Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots Week 13 Grades: Drake Maye Inspires Hope, Supporting Cast Struggles vs. Colts

Starting point is 00:00:00 The New England Patriots are 1-6 in the games in which Drake May is their starting quarterback. The rookie keeps making the grade. Who else needs to step up? 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.

Starting point is 00:00:32 Thank you once again for making Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. I'm your host, Mike DeBate. I cover your New England Patriots for the Patriots country. So reach out to me and let me know what's on your mind on X at MDABATENFL. You can also catch me over where the skies are blue on Blue Sky at MDABATENFL.BSKY.SOCIAL. And of course, if you're looking to show some social media love to Lockdown Patriots, please follow our X account at LO underscore Patriots. Fan Pats fans, you can start the season with a big return on FanDuel,

Starting point is 00:01:08 today's sponsor of our podcast. New customers can place a $5 bet, and you'll get started with $150 in bonus bets. That's if you win your first $5 bet. Visit FanDuel.com to get started. And, Pats fans, we continue to wallow in the mire of the New England Patriots' disheartening 25-24 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 13 at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots seem to have victory secured, but a final drive, an 80-yard 19-play drive by the Indianapolis Colts ends in not only a touchdown, but a two-point conversion, which sealed the victory for Indy and ironically, mathematically sealed the fate of the

Starting point is 00:01:52 New England Patriots, who are now officially eliminated from postseason play. How do the Patriots use this bye week to regroup and to move forward? Well, in order to get where you're going, you have to know where you've been, and the best way to do that, report cards. That's right, folks. Even though it's the bye week, we're not taking any days off. We are providing a Patriots grade report. And here today to do just that is the man with the grades.

Starting point is 00:02:17 He is our Patriots professor. He is my Patriots bison, columnist extraordinaire of patsfans.com, as well as being the co-host of another amazing Patriots podcast, Patriots 4 Zahn, columnist extraordinaire of patsfans.com, as well as being the co-host of another amazing Patriots podcast, Patriots 4th and 2, alongside the great Derek Havens, the new proud papa himself. He is my good friend, Steve Balistrieri. Steve, welcome back to the pod. Thank you for coming to us today and sharing your great report on this bye week for the New England Patriots. Thanks for having me and glad to be back. And you know, unfortunately, they snatched defeat right out of the jaws of victory on Sunday.

Starting point is 00:02:53 Absolutely. Well said. But bottom line, Steve, when you talk about grading this 25 to 24 loss to the Colts, we start on the offensive side of the ball. It's tale as old as time now folks i'm not going to sing beauty and the beast don't worry i'm talking about drake may being the quarterback of this team playing at a high level just not getting the type of performance from the supporting cast around him to be able to turn these good performances into victories i'll be the first to admit i was skeptical of putting dra Drake May in before this team had a solid offensive line in front of it, before he had some playmakers around him, especially at the receiver position that could help elevate his game. He's proven me wrong.

Starting point is 00:03:35 This kid can go in there and elevate the players around him, and he's doing that, but you can only elevate these players so much, and that's why these types of performances are not turning into victories. So when you look at this loss to the Colts for the New England Patriots, obviously offense is not going to be graded very high. But I have a funny feeling that your opinion of Drake May in this game may be higher than that of his teammates at this point, Steve. Well, I thought that the I I thought, well, obviously Drake and we're talking about him, but some of the other positions on offense had a good day. You know, when you roll up 422 yards of total offense, you know, you're moving the ball. They didn't punt until five minutes left in the game. And, you know, unfortunately, that was the worst time to punt,

Starting point is 00:04:28 but we'll get into that as well. But, you know, talking about Drake May, I thought he was terrific. You know, and what I liked about him is in this game so much, you know, he stayed patient, okay? The Colts played that, you know, zone defense, kind of like Seattle does with three, like the, what do they call it? Seattle three or whatever, you know, that takes away the deep ball. So you have to stay patient. And he was able to do that.

