Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots Week 7 Grades: Drake Maye Shines Despite Disastrous Performance vs. Jaguars
Episode Date: October 23, 2024The New England Patriots are battling both internal and external conflict as they prepare to move on from an embarrassing 32-16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 7 of the 2024 NFL season. Still..., the Pats must evaluate their performance if they hope to yield better results in Week 8. Host Mike D’Abate welcomes Steve Balestrieri of PatsFans.com to grade the Patriots’ performance of Drake Maye, Jerod Mayo and each aspect of the Pats’ offense and defense. #nfl #newenglandpatriots #drakemaye Find and follow Locked On Patriots on your favorite podcast platforms: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1c5ZxFm... Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-... And follow host Mike D’Abate on X, where he’ll be sharing the latest ne ws about the New England Patriots and talking with fans — @mdabateNFL Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Pre-Alcohol by ZbioticsGo to zbiotics.com/LOCKEDONNFL to learn more and get 15% off your first order when you use LOCKEDONNFL at checkout. BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON today to get 10% off your first month. LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply. Hillsdale CollegeAll of Hillsdale’s courses are self-paced so that you can start whenever, and tune in wherever. Plus, you can go deeper with readings, quizzes, discussions - or just enjoy the lectures. Go right now to hillsdale.edu/lockedon to enroll. There’s no cost, and it’s easy to get started. PrizePicksDownload the app and use code lockedonnfl to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuelPlace your first FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - guaranteed ! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)
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Discussion (0)
The New England Patriots overseas study program with the Jacksonville Jaguars in London produced
a few failing grades, but who has the most work to do before hosting the Jets in week eight?
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.
I'm your host, Mike DeBate.
I cover your New England Patriots for the Patriots country. So reach out to me.
Find me on Twitter at M-D-A-B-A-T-E-N-F-L.
Of course, you can follow Lockdown Patriots main account on Twitter as well at L-O underscore
Patriots.
And of course, Pats fans, today's episode focusing on grading your New England Patriots
performance in week seven, 32 to 16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium
in London in the United Kingdom.
Certainly going to be an interesting grade report.
And here today to grade it all out for you is not only our resident voice of reason,
but also our midweek professor here on Locked On Patriots,
my good friend, columnist extraordinaire at batsfans.com,
as well as being the co-host of another amazing
Patriots podcast, Patriots 4th and 2, alongside the great Derek Havens. Welcome back to the
Podpizan. Steve Balistrieri joins me today. And thank you for having me on this beautiful fall
day. And it wasn't beautiful in London for the Patriots. I mean, everything that could have gone wrong seemingly did,
except, as we all know, Drake May's performance.
But, yeah, it wasn't a good trip for them.
Yeah, you would have thought that the Silver Pants would have produced
more silver linings on this trip, Steve, than just Drake May's performance.
But you know what? Patriots fans, we'll take it right now.
Drake looked very good, and we're going to find out.
Steve's evaluation of Drake's performance, and even including the rest of the offense, and of course that defense, folks.
Yeah, not going to be pretty, but you are not going to want to miss a single second of what our professor has to say here today.
And of course, don't forget that today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Place your first five dollar bet and you'll get started with
two hundred dollars in bonus bets guaranteed. Visit FanDuel.com to get started and Steve
obviously Pats fans were not happy with the performance on the field in all three phases.
Patriots were dominated by another 1-5 football team
that has their own struggles.
But before we get into the negatives, Steve,
let's take a look at the positives.
And I know Drake Mays' start to this game
had all Patriots fans believing that maybe they can actually turn the corner
and be a competitive football team.
We'll get into how it fell all apart in just a moment,
but based on what you saw from Drake right off the bat, what impressed you the most about this kid,
especially when you're dealing with him performing in front of an international audience in London
at Weblin? Yeah, I thought, as I wrote, he started off en fuego, right? I mean, that opening drive was, I mean,
everything that you wanted to see happen with him at quarterback
was all encapsulated in that opening drive.
I thought he was fantastic.
You know, they moved right down the field.
They were very aggressive.
And they put up seven points. Really nice move. Well,
let me backtrack first. It was a nice play by May. He was under pressure. He recognized it. He hit
the hot route, which was Jermichael Hasey, who made a couple of really nice cuts into the end
zone. That was their first opening drive touchdown of the year.
And boy, you couldn't have come at a better time.
So then, you know, their second drive at the end of it,
he was under pressure and he just missed Kendrick Bourne,
which would have given them at least a first and goal.
They end up with 10 points.
And then after that, it wasn't May's fault,
but the play calling got very conservative.
