Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots: Week 1 Grades vs. Bengals, Can the Pats Make it Two-in-a-Row vs. Seahawks?

Starting point is 00:00:00 The New England Patriots offense overachieved against the Bengals last Sunday, but did they make the grade? And what does it mean for this Sunday's matchup with the Seahawks? 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 Podcastots, 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

Starting point is 00:00:37 and also your first listen each and every day. I am your host, Mike DeBate, and I cover your New England Patriots for Patriots Country of Athlon Sports. So reach out to me and let me know what's on your mind on X at MDABATENFL. While you're out there showing some love to Lockdown Patriots social media style, please follow our account there as well at LO underscore Patriots. Pats fans, today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel? Now, through September 22nd, all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FanDuel.com to get started.

Starting point is 00:01:15 And Pats fans, you continue to enjoy the Patriots' Week 1 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, 16-10 at Paycourse Stadium in the Queen City of Cincinnati, Ohio. The Patriots are off of Cincinnati and they're on to Seattle as the team prepares for their home opener this Sunday 1 p.m. at Gillette Stadium. And of course before we start focusing on those Seahawks it's time to take stock into what the Patriots were able to do on all three phases of the game on Sunday against the Bengals. And here today to lend his wisdom, his counsel, and his weekly grades the way only he can is our resident voice of reason,

Starting point is 00:01:55 our good friend Steve Balistrieri. Steve, thank you so much for joining me here today, and welcome back to Locked On, Patriots. Always a pleasure, my friend. Always a pleasure, my friend. Always a pleasure. And, hey, you know, we didn't really think that we'd be talking about a victory this week facing Cincinnati who, you know, by all accounts, a lot of people have them back competing for a Super Bowl this year. So for the Patriots to go to Cincinnati in week one and steal away a victory, I mean, that is a great win for Gerard Mayo, the entire staff, and all the players.

Starting point is 00:02:31 And you could tell by the locker room reaction that the players were pumped after that. Absolutely. And they should be. It was a big victory for New England. Look, you hit the nail on the head. A lot of people are looking at Cincinnati right now and saying this team is well stocked on offense. They've got a fearsome defense, a couple of potent pass rushers that can get after the quarterback, solid and special teams. Yeah, this team could be a Super Bowl contender, but the New England Patriots went in there and proved that

Starting point is 00:02:59 if you have that puncher's chance and you've got a little bit of confidence on your side that you can get the job done and you execute well in all three phases this is a team that can hang with anybody and have that puncher's chance to win each and every game so the pats now want to know uh they're looking to remain undefeated with the seahawks coming to town this weekend and we'll get into that in just a moment but steve each and every week you I think, one of the finest grade sheets for the Patriots' performance in Pats media, or really in any walk of life in NFL media, and you always do so with a level head and a voice of reason that we appreciate here on Locked On Patriots. It's why you're our resident voice of reason. So pulling off of the great work that you do for Patsfans.com, let's start with the offensive side of the ball.

Starting point is 00:03:46 I don't think it's a stretch of the imagination to say this team overachieved on offense, especially when it came to the effort of the offensive line. They looked a little better than a lot of people thought they would. Tight ends got in there and blocked, and they're not well known for being a blocking tight end group, but I thought this crew did a nice job of that. I thought quarterback play was more than adequate, and the running back play was absolutely spectacular, headed by Ramondre Stevenson. So as a whole, with this offensive unit, would you say this is an overachievement, or would you say that this is exactly what the

Starting point is 00:04:19 Patriots can be? It just took us a little longer to recognize recognize. I think it was a little bit of both. I think they overachieved a little bit for week one game. But I also know that, and we've been saying this for a long time, if they put everything together, especially in the running game, they can control the clock, control the tempo, and keep a very talented offense like the Bengals are with Joe Burrow on the bench. And on Sunday, it all came together.

Starting point is 00:04:52 I know last year, you know, the Bengals had trouble stopping the run, but they thought they fixed their problems. They, you know, changed some personnel this year up front. And, you know, they brought in some different players. And they were pretty confident bunch that they would be able to stop them. But, you know, the Patriots, they decided they were going to run the ball and they weren't afraid to pronounce it by putting an extra tackle out there as a tight end.