Starting point is 00:05:04 The short passing game, especially with the tight ends, I thought he ate them up. You know, with playing that type of defense, you have to be patient. You have to take what's there. And, you know, the few times they did play man coverage, you know, he was able to scramble when things broke down um he ran five times for 59 yards including that big 41 yard run but overall you look at his numbers 24 30 80 238 yards with a touchdown interception his passer rating was 96.9 the one interception you can maybe fault him a little bit the ball was a

Starting point is 00:05:48 little bit inside where you know um where it wasn't perfectly placed but i think hunter henry would be the first to tell you that that's a ball he should have caught and you know it could only have been caught by henry but unfortunately it bounced off his hands and went straight up in the air and when i saw that i i automatically went oh my this isn't going to end well and it didn't but uh overall i thought uh drake may was fantastic in this game you know he did everything that you needed him to do. The only fault again, and this is the entire offense and we'll get into why I think, um, the red zone was a killer for him once again, only two of six. And think about that. If they had converted one more red

Starting point is 00:06:41 zone, um, possession into a touchdown, they win that game easy because the Colts would have been down by two scores. So, I mean, I thought Drake May played fantastic. I agree with you. I thought he played fantastic as well. And I dipped into this a little bit earlier this week when Murph joined me here talking about Gus Bradley because this is a defensive coordinator I know very well. I know him from his time in Los Angeles when I covered the Chargers, and he loves zone coverage.

Starting point is 00:07:13 I mean, he calls more zone coverage than any other defensive coordinator in the league. So you know that no matter what going in, you're going to see a ton of zone. And look, Indy really didn't try to mask that point. They went at Drake in zone coverage. 34 of 39 of Drake's dropbacks, like you said, were in zone coverage. Only five came in man-to-man coverage. Drake did a great job of dicing that up, knowing he didn't have the deep ball at his disposal. That's a strong suit. What did he need to do? He needed to attack the intermediate areas of the field.'s exactly what he did what i'm most impressed with when i see drake may especially in a game like this is he's making it very difficult for opposing defensive coordinators to develop a scheme that

Starting point is 00:07:56 is sure to keep him on his heels that is sure to keep him contained the mo on drake was he can't do much outside of throwing the deep ball when you throw zone coverage at him he's proving now that he can carve up the middle of the field he's proving when you do switch and you play man-to-man on him you can't play that man-to-man coverage unless you account for the quarterback this kid has the top level speed to take it and take it to the house we saw it in that 41 yard rush that he made um evan lazara patriots.com had a dynamite drop in this week on patriots unfiltered when he talked about next gen stats claiming that he reached a top speed of 19.4 miles per hour that is lightning it's wide receiver speed absolutely it is wide

Starting point is 00:08:41 receiver speed and in that regard you have to account for him on every play, on every snap, because not only is he capable of elevating his teammates, he has the intrinsic talent to be able to take games over. That's how you know you've got the right guy under center and taking snaps at quarterback. Yeah, the Patriots' future is bright with Drake May at the helm when it comes to the quarterback position. But Steve, around him, we're once again seeing breakdowns. The wide receivers, I thought, had a very rough game. When you look at the Patriots' pass catchers now, and I'll throw the tight ends into that because I thought the tight ends

Starting point is 00:09:14 once again had a good game. What types of improvement do you want to see as the Patriots' professor in his pass catchers around him to help elevate Drake May? Well, yeah. Well, you know, when it comes to the wide receivers, I think a lot of their struggles in the red zone are because your wide receivers are not getting the job done. I mean, you know, the wide receivers do okay between the 20s, right? But when they get in the red zone, you look at who they're targeting. It's always the tight ends or the running backs, you know,

Starting point is 00:09:54 either with the running game or, you know, a screen pass to the, you know, running back. But it's very rarely the wide receivers. And, you know, they're not getting any kind of separation. You know, they're not getting open, even when plays break down. I mean, who does he go to? He goes to Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper. And, you know, where would they be right now?

Starting point is 00:10:21 Where would this Patriots offense be right now without Henry and Hooper and I I think you know I I thought those two guys had a fantastic game um you know we talked about that one play with Henry I mean you know those things are going to happen um again we said you know it's a catch he normally makes uh it wasn't a great throw, but, you know, you look at Henry and Hooper. They were targeted 13 times. They made 11 catches, okay, out of 13 targets. I think it was 117 yards and a touchdown. I mean, they're getting the job done.

Starting point is 00:11:05 And you can't ask for much more out of them. Right. But I think it's the wide receivers. I mean, you know, I was charting the plays when they got in the red zone. And, again, it was, you know, all the backs and the tight ends. The wide receivers were targeted very little, and they had very little production. And I think that's really setting them back.

