit in New England right now because of the absence of Juwan Bentley? Definitely. Well, the 49ers, that's what they look to exploit every game.
Starting point is 00:15:59 They're going to look at the linebackers. How are they playing? You know, they're going to run at those guys. You're going to get them, give them different looks. You know, how can we trick these guys? Can we get them going this way, then counter and run this way? Kyle Shanahan spends most of his time game planning, not on the passing game, which a lot of people think because they see guys open. It's the run game. It's how creative can you be in the run game? And then if you have a team that is down linebackers or you have maybe some undisciplined
Starting point is 00:16:21 linebackers, how can you exploit guys on the D-line or at the linebacker position if they're a little bit undisciplined? I was asked by some listeners what's the difference between Shanahan and McVay after that Rams game, and Kyle Shanahan is still very old school. And I think he talks to his dad often as well. And he wants to run the ball first. He wants to stay in front of the sticks, and he wants to have his entire playbook at his disposal.
Starting point is 00:16:43 So he wants to be able to hit you with a run and how to make you have to worry about the run so you respect the run so he can do the other things he wants to do on offense and i think you know we look at sean mcveigh's offense and you look at even matt lafleur and definitely mike mcdaniel and the way those guys they have a little bit more fun with the way they do things and kyle shanahan still skews a lot more old school with a fullback on the field more often and less three wide receiver sets um than uh of his his counterparts that have that have coached underneath him. And that's the big difference. And so, yeah, it's still all starts with the run with the 49ers. Yeah, without question. And I think that's where the Patriots would like to start.
Starting point is 00:17:18 And again, it's going to be interesting to see how they're going to be able to meld both of those initiatives when it comes to their offense in using the running game to facilitate the passing game. A lot of that hangs on the offensive line. So all of these things work into tandem when it comes to the New England Patriots offense. On the defensive side of the ball, Brock Purdy is definitely still someone that can hurt you, and he's proven that Jawan Jennings can be a number one target,
Starting point is 00:17:43 and he's looked great so far. Patriots secondary, some cracks, some fissures there. Christian Gonzalez coverage has not been the optimal level that we had expected from the second year. I keep saying second-year rookie because his rookie season was cut so short by a season-ending labrum injury. That's another matchup that I think could be intriguing for the 49ers. Do they test this Patriots secondary deep, knowing some of the difficulties they've had in coverage this season? Well, I don't think the 49ers go into games thinking,
Starting point is 00:18:15 all right, let's see how many goal routes we can throw or how many post routes we can throw. You know, I think a lot of their game is predicated more so on just kind of concepts, and these concepts are working off of some of the things they like to do in the run game giving certain looks to be able to hit windows and it's a big run after catch offense and I think they're looking more for that obviously last game you did see them be able to throw the ball downfield a little bit saw Juwan Jennings they did target uh Brennan Ayuk down the field but that's not how they want to win consistently. Can they do it? Yes, but it's not like you're playing against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Starting point is 00:18:51 You're going to throw goal route after goal route to Jamar Chase. That's not what the 49ers do. So it really will be more dependent on how are the safeties playing? How good are they with their eyes? Are you guys able to play? Are the Patriots able to play man coverage maybe across the board to shrink some of these windows and make Brock Purdy throw tighter window passes? Is that something that the Patriots are able to do as opposed to just defend the goal ball?
Starting point is 00:19:15 More on that game Sunday, week four, 49ers-Patriots on this Locked On Podcast Network crossover, the path to victory. What does it look like in a Patriots win? What's it going to look like with the 49ers win in week four next this podcast is sponsored by FanDuel America's number one sports book and there's a reason that FanDuel is America's number one sports book because of offers like this how about getting started with 200 free dollars in bonus bets guaranteed and all you got to do is place your first five dollar bet at fanduel.com and when you get a hunch maybe in the middle of the game and you want to check the latest stats you want to view live play-by-play
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Starting point is 00:20:25 $5 bet at FanDuel.com or download the FanDuel app that is FanDuel.com. Let's, this is story time right here. Let's draw the picture of what a New England Patriots victory looks like, Michael. How did the Patriots come in, hand the 49ers their third straight loss? Patriots improve to 2-2 to get back to.500 this year. What does that game look like to you? Well, ideally, what the Patriots need to do is something they were completely unable to do on Thursday night against the Jets, and that is keep the game close.
