Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots Week 15 Loss: What Went Wrong Against Arizona Cardinals? Jerod Mayo’s Misstep?

Starting point is 00:00:00 It wasn't whether the New England Patriots won or lost against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 15. It was the way they played the game that hurt everyone the most. Stick around, you're about to be locked in to the Locked On Patriots Podcast. You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all of you, Foxborough faithful. Thank you once again for making Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. I'm your host, Mike DeBate.

Starting point is 00:00:39 I cover your New England Patriots. For Patriots country, you can find me on X at MDABATENFL. You can also find me where the skies are blue over on Blue Sky at MDABATENFL.BSKY.SOCIAL. And if you're showing some social media love to Locked On Patriots, follow our X account at LO underscore Patriots. And Pats fans, thank you so much for joining me here today on this Monday episode.

Starting point is 00:01:04 Definitely not a victory Monday, not quite a melancholy Monday. Kind of what do you make of it Monday? Well, we're going to help you out here because on tap today for all of you everydayers, all of you locked on Patriots loyalists out there, I'm going to give you my thoughts. I'm going to share my hurt, if you will, regarding the Patriots' Week 15 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. And as I said to open the show, folks, it's not the loss that bothers me the most. I'll get back to that in just a moment, but I'm also going to share my thoughts on the bright spots on the field for the Patriots on Sunday. Yeah, that's right. There were a few bright spots, a couple of standout

Starting point is 00:01:40 performances that I think deserve a game ball. And last but certainly not least, I'm going to weigh in on what's been the social media topic throughout the night here in New England. Jerron Mayo's post-game comments and what it all meant for Drake May and a potential quarterback sneak. Yeah, that's right, folks. There's a lot to cover in this episode. So settle in and stay locked in right here to the Locked On Patriots podcast. And today's episode is sponsored by FanDuel. You can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a $5 bet and you'll get started with $150 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet. Visit

Starting point is 00:02:19 FanDuel.com to get started. Pats fans, Sunday's matchup at State Farm Stadium against the Arizona Cardinals was clearly not the comeback from the bye week that we all had hoped for in Patriots Nation. Prior to their pre-holiday break, all the Patriots coaches, all their players, were preaching about returning to the field with more energy. They wanted to be sharper. They expected to be more fundamentally sound. Well, that did not happen yesterday in

Starting point is 00:02:45 Glendale, Arizona. The Patriots simply unable to muster any momentum in a 30-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. That was really not as close as that final score leads you to believe. The Cardinals actually led this one 23-3 in the fourth quarter before the Patriots were able to get two late touchdown drives but unfortunately by that time the game was well out of reach so the Patriots now fall to three and 11 and as bad as that record sounds I think what hurts the most about this one folks is not the loss in fact most of us in Patriots Nation thought the Pats would lose this one I picked them to lose by a final of 20 to 17 yeah I'll give the Cardinals a tip of the cap. They scored 10 more points than I thought they would, but many of us looked at this game as

Starting point is 00:03:29 a long shot to win, so dropping this one on the road at State Farm Stadium, not really that upsetting. And actually, for those of us, myself included, who think that newly minted Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter would look great in a Patriots uniform. Each loss that the Patriots pile up actually helps that cause. However, you don't want to see your team falter the way they did. Instead of going down fighting, this team looked unprepared, it seemed tired, and once again it looked fundamentally unsound. All the qualities you don't want to exude coming off of the bye. Offense, still the biggest problem area for this team. They finished with 311 total yards but again nearly half of that came in the fourth quarter where the game was pretty much unwinnable. In fact at one point New England got stuffed on consecutive runs where all

Starting point is 00:04:15 they needed was one yard to advance and this was clearly a tough pill for Gerard Mayo and his coaching staff to swallow. They came out aggressive in this one because right from the opening coin toss it looked like this team had a lot of confidence in their swallow. They came out aggressive in this one because right from the opening coin toss, it looked like this team had a lot of confidence in their offense. They won the coin toss. They took the ball. Patriots hadn't done that this year, but they took the ball trying to put some points on the board early.