Starting point is 00:11:30 As you said, right at the outset, he can only elevate the guys around him so far. You know, Keishon Butte shows flashes. I mean, he came up with another nice play on Sunday, but he's not consistent. Kendrick Bourne is consistent. Pop Douglas, you know, I know this will be very unpopular with Patriots fans, but I don't think he's consistent enough. You know, he only had four catches on four targets and it was just for 20

Starting point is 00:12:09 yards i mean that's the guy that's supposed to get you your you know separation right off the field and eat up the yardage after the catch and you know uh four catches for 20 yards while your quarterback is carving them up, it's not getting it done. And I know he's very popular with the fans, but, you know, he should have a lot more production than he has. And I think there's times when he doesn't run the right routes. I think that's the big problem with Jalen Polk. You know, he had that one target,

Starting point is 00:12:47 and it seemed like he kept drifting to his right where Drake wanted him to sit, and the throw was off target. I heard through the grapevine that one of the reasons why Javon Baker isn't seeing the field is he just doesn't practice well at all. Steve, before we take our leave of the offense completely, we've talked about the quarterback. We've talked about the pass catchers, talked about the running backs. But this offensive line, once again, a mixed bag on Sunday, as you eloquently put it in your grade report. The offense gained 422 yards. That's their best output of the season, and they balanced it. 200 yards on the ground, 222 through

Starting point is 00:13:31 the air. So the line did an equally effective job blocking for the run and blocking for the pass. But once again, a mixed bag output. In your opinion, when you look at this offensive line, what went right, What went wrong? And how did that all factor into the final grade that you gave them this week? Well, you know, and you hit the nail on the head. I mean, if you looked at it from just staring at the stat sheet, you'd think the offensive line was dominating out there. And at times, I mean, you know, they, when you run for 200 yards, you're doing a pretty good job in run blocking, you know, your quarterbacks, you know, uh,

Starting point is 00:14:12 throwing for 238 yards while you're running for, you know, 238 doesn't sound like a lot, but when you're running for 200, that's a really good day, you know, because you're, you're keeping the defense on their heels. But once they got into them red areas, that's when the protection breaks down. You know, the first time they got in the red zone, there was a sack, a two-yard run, and a second sack, you know. And that was a recurring problem. Like, they were moving the ball very well, but once they got it at that crunch level, you know,

Starting point is 00:14:51 protection was breaking down. The running backs all of a sudden had no room to run. You know, the, the runs shortened up, protection was breaking down. I mean, it was a mixed bag. I mean, I thought they graded out a little below average, C-minus, because, again, you know, when you get into the red zone and you only score two touchdowns out of six, you know, something has to give there.

Starting point is 00:15:20 And a lot of it was the offensive line. You know, again, like i told you earlier i think it's it's a mixture i think your offensive line did not play well down down in that red area and i think your wide receivers leave much to be desired down there even with drake may's solid effort steve it results in a loss and this is a common fail for the Patriots, far too common for the Patriots to continue and hope to be able to build on this moving into 2025. But one thing I think we can all agree on is that the Patriots run defense once again showing an inability to be able to contain rushers, and it's hurting them on the stat

Starting point is 00:16:00 sheet. It's also hurting them on the scoreboard. We're going to grade that Patriots defense from D-line to linebackers to secondary 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 with big wireless providers, what you see is never what you get. Somewhere between the store and your first month's bill, the price you thought you were paying magically skyrockets.

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Starting point is 00:18:55 That's $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup when downloading the app today and using the code LOCKEDONNFL. PrizePix. run your game. Patriots fans, thank you once again for joining us here today on Locked On Patriots and joining us here today to provide his wisdom, his counsel, and most importantly, folks, his grades for the New England Patriots 25-24 loss to the Indianapolis Colts is my good friend Steve Balistrieri of Patsfans.com. Steve, in the previous segment, we talked about very high grades for Drake May. We talked about middle-of-the-road grades for the tight ends and the running backs, and maybe not so great grades for the wide receivers and for the offensive line, but

Starting point is 00:19:43 one of the things that continues to disappoint Patriots fans is the regression we're seeing on defense, especially in the run game. The Pats defensive line allowed 144 yards on 34 carries this week. And of course, a lot of that is because of the prowess of Jonathan Taylor. But if you're a Patriots defense that's being called upon to help mitigate the problems that they're having on offense, you need to rise to the occasion and you need to step up to the challenge. Pat's defense did not do so. Starting with the defensive line, Steve, when you look at their performance, how did they grade out against the Colts and what do you believe needs to be