Starting point is 00:21:02 Don't fall behind early because when this team does, they are not equipped to come from behind. So what they need to do is establish the run once again early. That's not an easy task against the San Francisco 49ers who have a very good run defense, just 104 yards per game on the ground. If the Patriots are going to hope to find some cracks in that run defense, they have to get them in the yards per carry where the Niners have been uh known to yield a little bit more in that category I believe according to the statistics I've seen allowing four and a half yards per carry right now so that's where again Ramondre Stevenson Antonio Gibson maybe a combination of Jermichael Hasty and a practice squad call up of Kevin Harris may help them to do so. If the Patriots can do that and keep the game close,
Starting point is 00:21:47 they do have a puncher's chance of being able to take it to the 49ers here. They're also going to have to improve on what we saw defensively from the Patriots last week and really started against the Seattle Seahawks a couple of weeks ago. They need to win the edge more than they lost it, and for the last couple of weeks, they have not done so. Keon White, number 99, their lead pass rusher needs to be able to try to get home. That's a very tough task to do against this San Francisco offensive line, but the Patriots need to try to establish that if they are going to be competitive
Starting point is 00:22:23 in this game. And then lastly, and it sounds very rudimentary and it sounds very basic, but the Patriots have to force turnovers. They need to start making their own opportunities, getting some plays, having things swing their way and grabbing the momentum from the home team in the Bay Area. If they do all three of those, New England is going to make this close. I'm not going to go outright and say, oh, they'll win this game if they do all three, but they'll keep it close enough to make things interesting. If any one of those boxes isn't ticked, I don't think the Patriots come away with a victory. And if they don't come away with at least a couple of those, then it really could be another ugly night in store for the New England Patriots.
Starting point is 00:23:03 And then maybe we'll see week five of that. I joked with Mike, you know, prior to hit and record about how he popped on the stream and he looked so confident. And if I'm the New England Patriots heading to the 49ers, kind of seeing this team licking their wounds a little bit, I would be confident as well. I'd assume that drop mail and the coaching staff are talking to those guys saying, hey, we just got to play our game and do our job. This is a team that the 49ers have all these high expectations. It's not quite the same team right now as they were heading into this season with all these injuries that they're dealing with, banged up, a lot of uncertainty at certain spots. Let's play our brand of football. Let's play a clean game, protect our quarterback a little bit, and give us a shot to win this game on the road.
Starting point is 00:23:45 Yeah, you're right, Kroc. It's a good time to play the 49ers right now. And a lot of the things we've said about this is like, okay, the 49ers are a better team. They can take advantage of this. You know, weak linebackers. Kyle Shanahan is going to put the linebackers in a blender. Niners, big favorites by more than a touchdown.
Starting point is 00:23:59 We said all those things last week about the Los Angeles Rams, and the Niners went up 14-0, and it looked like, okay, it's going to be a cakewalk of a game and they weren't able to close it out. So there are, there are ways you can beat the 49ers right now. And they're still figuring out some things on defense with their new defensive coordinators. So, um, you've got to take teams seriously in the NFL and maybe, uh, maybe it's only a, um, a bad week to play the 49ers. If they figure those things out. Otherwise it seems like this might be the best time to play the 49ers because they're figuring things out a little bit slow this year and obviously have a lot of people banged up.
