Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - On To Cincinnati, Turn the Camera Off - 12/12/12

Episode Date: December 12, 2019

Despite the lingering controversy surrounding them, the New England Patriots prepare to take on the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. In order to help Patriots Nation ignore the continued noise, host Mike D’Abate welcomes Ian Glendon of Full Press Coverage to offer his take on the footage fiasco, Tom Brady’s future in Foxboro, and the duo preview the Patriots matchup with the Bengals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello to all you Foxborough faithful and welcome to your 12 Thursday episode of Locked On Patriots, your daily home for news, notes, analysis, and the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. This episode is brought to you in part by Casper. The original Casper mattress combines multiple supportive memory foams for a quality sleep surface with the right amounts of both sink and bounce. Get $100 towards select mattresses by visiting casper.com slash locked NFL. Port of memory foams for a quality sleep surface with the right amounts of both sink and bounce. Get $100 towards select mattresses by visiting casper.com slash locked NFL and using locked NFL at checkout.

Terms and conditions apply. If you can't visit Casper right now, you can find this and all other offers from Locked On sponsors at lockedonpodcast.com slash offers. My name is Mike DeBate and I am your host of Locked On Patriots, which of course is a part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Please feel free to reach out to me on Twitter at MDABATEFPC, and be sure to follow Locked On Patriots on Twitter at LO underscore Patriots. And if you're a Spotify listener, use Spotify Rep to show us your top Locked On podcasts for the year. Take a screenshot and tag us at LockedOnLive and at LockedOnPatriots on Twitter, and we will share and retweet. Folks, you did hear correctly.

I introduced today's episode of Locked On Patriots as 12 Thursday, and mostly because today is December 12th, the 12th day of the 12th month and as it's the christmas season you can tie in the correlation between the 12 days of christmas but here in new england the number 12 has a greater significance and in case you haven't heard and yes i'm being facetious number 12 is the number of the quarterback of your new england patriots that's right folks tom brady he wears number 12. And because of that, today is a big day for Patriots social media, including Patriots Twitter. And that's the good side of Patriots Twitter, folks. The fans, not the trolls, they are celebrating 12-12. And in 2019, it's a little extra special. If you add the numbers 2, 0, 1, and 9, you equal, wait for it, 12. So all signs point to number 12 today.

But do future roads lead to TB12 in New England next year? Well, that is just one of the questions that I will be asking my guest today, and he is a good friend of mine and a good friend of the program. Ian Glendon of Full Press Coverage joins me today, and we will be discussing Tom Brady's future in New England along with this Spygate controversy. And I'm sure you're rolling your eyes hearing it as much as I'm rolling my eyes saying it. But most importantly, we will be reminding everyone in Patriots Nation that the Patriots

do have a game on Sunday, 1 p.m. Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio. Patriots Bengals as the Pats look to snap a two-game losing streak and get back in the win column. So sit tight, folks. Ian and I always have a great time when we join each other on the microphone, and I hope that you enjoyed today's show. But first, we start with the news of the day, and that is that the Patriots did make an addition to their practice squad yesterday, and this addition should provide some added strength to their kicking game.

Now, we all know that the Patriots' current kicker, Nick Folk, is back in the lineup after having missed one game in the aftermath of emergency appendectomy surgery that he had on Thanksgiving morning. Folk was released prior to the December 1st contest that the Patriots had against the Houston Texans. Kai Forbath was signed to kick for the game. He was subsequently released, and then last week, at the tail end of it, Nick Folk was signed and kicked in the game against the Kansas City Chiefs on December 8th. So because of that confusion and uncertainty, the Patriots made an addition to their practice squad in the form of kicker Josh Gable. He was signed to their practice squad and was at Wednesday's practice wearing number 5.