And for some reason, they got away from, you know,
being aggressive and trying to run the ball, run the ball, run the ball.
And, you know, it was producing negative yardage.
But overall, you look at Drake May's game, 26 of 37 for 276 yards, two touchdowns, no interception, a passer rating of 109.7.
I mean, that in itself is a very, very strong game, especially for a guy just making his second start.
But I thought the best throw he made all day. A very, very strong game, especially for a guy just making his second start.
But I thought the best throw he made all day, you know,
and you could say it was the drop in the bucket to Keishon Butte. But that second touchdown to K.J. Osborne, you know,
when you look at it from the end zone view of the All-22,
that was an absolute bullet.
You know, right where it needed to be in between some defenders.
Osborne makes the catch in the end zone, 22-yard score.
I thought he was fantastic.
Yeah, he had some off throws.
He could have had actually two interceptions.
But, you know, those come and those go, and it didn't go away for him on this particular day.
You know, he missed some shorter throws, but overall, I thought it was a fantastic performance by him, and he rated a B-plus on the day. Yeah, and I definitely agree with you.
I mean, it was not a perfect start, but if you're looking for a silver lining here, folks,
I think Drake May's performance was more than that.
I think he did give you a lot of hope for the future, and Murph and I talked about this
yesterday here on the pod.
He gave you the hope that if you need to put the ball in his hands and he needs to throw it multiple times per game, maybe more than Alex Van Pelt would like to in the typical offense he likes
to run, Drake Bain can handle the workload. He can handle it and he can do it. And I think the
Patriots may need to, and we'll get into the running game in just a moment, but I think you
make a great point. And I wanted to highlight a point that you made in your grade report about
Drake being able to handle the pressure when he was under pressure on Sunday against the Jaguars. 8 of 12 with a
touchdown pass and a passer rating of 121.2. So if you're wondering if Drake May can handle the
pressure, folks, he's proving it and I think he's going to continue to prove it. He's going to have
to against a very aggressive Jets defense this week and we'll get into the J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets in just a moment, but Steve, it wasn't all sunshine
and rainbows for the Patriots offense. Even though Drake May put out a very good performance,
we still saw some deficiencies from the offensive line, difficulties with personnel, and difficulties
with players being able to play in proper position. The running backs have yet to really become a solid complement to this kid
and allow him to elevate his game.
When you look at the rest of the offense as a whole, what went wrong
and who graded at the lowest spectrum, in your opinion?
Well, I think, you know, overall with the offense,
I thought the wide receivers really missed Demario Douglas,
who was suffering from illness during the game.
And he could only play 17 snaps.
And, you know, he only caught a couple of passes.
And when you looked at the pregame keys that, you know, I wrote, you know,
Jacksonville was one of the worst teams in the league at defending slot receivers.
And I thought he was primed to have a big game.
Unfortunately, you know, he was ill and he couldn't go.
And I thought that really hurt the wide receivers because I thought that was the area to take advantage of.
And, you know, I thought that was a weak point because of that.
The wide receivers only graded out as a C, but I thought it was the running backs was the weakest D plus.
I mean, Ramondre Stevenson was back, Antonio Gibson, Jermichael Hastie,
and they combined for only 12 carries for 20 yards.
Now, granted, the offensive line wasn't opening any holes for these guys,
but they've got to do better than that.
I mean, they're averaging less than two yards a carry,
and that's not going to get it done i mean you know i i just looked at the uh the running backs and i just thought they they had an overall weekday i i thought that
jamaico hasty boosted actually their grade in the, you know, he had five targets. He had five catches for 49 yards, you know, plus that touchdown.
So, you know, I thought they were really weak in this one.
The tight ends, because Hunter Henry had a really good day,
eight catches for 92 yards.
He had that one penalty,
but I thought he was very effective in the passing game.
And he has that knack with Drake May when plays break down
and they have to go off script.
He has a way of finding himself open,
and I think that is going to be a key element moving forward.
You know, as May gets more and more comfortable in the offense,
I think him and
Hunter Henry are going to have a really good connection I thought the offensive line was a
C- I thought that they did a terrible job in the running game but you know I think the pressure on
Drake May he was sacked twice hit three times is – those are low numbers from what we've seen all season.
And he was crushing on 33.3% of his dropbacks,
which granted Jacksonville isn't a great pass rush team,
but those are still the lowest numbers we've seen this year.
Yeah, and I'm so glad that you mentioned Hunter Henry,
and I'm going to come back to that in just a moment
because we'll end the segment on a high note
because we're going to hit plenty of lows in just a moment, folks.
It is not a pretty sight.
It is not a pretty grade report for your New England Patriots
when you grade from top to bottom,
but I'm right there with you on the offensive line as well.