Starting point is 00:04:36 And a big part of that was poor play along the offensive line. But Darian Lowe, he got beat for a sack and a tackle for a loss. But Darian had a really tough game for this one. He allowed two quarterback pressures and three run stuffs overall. Rookie left guard, Layden Robinson, he was flagged for an offensive holding on a drive that would have seen the Patriots put points on the board. That was a true momentum killer. Ben Brown, who up until this point had been a solid addition, and I still say overall

Starting point is 00:05:02 he was a solid addition, folks, but he turned in a pair of low snaps, and he was ultimately the one that gave up the pressure on Drake May's lone interception. On the other side, Michael Wenu at right guard and Demantre Jacobs at right tackle fared a little better, but not by much. So again, even if the Patriots tried to build on a solid performance by Drake May, encouraging performances from Ramondre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson running the football, something always seemed to keep them from building momentum. And what made matters worse for the Patriots is this wasn't just something that plagued them on the offensive side of the ball. They had problems on defense as well. While the Patriots went 0-6

Starting point is 00:05:39 on third down conversion, Arizona was much better going 10 of 15 on third down kyler murray been up and down at the quarterback position for the cards lately but he completed 23 of 30 passes for 224 yards and tight end trey mcbride still continues to emerge in my opinion as the most underrated tight end in the league he caught nine passes for 87 yards on On the ground, James Conner was once again solid. He ran for 110 yards, turned it in two touchdowns, and 53 of those yards came on a huge play in the first half. This one came about because of the inability of the defense to execute a tackle. Now, I give credit to Jabril Peppers. After the game, he took the blame for this, said that he took a bad angle on the play, but then he also said that this was a play that the Patriots had practiced for this week. Come game time, they couldn't defend

Starting point is 00:06:30 it. Far too often, the Patriots did not look ready to defend the play before the ball was snapped. In fact, according to several players in their post-game comments, things like correctly aligning the front, pre-snap communication, other details like that were simply not sharp enough. These are the things that are supposed to be cleaned up during the bye week, and they weren't. I'm sorry to say it, but that is a problem. And if you're slicing up the blame pie for this loss, I think the biggest slice is on the coaching staff. And I say that being fully aware that this team has several holes. They are clearly not rich in talent. That accounts for a lot of the problems you see on the field. But when you're failing the fundamentals test week after week after week, and you're

Starting point is 00:07:10 emerging from your bye with questionable effort, you have to start questioning all parties involved. Because what the New England Patriots are doing right now is clearly not a formula for improvement, let alone winning. The question marks on this New England Patriots team continue to mount, and they're going to continue to mount until this team starts to show some sign of life on the field. And with two games against the Buffalo Bills, as well as one against the Los Angeles Chargers remaining on their schedule, it's starting to look like the New England Patriots are not going to get any of the answers they seek this season. I know it sounds bleak, but in the interest of trying to bring a little positivity here to the show, I think it's time we talk about some of the good that happened on the field

Starting point is 00:07:51 for the Pats on Sunday. That's right. We're going to talk a little Drake May and Christian Gonzalez. When this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues, a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Locked On listeners, how do you stay cozy during the winter months? Well, for some, wrapping up in a blanket with a mug of hot chocolate or watching a movie

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Starting point is 00:08:54 That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash LockedOn. LockedOn listeners, it's that time of year. The college football playoff is back, and with the newly expanded 12-team listeners, it's that time of year. The college football playoff is back. And with the newly expanded 12-team format, it's guaranteed to be bigger and better than ever, bringing you all the hard-hitting and high-flying excitement that you love. TNT sports coverage of the college football playoff begins December 21st, starting with the college football playoff kickoff show

Starting point is 00:09:23 presented by AT&T at 11 a.m. Eastern. Leading into our first matchup, the Southern Methodist University Mustangs battling the Penn State Nittany Lions at noon. Then the Clemson Tigers look to upset the Texas Longhorns in a showdown at 4 p.m. Eastern. Don't miss a moment of the action. Watch the college football playoff presented by Allstate live on TNT, True TV, TBS, and Max. Patriots fans, thank you once again for joining me here today on this What Do You Make Of It Monday episode of Locked On Patriots as we continue to wallow in the mire of the Patriots' 30-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

Starting point is 00:10:05 And I know a lot of you out there are frustrated by what you saw on the field on Sunday. Patriots did not look fundamentally sound. Some are questioning their preparation. A lot are questioning their motivation. All in all, it doesn't really sound very good for your New England Patriots right now. But you all know me here on Locked on Patriots. I pride myself on trying to spread some positivity. Even in the midst of a 30-17 loss, there were still a couple of silver linings to be taken from the field.