Starting point is 00:20:20 priority one for the Pats in improving that heading out of the bye week. Yeah, I think, you know, the defensive game plan this week, right, was stop the run, keep Richardson in the pocket, and force him to throw. And, you know, when you look at that, I mean, coming into the game, he had a completion percentage of under 50%. And, you know, they were supposed to pressure him into making mistakes. And, you know, all of those with maybe making other than making mistakes, they failed that. They didn't stop the run. You know, they didn't get any kind of pressure on him, and they weren't able to keep him in the pocket. He did throw two interceptions, which, you know,

Starting point is 00:21:18 the Patriots had a plus turnover rate for the first time in a while. Oh, second time, I think, in several weeks. But, you know, they got zero sacks. I thought Christian Barmore and Devon Godshaw didn't have a great game. I thought they got pushed around a little bit. I thought the Colts owned the line of scrimmage offensively. You know, they didn't gain a ton of yardage. They only gained 252 yards in the game.

Starting point is 00:21:53 But most of that was on the ground. You know, I know that Richardson only threw, it was like 109 yards or something or other. But that was because they were running. I mean, he only threw, it was like 109 yards or something or other, but that was because they were running. I mean, he only threw 24 passes. They did not do a good job against the run. They weren't keeping their gap integrity. They didn't get a lot of help from the linebackers in the running game. So it was just a bad day for the defensive line. I was expecting better out of them this week, you know, especially, you know, the last two games, the defense, you know, they were going against teams that use a lot of motion and we saw the Rams in Miami just confuse the heck out of them.

Starting point is 00:22:46 And this week, you know, the Colts don't use a lot of motion. I was expecting the defense to really step up in this, you know, and once again, they can't generate any kind of a pass rush. You know, they blitz. They're one of the top blitzing teams in the league and they're still not getting home. This was a rough game for that defensive line. Yeah, it definitely was. And it also led to putting a lot on the shoulders of the linebackers who, in your estimation, played a little bit better, but not much by comparison. I mean, they did have a couple of big moments.

Starting point is 00:23:26 Obviously, the Tavai tip and the Christian Ellis interception was a big moment for them. Anthony Jennings and Tavai kind of stepping up and getting the tackles when they needed to. Yannick Ngankwe is starting to make his mark, but still, I think we need to see more from an acquisition that the patriots i think had higher hopes for than what he's shown on the field so far when it comes to the linebackers uh why did they grade a c in your estimation this week well i again you know i thought they did fairly well in the passing game um you know um when it comes to coverage this week, the Colts' tight ends and the backs weren't huge factors in the passing game.

Starting point is 00:24:14 But, you know, and again, Tavai tipped the pass that Ellis picked off. Jennings and Tavai each had five tackles um you know so they were fairly productive they're not as much as they normally get but again the running game um you know they were having trouble and they haven't had trouble doing this in a while setting the edge right that that prop back up again right i thought they didn't do a great job setting the edge and i thought the interior line and linebackers weren't doing a great job in the running game so they were kind of average in this game but not nearly good enough yeah exactly i think not enough is really a common theme throughout this year for this team.

Starting point is 00:25:05 And it leads me quite nicely into my final question for you, Steve, on the defense, which is the secondary. Another standout performance by Christian Gonzalez. I don't think anyone can argue that this kid needs to be in the discussion for potential Pro Bowl selection, maybe even All-Pro. Around him, the supporting cast continues to struggle. Jabril Pepper is back in the lineup this week for the first time in a long while obviously making his presence felt but you need to see him get his game legs back overall this secondary I thought played a decent game but we still need to see more production especially on the perimeter if this team is going to be the standout unit along this defense yeah we need to

Starting point is 00:25:46 see a little more from players not named Christian Gonzalez right and and you know again you know we didn't expect to see the communication issues right because they you know Colts don't run a lot of motion but you know in the first half uh the the colts score a touchdown and it was once again way too easy right everyone goes to the left and uh you know all the coverage drifts off and the running back scoots out there and you know there was nobody in the zip code and you know those are the things that you get so frustrated watching because it's basic thing i mean somebody has to account for the running back you know and every you know they had two guys i think gonzalez and uh one of the safeties drifted off to the left covering the tight end,

Starting point is 00:26:45 and nobody stayed home to watch the running back, Taylor, and he goes out and catches an easy touchdown. He walked in. And, again, these are the kind of things that if you're playing it straight up and he beats you physically because he's faster than you to the edge then you got to live with that but when you when nobody's home that's pretty tough you know and uh you know um i don't know it was just one of those games, you know. Let me take that back.