It really is disheartening.
And I know there are reasons for it.
So I do understand that.
And I am sympathetic to it in terms of personnel and injuries.
And they're dealing without their captain.
But when you talk about pass protection, this team is much better in pass protection.
So the improvements they've made there have almost kind of yielded their way in a negative
way to a regression when it comes to run blocking.
And that is frustrating because these running backs right now do not have the holes to run through.
I agree with you that they need to be better.
But when you don't have the blocking up front that's going to facilitate that or at least help to spring you for a run that could,
even if it only helps you build morale, that can help you.
That can give you the motivation that you need to improve.
Not seeing that out of the running game right now.
So obviously the New England Patriots have their work to do in the trenches
because they were absolutely dominated by the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
The receiver's clearly missing Pop Douglas in the lineup.
I think you'll see Drake May target him,
and I think that offense will come alive a little bit.
But I'm so glad that you mentioned Hunter Henry, because yet another game. As you
said, 92 yards on nine targets, his longest reception of 32, but you're seeing him always
come back to the play when Drake May needs a little bit of help. We've talked several times,
Steve, about a rookie quarterback needing a security blanket or needing a reliable target,
someone he can always go to when he gets in trouble. Hunter Henry has taken on that mantra
as a true captain would. Coming back to the play when he needs to is really, I think, a great
example of Hunter doing that. Watched him do it from the time that he was a young player with the
Chargers and then coming here to New England and watching him continue to do it. Definitely
something, folks, that you can be excited about.
These two are developing a nice chemistry.
And I, for one, can't wait to see what the weeks that have yet to unfold really hold for these two players.
So, Steve, it was a mixed reaction, I guess, at best.
I'm trying to be optimistic here when it comes to the offense.
But when it comes to the defense, your grades were not as forgiving, folks,
including the dreaded failure.
Yeah, who graded at near a 0.0?
Steve and I are going to discuss that in just a moment
when we talk defensive deficiencies right here on the Locked On Patriots podcast,
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Patriots fans, thank you once again for joining us here today on
Locked on Patriots and joining me you once again for joining us here today on Locked on Patriots
and joining me here today to help grade the New England Patriots' week seven loss
to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Final score of 32-16 in London at Wembley Stadium is my good friend
and Patriots professor here on Locked on Patriots.
In addition to being our resident voice of reason,
my good friend and Patriots bzant Steve Valistrieri.
And Steve, in the previous segment,
we talked the highs of the Patriots game performance on Sunday.
Drake May putting out yet another solid performance,
and I think proving that the Patriots are clearly onto something here
with their quarterback of the future.
But the rest of the team did not grade so well,
and definitely it drew down the curve. Well, we're about to sink the curve into the rest of the team did not grade so well and definitely it drew down
the curve well we're about to sink the curve into the depths folks because the defense on sunday
really put out i think maybe their worst performance of the year when a team comes in
that's struggling to run the ball and successfully execute 16 straight handoffs steve you know something is wrong with this new
england patriots team it starts up front on the defensive line professor what do you have to say
about this patriots performance starting with their inability to stop the run up front well
i thought the front seven as a whole i mean I think this was their worst game in arguably the last couple of years.
You know, and it starts with the defensive line, and they really struggled in this game.
You know, they graded out as an F here. I mean, when a team runs the ball 16 straight plays,
and then they have a 17-play drive that goes for 84 yards
and 11 minutes of the clock, last 10 of which are on the ground,
I think that's showing them that they're running the ball down your throat.
Granted, they were stopped on a fourth down play,
but that was after almost 11 and a half minutes.
I mean, that is utter domination.
And kudos to the Jaguars for recognizing that.
And we talked about the Patriots offense, you know,
when you're on the bench for virtually half of the second half at one sitting, that doesn't give you
a lot of opportunities to, you know, get on the field and score points. And, you know, that drive right there,
I was sitting there and I was amazed for two reasons.
One is they were getting pushed all over the field. And two,
which we'll get to is I didn't see a single adjustment by the coaching staff.
And that to me is unforgivable.
Yeah, absolutely. Without any question. And again,
we touched on that a little bit yesterday here on Locked On Patriots when Murph joined me in terms
of a lack of adjustments we're seeing from the coaching staff. You're trying to establish your
team as that first line of defense. And if you're not adjusting to what the Jaguars are doing and
trying to essentially either marginally disrupt or neutralize their attack,
then you're putting yourself in peril.
And that's exactly what the New England Patriots did on Sunday.
Steve, you mentioned the front line and the front seven as a whole, and I agree with you.