Starting point is 00:10:31 And fortunately for your New England Patriots, they're at two of the most high-profile positions in the game. Quarterback and cornerback. Yeah, that's right. Drake May and Christian Gonzalez continue to prove that the future is bright for this team. Two surefire studs that will continue to be the face of this franchise for many years to come. And as good as they've been throughout this season, these guys have still yet to play their best football. Don't forget, Christian Gonzalez, for all intents and purposes, is right now in the midst of finishing up what really is his rookie season. Christian went down very early last year with a season-ending shoulder injury, so for him to show the prowess and the poise he has throughout this year,

Starting point is 00:11:11 extremely impressive, and something Patriots fans should be very proud of. Drake May, on the other hand, coming in as the number three overall pick, expectations were high. Folks, he's exceeding them. Yes, he's still making some rookie mistakes. We're going to get into that in just a moment but overall this kid is showing a wisdom and a poise beyond his years and if anyone is questioning whether or not the Patriots have their franchise quarterback I encourage you go

Starting point is 00:11:35 back and take a look at a little more footage on this kid you'll see the Patriots have a keeper in Drake May I wouldn't quite say Sunday was his best performance as a Patriot, but I will say it was a solid performance, no doubt about it. Drake completed 19 of 23 passes for 202 yards, one touchdown, one interception, and he also ran for a late five-yard touchdown. Yeah, that's right, great things can happen when Drake May uses his legs. Drake's two touchdown drives were very impressive. The problem is they came in the fourth quarter. With less than 10 minutes remaining, Drake engineered a six-play, 75-yard drive. He did that in just two minutes and 25 seconds, capping the drive with a three-yard touchdown pass to Demario Douglas.

Starting point is 00:12:16 Folks, if you haven't seen it yet, check out the highlights on social media. You are going to love it. Drake looked like anything but a rookie quarterback on this, showing a lot of poise lot of confidence and again the score happened with 8 14 left the patriots are now down 23 to 10 at this point if you can get a quick defensive stop the patriots come back put another touchdown on the board then you're really starting to put pressure on these arizona cardinals but once again momentum killing the theme of the day in new england arizona cardinals plotted out a nine play 70 yard drive taken almost five minutes off of the clock capped it off with a one yard touchdown run by james connor and the patriots are once again down 20 drake however

Starting point is 00:12:57 seemed determined to once again reach the end zone in their final scoring drive of the day drake led the patriots six plays on 70 yards and when your offensive line is allowing excessive pressure, your pass catchers are dropping passes, all else fails, call your own number. Taking it in himself for five yards, and it gave the Patriots an additional seven points to make the final score 30-17. Now those last two drives sound pretty exciting, and for those of you who did watch Sunday's game, you're probably thinking, well, what took so long? Once Drake started to test the field a little bit deeper, all of a sudden that offense opened up. Well, again, the Patriots just couldn't find any type of flow all throughout the game. Right from the outset, you could tell that their game plan revolved around Drake testing the intermediate and the short areas of the field. Offensive coaches, offensive

Starting point is 00:13:45 coordinators will generally do that when they want to get a young quarterback into rhythm. And honestly, I can understand where Alex Van Pelt was coming from on this. It's a sound strategy. But at some point, when the defense starts to respect the short game, you have to start airing it out. Patriots never got a chance to do that. The offensive line continued to yield pressure. Pass catchers either weren't getting open or they were missing assignments or outright dropping passes. You have all of that going on around you. It's kind of tough to keep it all together.

Starting point is 00:14:13 So even though Drake had kind of an up and down day because of his lack of rhythm, once he started to play his game, you really saw that come alive. That's why I truly believe he deserves a game ball in this one and certainly was one of the Patriots two silver linings on this day. The other also should come as no surprise to you and that is quarterback Christian Gonzalez who once again continues to prove that he is not only a solid lockdown corner in this league, but I believe he deserves consideration not just for a Pro Bowl selection, but maybe even an All-Pro selection. If you're a Patriots opponent, your big play receiver is most likely going to be matched up against Christian Gonzalez. For the Arizona Cardinals,

Starting point is 00:14:55 that's rookie Marvin Harrison Jr. Yeah, that's right, the Marvin Harrison Jr. that a lot of Patriots fans wanted to take over Drake May. If I'm being fair, I do think Harrison Jr. is already a very good receiver. I think he has the chance to be a great receiver in this league. But the Patriots clearly made the right choice in taking Drake May. It also proves that the decision that they made a couple of years earlier in taking Christian Gonzalez was one of the best decisions Bill Belichick ever made as GM of the New England Patriots. Christian covered Harrison on 21 routes. He only allowed one catch for 23 yards on five targets and broke up three passes, and two of those passes were broken up in the end zone. They would have been touchdowns,