Starting point is 00:05:23 And, you know, they kind of steamrolled the Bengals defense for most of that game without question and they really did and I think they kept that defense at bay you know especially someone like Trey Hendrickson who was so adept at being able to get after the passer and be able to disrupt the life of opposing quarterbacks. I thought the Patriots did a very smart thing. They kept the receiver's route short, so it allowed them time to be able to execute the short pass, get the ball out quickly, made things a little bit easier on Jacoby Brissett, didn't leave him under such pressure because the front seven of that Bengals defense really wanted to get after him.

Starting point is 00:06:01 You could tell they were really aching for it, but the Patriots had a good game plan to be able to neutralize it. I thought the right side of the offensive line particularly blocked well. I thought they gave from Andre Stevenson a lot of room, especially on some of the big runs, the touchdown run. These guys looked prepared, and they didn't just look prepared on the field talent-wise. They looked prepared in the coach's room in terms of scheming ways to be able to neutralize what Cincinnati does well. So I really want to give a major tip of the cap to the coaching staff because I thought they had a very good game plan going in. But when it came to the execution on the field, Steve, this is where I think the Pats players really started to shine. Was there anybody particularly that stood out to you that maybe you didn't have on your radar before this game

Starting point is 00:06:49 that deserves pretty high marks in your grade sheet? Well, again, I mean, you go to Romandre Stevenson. I mean, we all know what he can do. We've seen him do that. But, you know, the last really two years, he's really had to struggle for yardage to get off the line of scrimmage to where he can get it to that second level and do damage. I thought, as you said, it's a great point, the right side, Michael Owen, you, Layton Robinson playing in his first NFL game. I thought those two guys, you know, were really, really good in the running game.

Starting point is 00:07:30 I know Robinson had some issues in the passing game, and he's a rookie. But, you know, Rondre, I mean, especially that last drive. They had stopped the Bengals deep in their zone. There was just a shade under three minutes to go. They punted the ball, and they knew New England was going to run it. And the Patriots didn't try to hide the fact that they were going to run it. And they ran it right up the gut, full running place, 26 yards, two first downs, game over.

Starting point is 00:08:02 I thought that was so impressive because, you know, maybe last year they don't get that. And then they punt it back. And the next thing you know, we're hearing about Joe Burrow last second heroics and whatnot. They didn't even give them another shot at it. And I thought that was so impressive because that the running back, I mean,

Starting point is 00:08:26 Ramondre was phenomenal. That last run where he clinched it with the first down, I think he got pretty much all of that on his own. He just refused to go down. And that was so impressive to me because that's the kind of closing that you want out of your offense. Yeah, that's exactly the type of closing that you want out of your offense. Yeah, that's exactly the type of closing that you want out of your offense. And really, I mean, I think it comes full circle when it comes to the running game. We heard all offseason, all throughout training camp, all throughout preseason, how Alex Van Pelt was predicated on using the run to set up his offense, use it to facilitate play action, take deep shots

Starting point is 00:09:05 down the field, give your offense a chance to work through the run. We saw that, but I thought what was really impressive, and I mentioned this earlier this week when Murph joined me here on Locked On Patriots, Ramondre Stevenson lobbied hard to get a lot of downhill runs in there as well. I think he realized how important that was going to be to neutralize that Cincinnati defense, and you give a lot of credit to Alex Van Pelt for listening to Ramondre Stevenson I think he realized how important that was going to be to neutralize that Cincinnati defense. And you give a lot of credit to Alex Van Pelt for listening to Ramondre Stevenson and having that type of confidence in his running back to say,

Starting point is 00:09:32 okay, you know, you know, this team. Well, I'm new here. I'm not going to pull rank on you and I'm not going to pretend I know more than you. I'm going to give you everything that you need. And I think that synergy between these two guys is to quote casablanca the beginning of a beautiful friendship and i think that both remondre stevenson and alex van pelt are going to work very very well together in tandem when it

Starting point is 00:09:55 comes to this offense and it really will run through the uh the running back and especially remondre stevenson steve before we take our leave of the subject here on offense, obviously the offensive line and the quarterback position have been linked since the moment Drake May was drafted. And the Patriots did not go with a high profile left tackle in the draft. They chose to address that position through the subsequent rounds of the draft and through free agency and a couple of players that didn't have a whole lot of experience playing the left tackle position juke sakura ford did look like a fish out of water on sunday played only 12 snaps struggled mightily trying to contain trey hendrickson the darian lowe came in played a little bit better i thought but still this is