A lot of blame deserves to be put on this defensive line, but I think we'd be remiss
if we didn't at least talk a little bit about the inside linebackers.
Jacksonville dominated this game on the ground, but Jacksonville's out linemen are getting to the second level.
They're winning those battles. And basically at that point, you're not seeing the tackling from
this group that you need to see in order for this team to remain competitive. How big of an issue
is this for the New England Patriots? Could this be priority one?
Oh, I think it's an absolute priority.
And the linebackers, you know, I had them graded out as a D,
and they were close to failing as well.
But I thought Anthony Jennings kind of upped the grade a little bit
because they weren't able to run on the edge.
It was all up the middle.
And, you know, he set the edge.
He had seven tackles, one tackle for loss.
And, you know, granted, the interior of the defense, you know,
Christian Barmore, Jawan Bentley, Jabril Peppers all out.
I mean, those are three of your top defensive players.
Yeah.
And that really hurts not having them in there.
But these other guys have to step up.
I thought Jelani Tavai had another subpar game.
You know, his tackling wasn't great out there.
And Raekwon McMillan, same thing. You know, I just look at, you know, teams are targeting the middle of the defense,
which is normally their strong point.
But they have to find a combination that works out there.
You know, moving forward, if they have to move bodies around then so be it but they they need to do a better job
of uh stopping the run the last four weeks or so have been absolutely horrific you know they're
they're allowing an average i think it's over 160 yards a game though and you know it didn't help
that the pass rush was non-existent no sacks no quarterback
hits only two pressures one of them from marcus jones so i mean your your front seven is not
getting it done yeah front seven is not getting it done and i agree with you i think really failing
grades all around would not be uh too harsh of a grade professor in this regard.
I do agree with you, though.
I think that Anthony Jennings' performance, seven tackles, one of which went for a loss,
he's trying to be, I think, the strength of that middle, of that defense right now.
And unfortunately, without a whole lot of help, it's not going to yield the results that you need.
So Patriots clearly need work up front.
Maybe that will be priority one heading into this matchup with the Jets.
Steve and I are going to talk needs of improvement in just a moment.
But before we move on from the defense, Steve, the secondary of New England right now is looking like at least the better unit.
But that's not saying much considering what this Patriots team has been doing. Christian Gonzalez, without any question, ran into a juggernaut in Brian Thomas Jr. on Sunday,
who I think had a very good game.
This kid is the real deal, and he's making plays at a very high level.
But again, when you have a lot of time like Trevor Lawrence had on Sunday,
it's going to give you the opportunity to complete plays. When you look at this defense, knowing full well
the personnel issues that they've had to go through, how would you grade the secondary's
performance on Sunday? Yeah, the secondary, I
grade it as a C-. I thought, you know, Trevor Lawrence
had virtually all day to throw. I mean,
they had no pressure.
He was able to take his time and wait for the pass to get over.
And, you know, what I've noticed is teams are catching the Patriots
when they're in their base defense.
And, you know, that play to Thomas, that 58-yard bomb, was one of those.
And, you know, Christian Gonzalez tried to, you know, react to that play.
And he did get his hand on the ball, and he almost knocked it out.
But, you know, it's tough for a secondary, you know,
when the opposing quarterback has all day to throw.
I mean, other than Thomas, I thought they did a fairly good job on everyone else.
It was just the time factor.
Evan Ingram, five catches, 35 yards.
Christian Kirk only had one catch, but that was a big 24 yarder and gabe davis who's
been a patriot killer in the past he only had one catch for 13 so i overall it it looked worse than
it really was just because i think thomas had too much time to throw and when you look at someone
like a trevor lawrence and you give him extra time he will pick your secondary apart i know he's had his struggles and he's been
up and down this season really i think up and down since coming back from the high ankle sprain but
he's still a very talented quarterback and there's a lot of talent on that receiver crew if he can
start hitting his targets it's a long day for an opponent and that's exactly what happened to the Patriots in London on Sunday without question folks the New England Patriots
did not grade well in their week seven matchup but they now must turn the page and look ahead
to week eight hosting the New York Jets New England Patriots have a lot of areas to improve
but what are the areas that are highlighted in Steve's grade report this week?
We're going to ask him that question and more when we wrap up this episode of the Locked
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And here today on Locked On Patriots, we are submitting our grade report for the Patriots' Week 7 performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
As you can imagine, Steve has played the role of Dean Wormer. It has not been pretty, folks. The defensive line, the linebackers grading out at a
0.0, the running backs acting as President Hoover, four C's and an F, a fine example they set.