Starting point is 00:15:36 and once again, he continues to prove that few, if any, are better in man coverage than Christian Gonzalez. If you watch Christian closely, you'll notice that he's always eyeing the quarterback before the snap. That's so important for a corner, especially a young corner, because what that does is it allows him to track the ball and get into position to defend it before it ever hits the receiver's hand. If you notice, when you're watching Christian Gonzalez during a game, you rarely, if ever, see him turning his head around and searching for the ball that's because he's staying ahead of it before it ever leaves the quarterback's arm from that point it's about using his athleticism and his field awareness to shut down what his opponent does best if it's a

Starting point is 00:16:14 true speedster like Tyree Kill or if it's a multi-faceted weapon like we saw on Sunday in Harrison Christian always rises to the occasion and as long as he's the key component in that cornerback room Patriots are going to field a formidable secondary so for all the negatives that can be taken from the State Farm Stadium field on Sunday and again folks there were a lot of them you can definitely rest easy knowing that the two cornerstones on this team quarterback Drake May and cornerback Christian Gonzalez are as solid of a tandem as you'll find anywhere in the NFL, and I like to believe that means good things ahead for the New England Patriots. But the present is still the present, and the New England Patriots have three games left on their schedule.

Starting point is 00:16:55 Quite frankly, we need to see a better effort than what we saw today in order to believe that this team has any chance of significantly improving heading into 2025. A lot of that is due to the personnel and the play on the field, but what about communication? believe that this team has any chance of significantly improving heading into 2025. A lot of that is due to the personnel and the play on the field, but what about communication? That's been a big problem for the New England Patriots this year, and some of it has been happening at the coaches' podium. Gerard Mayo stirred up a little social media buzz in his post-game comments, specifically regarding whether Drake May should have been employed on a quarterback sneak in a key situation in Sunday's game. Did the current HC of the NEP insinuate that he and his OC were not on the same page? In just a moment, I'm going to stop sounding like an eye chart.

Starting point is 00:17:36 We're going to delve deeper into that when we wrap up our discussion on the Patriots' 30-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at State Farm Stadium 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, 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 00:18:20 view live play-by-play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bet 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, spending part of your Monday, your what-to-make-of-it Monday, here on Locked On Patriots as we continue to break down the Pats' 30-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at State Farm Stadium.

Starting point is 00:19:07 Patriots falling to 3-11 after their Week 15 loss. And despite a couple of bright spots that we outlined in our previous segment, namely quarterback Drake May and cornerback Christian Gonzalez, the questions are continuing to mount like bubbles in a case of club soda when it comes to the future of the Patriots. However, another big problem for this team consistently throughout the year has been communication. You've heard players describe problems with pre-snap communication, communication out on the field, things like relaying the proper play call.

Starting point is 00:19:36 All of these add up to a lot of the mistakes and the problems that you've seen in pretty much every game that they've played up until this point. But in the essence of Cool Hand Luke, there also seems to be a failure to communicate with the Patriots coaches. And that took center stage on Sunday when Gerard Mayo took the podium and was questioned about the Patriots' first possession of the second half. Now keep in mind the Pats are trailing by 13 at this point. The offense had driven down the field and were more than within striking distance inside

Starting point is 00:20:04 the Arizona Cardinals' five-yard line. Now, if you recall, earlier in the pod, I mentioned Patriots being stopped on consecutive runs where all they needed was one yard. Yeah, that's right, folks. This was it. Patriots tried running it up the middle on third and one. That got stuffed. They did keep the offense on the field on fourth down, which I thought was a good call at that point. But what I thought was a little questionable is that they handed it off to Ramondre Stevenson instead of trying a quarterback sneak with Drake May. After all, Mandre had just been stuffed with a run up the middle, but the Patriots tried the same route, and again, no dice. The Pats turned the ball over on downs, and now the Arizona

Starting point is 00:20:38 Cardinals have momentum. Why not give your 6'5 quarterback an opportunity to try to sneak the ball in? After all, if there's a team out there that is no stranger to the quarterback sneak, it's the New England Patriots. Yes, I do realize they had the greatest to ever play the game doing it, folks. Nobody was better at the quarterback sneak than Tom Brady. But give Drake May a shot. Alex Van Pelt talked about this very scenario all throughout training camp, all throughout the year and giving drake may

Starting point is 00:21:05 an opportunity even if it was just for one yard just didn't make much sense that he'd take the ball out of his quarterback's hands well apparently it didn't make any sense to the head coach either because gerard mayo when asked about this very subject replied you said it i didn't yeah that's right that's exactly how he responded and while I am extremely cautious to put words in anyone's mouth the inference there is that Gerard Mayo also believed that maybe May should have gotten an opportunity via the quarterback sneak to his credit once he realized that his response probably sounded a lot more awkward outwardly than it did in his head he backpedaled a little bit Mayo said look it's always my decision