Starting point is 00:27:30 I think it was Gonzalez and Ellis over there. But anyway, Jabril Peppers, you know, he played every snap, which I was shocked, you know. And, again, he kind of looked like himself, but he's obviously rusty. He hadn't played in eight weeks. The secondary didn't play badly. I mean, again, Richardson was just 12 of 24, 109 yards.

Starting point is 00:27:58 He did throw two touchdowns and two interceptions. But again, that last drive, you know, 19 plays, 80 yards. They had them stopped for three fourth downs, and they converted every one of them. And, you know, that's where your defense, it goes from bending to collapsing. And, you know, you just can't have that i mean and and again you know at times guys are out of position i think it speaks volumes to what the patriots need to do i think every area every position can use a degree of improvement now some obviously are in better positions than others but i think everyone that puts on a patriots uniform can look in the mirror right now and say, you know what?

Starting point is 00:28:47 The job that I'm doing, I can do better. And that's going to be the job of the coaching staff throughout this bye week, folks, because grade reports count. They absolutely are viewed and absorbed and taken to heart by the Patriots brain trust at one Patriots place right now. In fact, some of those ill-fated grades are actually leading to big improvements when it comes to the Patriots, including at the facilities level. Yeah, that's right. Patriots beginning construction on a new facility that might help them when it comes to recruiting free agents. Steve and I are going to talk about the big news from Foxborough

Starting point is 00:29:22 that dropped on Wednesday morning and what it means for the Patriots moving forward when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast wraps up right here on the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Locked On listeners, get ready to tackle NFL action with FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Because right now, new customers can bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if you win. The FanDuel Sportsbook app gives you everything you need to place live bets on the NFL all in one place. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats,

Starting point is 00:30:01 view live play-by-play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets let your new england fandom work for you by visiting fanduel.com to join today you'll get started with 150 in bonus bets if you win with your first five dollar bet that's fanduel.com never waste a hunch and make every moment more with FanDuel, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. Patriots fans, thank you once again for joining us here today on Locked On Patriots. As our good friend and guest today, Steve Balistrieri,

Starting point is 00:30:40 my Patriots bison, columnist extraordinaire of Patsfans.com, provides his weekly grade report and it's not the worst grade report that you've issued steve by far certainly not the best uh but the new england patriots were as our people like to say mezzamez against the colts um some bright spots not enough to instill a whole lot of confidence heading into the last few weeks after the bye week but one thing that i think we do know from these great reports steve is the patriots brass the front office the brain trust so to speak does take a lot of heart into the perception of what this team is and that's exactly what's happening in foxborough folks the patriots officially announcing on wednesday morning their plans for a new football training facility,

Starting point is 00:31:25 a three-story facility, Steve, located near the practice fields toward the south end of the stadium. Patriots football operations department all going to be housed in this area. Coaches, players, training staff, other internal personnel going to fully upgrade what we've seen from the New England Patriots training facility. Team is targeting a spring 2026 completion date. This is definitely in reaction to the Patriots report card from the NFLPA that they put out each and every year. And Steve, we see this now for the last two years. The Patriots have graded very deficiently in this area.

Starting point is 00:32:01 Steve, before we talk about what this means for the Patriots going forward, what was your reaction to the announcement that this construction was going to begin? What do you think it means for the Patriots in the short term? Well, I think it's long overdue, right? I mean, we've seen these reports the last couple of years and, you know, I'll give credit to the ownership group. They obviously have been working behind the scenes on this for a while. As you said, you know, offline, you know, when we were talking before the show started, you know, you could see, you know, the clearing of the land as early as this summer.

Starting point is 00:32:42 So, you know, this plant has been in the works and, you know, they're starting construction on it. And I think this is, I think it's fantastic. You know, they're going to have a much bigger weight facility, bigger, more effective training rooms. They'll have, you know, areas for bigger areas for team meetings and virtual reality stuff that they're already using. And hopefully, you know, one of the things that popped up in the report was they didn't have a nursery or daycare facility for family members on game days. And, you know, it sounds like a minor thing, but that's a big thing for families. It's huge.

Starting point is 00:33:30 When they have young kids and the wives want to come to the games, they're able to just bring the kids right into the stadium, you know, drop them off, and then afterwards the players and their wives and their kids can all go home together. I mean, I think that's fantastic. You know, it's this whole thing, I saw the plans of it. It looks like it's going to be right behind where the practice fields are now. That's a great location.