Starting point is 00:10:41 an issue for the new englandots, especially on pass protection. If they're going to have a chance against Seattle, what do you think is going to be the upgrades or the improvements needed most to this offense in order to make this the second week in a row in which the Patriots are opening eyes at a national level? Well, I think they need to pass protect better. I read somewhere after the game that they were pressured on 48% of Brissette's dropbacks. You can't have that. I mean, you just can't. They can't rely on just running the ball against everybody, and especially the Seattle team. And I know we'll get into that in a couple of moments. But, you know, you have to be balanced.

Starting point is 00:11:31 And they did a pretty good job of trying to be balanced. And, you know, I give Brissett all the credit in the world because he's – you know, we don't talk about his toughness. And that guy is tough. He hung in there knowing he was going to get hit and still tried to deliver the ball. Now, he only completed 15 passes. That was because they were running so effectively.

Starting point is 00:11:57 But they're going to have to get the passing game more involved as we go along. And, you know, he made some plays with his feet, but I think the pass protection and to make another quote from Casablanca, as you just did, it starts with the usual suspects, right? You know, it's the left tackle and, you know, they need some better production out of that. I don't know whether it's, you know, just leaving a guy into chip or whatever, but you know, you have to be able to give your quarterback time to make those chunk plays down the field.

Starting point is 00:12:36 I know a lot of fans were upset because of the short duration of the routes. And that was out of necessity. You know, they were trying to protect Brissette against Trey Hendricks and Sam Hubbard. So that's why a couple of third down completions were short of the sticks. If they get a little bit better protection, those play-action passes, you know, they'll be looking to go farther down the field. Guys like K.J. Osborne, Tyquan Thornton, you know, when he comes back, Kendrick Bourne.

Starting point is 00:13:11 So I think that's what they really need to look at this week. It's, you know, somehow getting better protection in the passing game. I know Robinson had a few hiccups in there as well. You know, he missed some signals or a pickup or a stunt. You know, that's going to happen with a rookie, but he'll tighten things up. I have a lot of faith in that kid. I thought he played real well. Yeah, he absolutely did.

Starting point is 00:13:38 I mean, you know, when you're called upon to come in and be a starting tackle, a starting guard anywhere on the offensive line, especially with Layden's case being a starting guard now, coming in, having to compensate for the loss of both Cole Strange and City So, and neither one of them in the lineup for the opener, a lot is being thrust on your shoulders. And we heard all offseason and all throughout training camp and the observations that we've done throughout the uh that time for this team is that he was struggling uh to really pick up the pro level offense but i thought he looked very comfortable and i thought he looked very adept and there were growing pains but he came up big when you needed him to come up and that i think is something that the patriots can feel good about and maybe build upon what I believe is going to be a lineman in their,

Starting point is 00:14:26 in their, what I believe is going to be a key cog in their offensive line for many years to come. So good job by the rookie, good job by Layden Robinson and good job overall by the offensive line folks. Something Steve and I probably thought we weren't going to say after week one, but they proved that they can play at a pro level. So we'll see if that continues against Seattle. But Steve, if the offense overachieved, I think that victory on Sunday can be laid at the feet of the defense and maybe even the special teams. These units played solid all throughout the game and proved that they may be the unbridled strength of this team.

Starting point is 00:15:03 Which of the units caught Steve's eye and earned his highest grades? We'll discuss that in just a moment when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. Proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Listen up, Locked On listeners. You've heard us talk a lot about FanDuel, America's number one sports book. But listen up, because you're going to love this. We have something a little different for you. Now,

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Starting point is 00:17:03 On Podcast Network, your team every day. And folks, your team, your favorite team in Foxborough, is being graded by the professor himself, our resident voice of reason, columnist extraordinaire for Patsfans.com, as well as being the co-host of one other amazing Patriots podcast, Patriots 4th and 2, alongside the great Derek Havens. He is my Patriots bison, Steve Balistrieri.

Starting point is 00:17:30 And Steve, you've already provided your offensive grades. You've given your take on what this offense looked like on Sunday and how it overachieved in the eyes of a lot of football fans. But I think we can agree that the Patriots defense continues to impress. They don't look like they've missed a beat from last year. Dare I say they may have even looked like they may have even gained a step from last year. And the Patriots special teams starting to look like Patriots special teams once again. Let's start with the defensive side of the ball. I thought a very good effort from the defensive front. I thought the pass rush looked excellent, courtesy of Keon White.