Starting point is 00:21:45 the quarterback always has a good pair of legs i do believe he would have done a good job but we chose to not do it there whether you think damage control was run there properly or not i'll leave it to you to decide but it got more interesting when drake may was asked about the subject just a few moments later and he expressed a little bit of confusion as to why they didn't go that route either and he said i was a of confusion as to why they didn't go that route either and he said i was a good quarterback sneaker in college i'm a big dude heavier than people think i think there's definitely a conversation for that i think it's tough to stop a 6-5 dude for one yard but also at the same time remandre is pretty dang good at getting one

Starting point is 00:22:20 yard as well it's unfortunate that it happened the way it did, meaning Ramondre getting stuffed on fourth and one, but definitely a time and place for the quarterback sneak. Now, one would think after Gerard Mayo walked back his comments a little bit and paraphrasing Drake May here, folks saying, yeah, I'd love to get that opportunity sometime, but I do trust Ramondre, so when the coaching staff is ready,

Starting point is 00:22:42 I'll be ready to go. You would think that would have been it, but it set off a pretty strong firestorm throughout Patriots social media, and a lot of people took this as an opportunity to attack the coaching staff. The head coach and the offensive coordinator are not on the same page. What does that even mean? Is Gerard Mayo throwing his coordinator under the bus? All of these things started to fester a little bit,

Starting point is 00:23:03 and I'm honestly telling you folks that no, I don't believe Gerard Mayo was intentionally throwing Alex Van Pelt under the bus. I'm fairly confident that it's not a source of any type of underlying tension or disgruntled feelings among members of the coaching staff. And I'm almost certain that Gerard Mayo did not mean it in a mean-spirited way. But here's the thing about it, folks. None of that matters. What matters is what a comment like that can do to a team's chemistry. Whether the problems exist or whether they don't, that perception can hang over a team. The chatter around it starts to get louder. All of a sudden, you have media members, fans, starting to wonder maybe the head coach and his assistants are not on the same page. Maybe there is a communication breakdown among the Patriots' offensive brain trust. If it is Alex Van Pelt

Starting point is 00:23:49 that's taking the ball out of Drake May's hands, why is he doing that? Does he not trust Drake in this situation? Everything we've been seeing on the field from Drake May shows that he's a solid decision maker and a potentially dynamic playmaker. It seems to me that you'd want your star quarterback in a position to make things happen and put points on the board. Of course, in the interest of playing devil's advocate, I can also see the argument against it. Whoever's making that decision, whether it be Gerard Mayo, whether it be Alex Vam, not to use Drake May in the quarterback sneak.

Starting point is 00:24:19 They might be doing so in the hopes of keeping this kid healthy and not sending him in to potentially get injured. If you make the case properly, it can be a valid reason. But when you make a comment, like the comment that Gerard Mayo made, it declares open season for criticism on this team. And that is something that a 3-11 football team does not need more of right now. Added question marks, added uncertainty, and added angst among the fan base. And much like everything else on this team right now gerard needs to do a much better job of communicating and choosing his words very

Starting point is 00:24:51 carefully perception whether it's true or whether it's not can have a negative effect on a team and as the head coach you have to be the steward of that he's the top guy in that locker room the buck stops at his desk he'll learn that lesson I think he's learning it very harshly this year, but at this point, I would just add it to the ever-growing list of improvements that the New England Patriots will need to make. And folks, fear not, because we have only scratched the surface

Starting point is 00:25:15 on breaking down the Patriots' 30-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. For those of you who are craving a little Murph in your life, please do not worry. My good friend, the Count of Murphy Fisto, will be joining me here tomorrow as he expresses his monster-mad feelings in why those monster

Starting point is 00:25:32 keys to victory weren't turned. And if you think I had some negative things to say about the offensive line, you are not going to want to miss what he has to say. In the meantime, I'd like to thank each and every one of you for choosing Locked On Patriots as a part of your daily New England Patriots coverage. If you've made us your first listen

Starting point is 00:25:48 today, please make your second listen. Our good friends over at Locked On NFL, all the major storylines all across the world, brought to you by the amazing team of analysts we have right here on the Locked On Podcast Network. Just like Locked On Patriots, Locked On NFL is free and available

Starting point is 00:26:03 on all platforms and a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Once again, I'm Mike DeBate, and I remind you all to stay safe, stay well, and be the change that you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone, and we'll see you back here again tomorrow on Locked On Patriots.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots Week 15 Loss: What Went Wrong Against Arizona Cardinals? Jerod Mayo’s Misstep?

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