Starting point is 00:33:58 Yeah, the south side. And they have plenty of room. I mean, they have oodles of room back there. You could build five of them things with all the land Robert Kraft had. But, you know, to me, I thought this was a very good, if overdue, move. Maybe they weren't aware that the players felt this badly about the facilities until, you know, last year and this year when the reports came out. But now, you know, they're acting on it. And I think that's a great idea. And from the looks of it, it's going to be a first class, you know, facility. And like you said, it's going to help in recruiting free agents

Starting point is 00:34:40 to come here because now you're going to be you know the the facility is going to be first class and top of the line very well said in all aspects look bottom line folks when you look at Gillette Stadium back when it opened it was state-of-the-art and one of the finer facilities that you'll find anywhere in the National Football League I think the crafts took a lot of pride in that but also you have to remember that in 20 years a lot is going to be outdated and even if you make minor modifications you're still not equaling what these other mega stadiums are doing the players see that they know that they know what's out there because of their visits to these opposing stadiums they come back home to they come

Starting point is 00:35:23 back home to foxborough and it's just not as inviting. So this is a long time overdue for the New England Patriots. I think it's a smart time to do it. Obviously, the NFLPA grades factored heavily into their decision to do it, and only time will tell whether or not the New England Patriots upgrades to their facility, or at least their intentions to upgrade their facilities, will have an impact on the Patriots when it comes to free agency, when it comes to enthusiasm in the draft, and when it comes to the morale of their own players, the guys in their locker room right now that know that the Pats are making the commitment to making the facilities and making their work-life balance around them much easier and much better. So kudos to the Pats Brain Trust and their organization

Starting point is 00:36:03 for doing this. It really looks like a very nice facility. Steve, can't wait for you to come with me and tour this place and see what it's like in 2026. That's going to be a lot of fun when it's finally completed. But bottom line, folks, what it shows you is grades count. Evaluation counts. And the evaluation that I think my friend provides here each and every week when it comes to the Patriots performance should be a motivational factor for this bye week when it comes to the Patriots leading into now going to be their week 15 matchup with the Arizona Cardinals coming up in a couple of weeks but in the meantime my friend thank you so much for coming today to lending your wisdom your counsel and most importantly that great report before I let you go please let everyone know where they can reach out to you,

Starting point is 00:36:46 interact with you, and what you got marinating in La Cochina Balistrieri between now and when the Patriots take the field once again to prepare for their matchup with the Cards. Thank you once again for having me. And if I can give one plug to a head coach who's also a very, very good friend. You know, my buddy Chris McMahon out of Grafton, Mass. He's been the head coach there for 11 years. He's stepping down.

Starting point is 00:37:17 What a great program he ran there. I started covering him in his first year. And, you know, he was a fantastic guy. We went from coach-media relationship to a friend relationship. And super guy, cares about the kids, not just on the football field but off. They're going to miss him there. So thanks for letting me plug my buddy there. Of course.

Starting point is 00:37:45 But you can find me on Twitter, or at SteveB7SFG. You know, I write for PatsFans.com. I'm probably going to do some more military writing in the near future. So I just got a call today on that. But, yeah, Derek and I do that podcast every week. And we're looking forward to having you on again as a guest with both of us there. So, you know, let's do that soon. This week we're just looking at where the team lies.

Starting point is 00:38:21 And it was funny because I was going to write, I already started writing about, you know, personnel-wise where the team is. And I was going to mention at the end that they need to upgrade the facilities. So, you know, they must have been putting a bug in my ear. Oh, they're smart, Steve. They're definitely, they're listening to your grade report

Starting point is 00:38:44 each and every week. And again, if they're not, they should be because it is the best grade report in Patriots media each and every week as far as I'm concerned, folks. That's why we are glad and humbled and honored that he chooses Locked On Patriots to come here and to lend his grade report in addition to what you

Starting point is 00:38:59 do and the great work that you and Derek do on Patriots 4th and 2. In the meantime, my friend, we appreciate all of the contributions you make here to Locked On Patriots. And of course, folks, we appreciate each and every one of you that take the time out to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Stay tuned, folks, because we are not done with the bye week yet. Special guests coming up.

Starting point is 00:39:21 And of course, a special crossover coming up on Thursday. Even though it's the bye, you're not going to want to miss this one. So stay tuned and stay locked in to Locked on Patriots. On behalf of my good friend Steve Balistrieri, I'm Mike DeBate, reminding all of you to stay safe, to stay well, to be the change you wish to see in the

Starting point is 00:39:40 world. Have a great day, everyone, and we'll see you back here again tomorrow on Locked on Patriots.

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