Starting point is 00:18:06 I thought the secondary had a very good game, the cornerbacks and the safeties. My thought process is that this is going to be a highly graded unit all the way around, but you're the man with the grading pen, my friend. How would you grade this defensive performance against the Bengals on Sunday? Well, they got A's across the board. The defensive line got an A. The linebackers got an A-. And the secondary gets an A.

Starting point is 00:18:32 I mean, when you can go into Cincinnati and hold them to 10 points and only 200, I think it was 224 yards of offense, you've, as Bill Belichick used to say, done your job. And they did across the line. They held the Bengals to only 70 yards rushing as a team. And, you know, that was another point of emphasis for them this year. They thought Joe Mixon had lost a step and he was starting to age a little bit, which he didn't look like that on Sunday.

Starting point is 00:19:06 No, he did not. He looked fantastic. But that being said, you know, they went with a couple of speedier guys, and I think guys that are going to work out well for them, you know. But the Patriots bottled them up pretty good all game long, and they were, you know, I thought the defensive line did a great job on that. And you know when the defensive line is doing their job because the linebackers are cleaning it up, right? And, you know, in the running game, you know, Juwan Bentley with a dozen tackles. And, I mean, that's telling me those big guys up front are holding the line

Starting point is 00:19:50 and the linebackers are free to make plays and they're not getting hit at the second level. When your safeties and corners are making too many tackles, that's usually a sign the other team is going to be able to run the football. So that was fantastic. And the linebackers with the pass rush, incredible. All across. I mean, Keon White, you can say he's a defensive lineman or edge guy.

Starting point is 00:20:17 You know, pick your poison. But, you know, we've been hearing about him making that big year to jump since the first days of OTAs. Right. And, you know, there, we've been hearing it and hearing it. And of course the naysayers have been out there saying, well, he needs to do it in a game. Well, he did it in a game and he got two and a half sacks.

Starting point is 00:20:43 He was fantastic out there. You know, he was pretty much disrupting things. One of his sacks was courtesy of Josh Uche, who looped around the outside. He forced Burrow to step to his left and step into the pocket. And waiting right there was Keyon White. So, I mean, that's when everything's working together. And because of that, you know, the Bengals were forced to shorten their routes, so they didn't have that explosiveness.

Starting point is 00:21:19 And the secondary, you know, they just smothered them. I thought Christian Gonzalez played a great game. Marcus Jones, back from injury, made a couple of huge stops early in the football game. Jonathan Jones, I mean, the list goes on. I mean, this defense, as I wrote about, they look to be in midseason form. There was none of this feeling out process. These guys were flying all over the field. You know me, I love good defense. And I was in heaven watching that. I was like, man. And against Cincinnati, you know, the one knock on

Starting point is 00:21:58 the Patriots defense last year. Well, they played well, but they didn't beat any elite quarterbacks well they just did yeah absolutely i'm so glad that you mentioned that because that was one of the knocks on the patriots defense last year that a lot of people were saying that they did it against lesser competition or they didn't necessarily get the battle test that a lot of the top quarterbacks in the league could provide joe burrow was as good as it gets and the Patriots were able to neutralize what he did well. And again, it comes back to execution on the field, most importantly, but it goes to game planning. And I want to give Demarcus Covington an awful lot of credit for scheming up, I think, a flawless defensive game plan against the Cincinnati team. And the Patriots gone out there and executing it. Like you said,

Starting point is 00:22:42 Keon White was phenomenal. Christian Gonzalez was excellent. These are the big names on this defense and they will be throughout the season, but you're also getting contributions from so many different players. I'm glad in reading your grade report for this game that I developed maybe a little bit of a newfound respect for what Juwan Bentley went out and did on Sunday. Again, he's not going to show up on the highlight reel, but 12 tackles, seven solo, accredited with a half sack. You got a quarterback hit. Jelani Tavai comes in with four tackles, two of which went for a loss and a pass breakup.