Starting point is 00:24:33 Croc, what's the path to victory for the 49ers? What's that picture look like? I guess it can be as simple as either not having Ronnie Bill on the field or having Ronnie Bill make sure that he catches the ball. And if he catches the ball late in that game game we might be viewing the 49ers a little differently knowing that they're having injuries but hey you can overcome them and still win right now it feels like the injuries have hurt them and guys not really stepping up and making the play when it needs to be made and whether it's special teams we saw that Mike came on here and said hey the
Starting point is 00:25:02 Patriots they lost in all three phases office defense special teams when the fourth quarter against the Rams the 49ers lost all three phases and it hurt them big time so can you play a little bit cleaner game and if so then maybe like last week where it looked like the 49ers are going to run away with the game maybe they can run away with one against the New England Patriots Mike I like like to ask the opposing hosts when we do these crossover episodes, if there's a secret superstar player, and maybe superstar is a strong word, but a player that opposing fan bases might not know that much about. And I'm looking at some of the young receivers. And I really liked the fourth round wide receiver in Javon Baker. And I'm wondering how Polk and those young receivers are developing there um is there any secret superstar player that whether it's offense or defense that 49ers fans
Starting point is 00:25:50 might learn their name uh and know that name after Sunday they don't really know right now for example like for the 49ers is Juwan Jennings but now he's not a secret because he broke out in a big way last week who's that guy for the Patriots? Well, I think the name is somewhat known. It's very well known up here in New England, but it may not be known that well on the West Coast. And that's Demario Douglas, the Patriots top receiver from one year ago. Demario is a shifty player and he has the ability to win his matchups from pretty much anywhere on the field. He's most comfortable in the slot, but this kid can win his battles on the perimeter as well if he needs to. Demario is someone who has wanted to have the ball fed to him, especially over the first couple of
Starting point is 00:26:29 weeks. Didn't see a whole lot of action in this passing game for obvious reasons, but the Patriots made a concerted effort to try to get him involved, and he delivered. Seven catches, catching over 60 yards, not going to illuminate the stat sheet, but considering what the Patriots offense looked like against the Jets it was actually a pretty good showing so I look for the Patriots to continue to try to feed Demario he's your best playmaker give him the ball let him try to make things happen for you that may be a name that Niners fans may want to remember on the defensive side of the ball linebacker Anthony Jennings is not someone that typically gets an awful lot of press because of the position he plays, but he is very key in being able to set an edge and also be able to set the tone both on run and pass defense.
Starting point is 00:27:13 If the Patriots are winning their matchups there, it might be because Jennings is having a big game. We're going to save our predictions for our Friday episodes here on Locked On 49ers and Locked On Patriots, respectively. But I do want to reference that 10-point line. 49ers 10-point favorites in this game as a 1-2 team. Mike, Kroc, what do you guys think? Does that feel like it's a little bit too much with the way the 49ers have played
Starting point is 00:27:38 the last two weeks? It might be more about how the New England Patri patriots have played offensively and it's been a little slow and they'll see if they can get things going with stevenson if they can't run the ball early then what does that look like you're forced to pass the ball they haven't been able to get past protection maybe they assume that the 49ers are you got leonard floyd pay some money for him you got gross models you got nick bosa can those guys wreak havoc and if so then it'll be a long day for the new england patriots. That's what I believe they are assuming with that point spread. Yeah, I think Kroc is right on the money. I think he's absolutely right. The Patriots right now on
Starting point is 00:28:15 offense have not been able to establish it. And without being able to run the ball early, they run the risk of another anemic offensive output. Also remember, the San Francisco 49ers team right now may be struggling, but they are the defending NFC champions for a reason. There is tons of talent in all three phases. All they need is a get-right game to put it all together. They might find it this weekend against the New England Patriots. Yeah, and then even for the Patriots, that week one win at the Bengals, it doesn't look as good as it did in week one, right?
Starting point is 00:28:48 Because now the Bengals are actually 0-3. And so it's like, oh, man, even that game where you're like, oh, okay, this team's better than we thought coming into the year. And then you lose two straight and you realize, oh, man, the Bengals might actually be trash. So maybe that wasn't that great of a win. Yeah, I think you're absolutely right i know patriots players have uh game balls that are still displayed over that week one victory um all of a sudden yeah those are looking like they may not be displayed too much longer so uh it's all about this week moving forward week
Starting point is 00:29:18 four pats around week four on to san francisco we'll see what happens out there in the bay area but it's going to be a fun one i think for both fan bases absolutely we'll see what happens out there in the Bay Area, but it's going to be a fun one, I think, for both fan bases. Absolutely. We'll see who gets right in week four. One of these teams is going to be 500 after four weeks of the NFL season. The other team really searching for answers at one and three. Mike, always a pleasure chatting with you. You guys can find Mike the Bait everywhere.
Starting point is 00:29:38 Make sure you subscribe to Locked On Patriots daily. Of course, you can find Croc and I, Locked On 49ers. Make it your first listen. And for your second listen, check out the Peacock and Williamson NFL show, the new Locked On NFL. There's 200 podcasts on the Locked On Podcast Network. For your listening and viewing pleasure, subscribe
Starting point is 00:29:56 on YouTube or everywhere you listen to your podcasts. For Mike DeBate and Eric Crocker, I am Brian Peacock, and we'll talk to you next time on Locked On 49ers and Locked On Patriots.

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