It really is not very good. Steve, there are obviously a lot of areas of improvement. The Patriots right now are on
double secret probation and not even the word of Dean Wormer himself may be able to save them,
but they have to start making that climb back to respectability. If you are the Patriots professor
right now and you need to hand out those needs improvement slips, who's getting the first one and why?
To quote Dean Wormer, coaching staff, 0.0.
I think that's where it starts.
And look, Gerard Mayo, he's the head coach.
This team continues to play sloppy, undisciplined football.
And too many penalties, poor tackling.
That's on coaching.
You know?
And he's not making in-game adjustments.
And we already talked about that. I mean, when the Jacksonville Jaguars are running the ball 16 straight times
down your throat, they never made an adjustment.
And that's on him.
The other thing that I really have a point with him is if you call your team soft in the locker room,
that's okay because you're telling them we need to do a lot better.
But doing that in front of the media, oh, i cringed when i heard that and you know uh that wasn't a good
thing to do no it's not no it was absolutely horrible and he made it worse by trying to walk
it back on monday you know um because i i just think it came off sounding even worse.
But, you know, him, you know, Demarcus Covington,
where's the adjustments?
I mean, I'm not seeing that.
AVP, you know, your team goes down and scores twice.
The first two times they have the ball,
because you're being aggressive.
Why take your foot off the gas?
Exactly.
You know, some of the play calling, you know,
I don't know if it's just execution that makes it look so bad,
but some of the play calling is just at times looking horrible.
I thought, you know, that opening script they had was fantastic.
But, you know, he took his foot off gas, and it really, really cost him.
And special teams on Sunday, I mean, that was probably more of an outlier.
But that punt return really changed the game.
At that point, it's a one-score game, and you're still in it.
And that changed the whole complexion.
I thought it did.
It absolutely did.
You're up 10,
nothing at that point.
And you have the opportunity to really apply pressure to this Jacksonville
team.
You start coming out conservative and running the ball and it's not
working.
You don't gain a yard.
You end up losing a yard on that drive.
The ensuing drive,
you gain one and then the following drive you lose
four yards so at that point you need to understand that this is not working to me when you're not
playing to your strengths according to how the game is playing out it speaks to what you've been
saying all afternoon steve you have to be able to do a better job when it comes to making in-game
adjustments and we're not seeing that from the Patriots coaching staff.
I agree, there's sloppy play, undisciplined play,
too many mistakes, too many penalties, and the Patriots are just not equipped to overcome all of this
and remain competitive.
As for the soft comment, I do agree.
I don't think that necessarily a lot of our colleagues
are giving that it's just due in terms of the impact
that word can have in
a locker room when you're insinuating that your team is playing without heart and you go out
publicly and call them out for it yeah it's a problem and it could end up being a problem for
gerard mayo if he's trying to keep this locker room intact and hold their respect i have faith
in gerard that he can write this ship, but it's unraveling quickly
here in New England, Steve, and
the leash is not going to be as long
as some may believe. But
can it be cured with a win, folks?
Well, that's what we're going to talk about this week
for the remainder of this week as we
march toward the Patriots' Week 8 matchup
this Sunday at Gillette Stadium
against the New York Jets. But in the meantime,
I want to give a tip of the cap
and a big-time thanks to our resident voice of reason,
our midweek professor here on Locked On Patriots,
my good friend Steve Balistrieri.
Steve, thank you for providing your great report once again.
Before I let you go, Buck, please let everyone know
where they can reach out to you and interact with you
and what you've got marinating in La Cucina Balistrieri between
now and next week when you bring
your great report back to Lockdown Patriots.
Well, you can
follow me on Twitter
at SteveB7FFG.
Facebook
and other social media
sites at Steve Balistrieri.
I do write for PatsFans.com
and this week we'll be
looking at the Jets.
The Jets
dominated the Patriots the last
time they played, but
they're going through their own
struggles again.
We'll see what happens.
They've lost two games
since they fired their head coach.
This week, we'll be delving into the Jets
and looking for a way that the Patriots can turn this thing around.
And it starts with stopping the run in Brees Hall this week.
Absolutely.
And, Steve, once again, thank you for your contributions to the show today.
And thank all of you out there, all of you everydayers,
all of you casual listeners, and all of you first-timers
choosing Locked On
Patriots for the first time. We thank you for your
support. We hope you keep coming back.
And of course, don't forget, John Butchco,
host of Locked On Jets, will
be joining me right here on these airwaves
on Thursday as we cross the streams
and break down this matchup from a
Pat's perspective and a Jets perspective.
Stay tuned, folks. You will not want to miss
that. But in the meantime, on behalf of 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 world. Have a great day everyone and we'll see
you back here again tomorrow on Lucked on Patriots.