Starting point is 00:23:17 This is what the Patriots do best. And when all three levels are clicking, they're very tough to beat. We talked about this all offseason. I think because of this defense, they're going to be a pain in the butt for whoever they play because, you know, the offense is going to take some time to get settled. And we knew that. And, you know, they're still in the feeling out process because they've had a big turnover in personnel and coaches.

Starting point is 00:23:46 The defense, not so much. I thought, as you said, and it was a great point, Demarcus Covington didn't look like a guy that was calling his first game. No, he didn't. I mean, he was on top of everything. And what a great game plan they had because I thought, you know, dare I say it, that it looked in the fourth quarter like Burrow was seeing ghosts a little bit, you know, because he got rid of the ball a couple of times faster than he really had to, you know, which is, I mean, that's telling me that the defense is confusing.

Starting point is 00:24:22 And that's great calls on the field. And as you said, the execution was mid-season form on defense. That tackle Jonathan Jones made to stop the Montefiore down, I mean, incredible from where he came from. And they were just flying over the field. Jabril Peppers. I mean, everybody on defense was just balling out there. And it was so much fun to watch because they weren't doing it

Starting point is 00:24:52 against a weak team with Zach Wilson, that quarterback, right? They were doing it against the Cincinnati Bengals, who have a very, very good offense. They do. And, yeah, that is no easy team to be able to do that against, especially when you're talking about forcing fumbles. I said a couple of times already here this week on Locked On Patriots, Cincinnati Bengals were the best team in the league last year

Starting point is 00:25:17 at not forcing turnovers, at not committing turnovers and getting the ball forced from them. They had two all of last season the patriots forced two in one game so you've got to give them a lot of credit one of which came on special teams steve at the hands of joe cardona making his first forced fumble um this special teams unit looked like a new england patriots special teams unit once again steve and it was great to see all throughout bill belichick's tenure here in New England, special teams were always placed on a premium. The Patriots looked like, again, to use a colloquialism that was so tied to Bill during his time here, they were playing chess

Starting point is 00:25:55 when everyone else was playing checkers. The Patriots were so well prepared. They were on top of everything. Special teams were nearly flawless, but the last couple of seasons have been very difficult to watch. Undisciplined play, missed field goals, missed opportunities, missed tackles, things that you normally don't see from a special teams unit. The Patriots started to bring back that swagger a little bit, and I give a lot of credit to Brendan Schooler. Three special teams tackles, setting a career high. Mentioned Cardona, J uh michael hasty with the kickoff return marcus jones coming up big in the return game joey sly hitting three field goals how great was it to see a return to patriots special teams prowess and how did they grade for you this weekend special teams uh yeah they they were also in the a range i I mean, you know, again, they had the two turnovers,

Starting point is 00:26:47 one of which was Joe Cardona, perfect tackle, his helmet right on the football. And, you know, everyone always talks about protecting the football. When a guy comes flying in and hits the ball with his helmet, not many players are going to be able to hold on to it. And that was just perfect. But those two turnovers resulted in six points, which was the difference in the game. And one of them was a 10-point swing.

Starting point is 00:27:15 So, you know, that was the difference between winning and losing. But this special teams unit, I mean, we hadn't seen that in a couple of years. And, you know, to see Brendan score, dare I say it, it looked a little Matthew Slater-ish out there. You know, he made three really good plays on special teams. You know, Bryce Berringer averaged 50 yards a punt on five punts. You know, I believe three of them were inside the 20 you know that's the kind of you know punting and hang time that you want uh which allows your coverage units to

Starting point is 00:27:53 get down there you know i i thought you michael hazy had a nice return marcus jones first time back you know in uh this this season know, he had a decent punt return. I mean, all the signs are pointing up, and Joey Sly, you know, three for three in the field goal department plus the extra point. I mean, you couldn't ask for a better performance in week one, and it just leads me to believe that they're going to be better as they move on down the road because I think Marcus Jones has some big returns in him and I think Hastie does as well yeah I think that's a great point and this unit looks like a unit that

Starting point is 00:28:36 hasn't even hit its stride yet we talked about the defense already looking like it's in mid-season form they have a ways to go to go up as well. I don't think they've reached their ceiling yet, and the special teams definitely looks like it's about to start hitting its stride, and it's going to be very exciting for New England Patriots fans to watch this team emerge. Not saying that it's going to be a playoff run here in New England. I think it's way too early to think about that, and I think we really need to curb our enthusiasm, but this was a great win, Stephen. I think it invigorated the fan base in ways that the fan base desperately needed, about that and i think we really need to curb our enthusiasm but this was a great win steven i think it invigorated the fan base in ways that the fan base desperately needed and in ways i think the team needed and the organization needed uh the old proverbial colloquialism is a shot in the arm and

Starting point is 00:29:15 i think that's exactly what they got on sunday and maybe they can ride that to success against the seahawks when they host seattle coming weekend at Gillette Stadium for their home opener. It's been high grades across the board for New England, but is there a particular positional group that needs to step it up in order for the Patriots to make it 2-0 on the season when the Seahawks come to town this Sunday? Steve and I are going to discuss that point and wrap things up here on the Locked On Patriots podcast, a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Locked On listeners, passion, drive, and patience

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Starting point is 00:31:07 against the Cincinnati Bengals. As you can imagine, high marks across the board for the 16-10 victory at Paycourt Stadium. And the man handing out the grades is our resident professor, our resident voice of reason, my Patriots pison, Steve Balistrieri of Patsfans.com. And Steve, we've graded the New England Patriots. You've graded the New England Patriots.

Starting point is 00:31:27 Top to bottom, every positional grouping, coaches, special teams, it's all in there. And all the grades were pretty much high across the board. But Steve, you and I both know that one week's triumph doesn't necessarily translate to subsequent weeks. You need to sustain that type of high-level play. And the Patriots are going to be facing a Seattle team that's also coming off of a victory. Like the Patriots, they're also dealing with a new coaching situation and replacing a legend on the bench for a number of years. This is a team that's also coming in hungry to prove themselves and to show that they're more

Starting point is 00:32:03 than what they have more to them than just the identity of being Pete Carroll's team this is a team that's capable of you know of making things happen just like the Patriots are trying to shed themselves at the shadow of Bill Belichick and now move forward under Gerard Mayo and I totally agree with that and you look at the New England Patriots now Steve and obviously running backs look to be in top form the defense as a whole looks to be in top form we mentioned that that special teams unit continues to rise the offense a lot of overachieving units but there are units throughout this team Steve that do need to step it up if they're going to be successful especially

Starting point is 00:32:42 against a Seattle team that does have playmakers on both sides of the ball. If there's one area of this team that you believe could use some improvement, what area of the roster would you say that is? What needs the most improvement right now in New England? Well, I think the passing game does. I think everyone pretty much agrees with that. They need to be better. And, you know, everything's kind of interconnected when you're talking about the passing game, because it starts with the protection. If you can protect Jacoby Brissett, then we'll take a more in-depth look at the receiver position, because they were kind of hampered this week, you know, because they had to cut everything short. So if they're able to protect reset a little bit better, you know,

Starting point is 00:33:31 now the wide receivers, they're going to have to run deeper routes, get some separation, make some catches, you know, in that intermediate, maybe even a deep pass or two. I think that's what the team really needs. You know, again, I graded the wide receivers this week as a B minus because I thought they did what they needed to do and because the situation was kind of forced on them. But this week, I think we need to up the ante a little bit more, and it starts with the passing game.

Starting point is 00:34:08 I think they can run the football. Now they need to be able to, you know, balance it a little bit better. I think the Seattle, you know, especially their front four, they're really big. So running the ball time after time might not be as easy this week as it was last week. Not saying it was easy, but they were very successful. Right. So when I'm looking at this, I think the passing game, most definitely.

Starting point is 00:34:37 And, you know, defensively, I love the way they played. But, you know, they're facing it a little bit different in a quarterback, you know, with Gino. Because he can tuck the ball down and scramble. So they're going to have to, you know, maintain their rush integrity, their lanes, and all that. But, you know, right now, I think they have, again, puncher's chance against this Seattle team. It's not going to be an easy game. They have some explosive guys on their offense as well.

Starting point is 00:35:15 Very good point. I'm glad you mentioned the defense too, because there are always adjustments that need to be made. And they did play a masterful game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, but Seattle presents its own challenges and a little bit more of a dual threat attack coming from Geno Smith and the Seattle Seahawks offense. That's going to be something that I think the Patriots need to keep an eye on. And I think you've articulated that well, but I'm in full agreement with you. If I'm the Patriots right now, I'm looking at the passing game that needs improvement. Really, I think needs to be utilized more. And I think that's something that you will see against

Starting point is 00:35:50 the Seahawks this week. Look, for all of the talk about using the run to facilitate play action, Patriots only threw five passes for 26 yards on five play action passes last week. That's got to increase in order for the Pats to be effective because it's so hard to win long-term in the NFL without an explosive passing attack, or at least a passing attack. That's willing to push the envelope a little bit and try to take some shots down the field, make some big plays happen. I understand the blocking, especially on the left side was not good.

Starting point is 00:36:21 So Jacoby Brissett really needed to manage the game a little bit more, you know, maybe pass up some chances to take some deep shots down the field in order to protect the football and keep the game moving. I think he did the right thing on Sunday, but eventually that style of play is going to catch up with you. It's going to do two things. It's going to limit your offense, and it's also going to put Ramondre Stevenson in a very difficult situation because you want Ramondre to be able to get a little bit of rest and have a little pressure taken off of his shoulders. You don't want him burnt out by midseason if he's going to be rushing consistently for over 100 yards every single game. That's something that the Patriots need to do. So maybe Jacoby Brissett, take a little bit of the shrink wrap off of the deep ball, off

Starting point is 00:37:07 of the deep game. Test these guys down the field. He only threw 33% of his passes past the sticks on Sunday. That's going to change. I think that's going to increase a little bit. I think that could go a long way into what the Patriots are going to be able to do. So I agree with you that the passing game does need some improvement. Folks, what are your thoughts?

Starting point is 00:37:24 What do you think needs the most improvement for the New England Patriots is it the passing game the way Steve and I have articulated are you still not confident in that offensive line to get the job done especially on the left side these are all valid points and we'd love to hear what you think because now it's time to flip the script turn the page and move on to the Seattle Seahawks full-time. And here tomorrow, it's Crossover Thursday, and my good friend Corbin Smith, host of Locked on Seahawks, is going to join me, and we're going to break this down for you from a Patriots perspective, from a Seahawks perspective.

Starting point is 00:37:57 Always love doing the crossers, so you're not going to want to miss a single second of that action. But in the meantime, I want to give a big tip of the cap and a huge heartfelt thanks to my good friend Steve Balistrieri for joining me here today on the pod, lending your wisdom, your counsel, and your grades the way only you can, Paisan. Thank you so much. Before I let you go, please let everyone know where they can interact with you

Starting point is 00:38:19 and what you got marinating in La Cucina Balistrieri for the course of the next week heading into week two of the 2024 NFL season. Well, if you look over my shoulder, there's an apron from Sicily. So we're cooking some Italian food this weekend, buddy. That's good. Yeah. Meatballs, sausage, spare ribs, all in the sauce. Gravy, as we call it.

Starting point is 00:38:46 That's right. But not only that, I write for Patsfans.com, as you mentioned a couple of times, and thank you for that. You can find me on Twitter, at SteveB7SFG. You know, tomorrow we'll be writing about this Seahawks game. I'm going in as we speak and writing some stuff about, you know, the key matchups, the breakdowns of, you know, how this game might unfold from a Patriots perspective.

Starting point is 00:39:21 I think, again, they have a puncher's chance with going 2-0, and who would have thought that just a couple of weeks ago? Definitely would not have thought that, but you know what? You know who did think that? The Patriots in the locker room, Gerard Mayo, that coaching staff. There's a lot of confidence brimming in the New England Patriots right now, and who knows, folks? Who knows what it could translate into? So you're definitely going to want to stay tuned on Sunday. I think an exciting matchup coming up against the Seattle Seahawks. And we will continue to bring you all the latest ins and outs, ups and downs.

Starting point is 00:39:51 Everything you need to get you ready for Sunday, you'll find right here on the Locked On Patriots podcast. And Steve, once again, I want to thank you for lending all of your wisdom, counsel, and great work here to the pod today. And folks, I want to thank all of you, each and every one of you, all you, every dayers, casual listeners, and all your first timers for making locked on Patriots, a daily part of your new England Patriots coverage.

Starting point is 00:40:14 And of course, folks on behalf of locked on Patriots and all of us here across the lockdown podcast network, our thoughts are with all Americans today, as we commemorate the anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Our country will never forget. The victims, the families affected by this tragedy will forever be in our hearts.

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