Now Gable is known primarily for his trick shots on YouTube. In one video, he can be seen hitting field goals from 70 yards, 75 yards, and even 80 yards while kicking off of a tee. Now keep in mind, this is not in a game situation with a special teams line in front of him set to defend it, but still shows an awful lot of strength. Anyone that could connect from that distance is certainly impressive. But at 28 years of age, Gable doesn't have a whole lot of experience. He kicked for three years at Kearney High School in Nebraska, but was also a standout soccer player, and instead of attending college, he actually played professional soccer both in Italy and in Belgium. After his stint playing soccer was over, he did return to kicking

footballs, and in 2017 started kicking for the Indoor Football League, which is where he has been for the last couple of years. In my opinion, folks, and from those that I talked to, this is a pure depth move for the Patriots. Gable is probably not going to see any meaningful in-game action. In all likelihood, Folk will still be the guy kicking field goals for this team on Sunday, throughout the regular season, and into the playoffs. However, recovering from surgery like this does put his health somewhat in question, and the Patriots want to avoid a fiasco like they had last week where they waited until the day before a game to sign the kicker for the following day. But at the very least, Gable does bring a good amount of strength in his leg to New England.

And again, if you want to check out the YouTube videos, the 80-yarder in particular is very impressive. And if he is needed, there's definitely no question about his length strength. It would just be accuracy, which is technically the exact mirror opposite of Falk, who tends to be very accurate. The only problem is, is strength and distance. So in that vein, welcome to New England, Josh Gable. But the New England Patriots are never a team to forget that their first and foremost responsibility is to play the game on Sunday. And that's exactly what they're starting to prepare to do in New England. And on Wednesday, the Patriots returned to the practice field. Many of the injury report's usual suspects were limited in participation on Wednesday,

including linebacker Juwan Bentley, who's still recovering from a knee injury, defensive lineman Byron Cowart, who is still listed with the concussion, but he was out there, cornerback Jason McCourty with the groin, who did play in Sunday's game against the Chiefs. Hopefully, he'll be able to go this weekend against the Cincinnati Bengals. Mohamed Sanu continues to be listed with his ankle injury and defensive lineman Danny Shelton with a shoulder injury. Two players who were on the participation report as full participants were quarterback Tom Brady with his right elbow and wide receiver Nikhil Harry with a hip injury. Don't forget, after Harry's 15-yard touchdown against the Chiefs, and yes folks, I'm calling

it a touchdown because that's exactly what it was, a touchdown. He seemed to bang up his hip a little bit and did not return to the game. He was present at practice yesterday and was a full participant. So great news for Harry, great news for the New England Patriots, and it was good to see him back out on the field on Wednesday. However, there is one wide receiver that was absent on Wednesday, and that is wide receiver Julian Edelman. Edelman was listed on the participation report as a non-participant with knee and shoulder injuries. Now, the knee injury is something that's new. The shoulder we knew was bothering him for the last couple of weeks.

Each time he'd go into the huddle, you'd see Julian rotate it a little bit, and it looked like he was in some pain. We all know about the injury to his chest and his ribs earlier on this season, and Julian's been playing in a lot of pain this year. However, the knee injury is new, and he seemed to injure this knee in Sunday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs. He could be seen limping around a lot after running routes. He still had a very prolific game, but ultimately, this is one to keep an eye on, folks.

They're managing his workload. The Patriots are saying it's a lot to do about nothing right now. However, it will be interesting to keep an eye out for Julian's practice participation both on Thursday and on Friday. This is a guy that does not like to miss time, and if he's held out of practice for any significant amount, it may mean that the Patriots are trying to rest him up for the playoffs and prevent any further injury, because let's face it, folks, this is the one guy on the Patriots roster, not named Tom Brady, that the Patriots cannot afford to be without. And amidst the controversy, the Patriots are on to Cincinnati, and you've heard that cliche

said all week, but they are officially on to Cincinnati now. The practices have begun, and the Patriots are looking forward to Sunday's game. And in just a moment, I will be welcoming in Ian Glendon of Full Press Coverage to talk about the controversy surrounding the New England Patriots and video footage. And yes, folks, again, this is 2019, not 2007. I know it seems like deja vu. I know it seems like back to the future. But it is current events, and we will be discussing it.

We'll also be asking Ian whether he believes we are witnessing the final days of Tom Brady in New England. And of course, folks, we will be discussing the New England Patriots battling the Cincinnati Bengals this Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, as the Patriots look to snap their two-game losing streak. It's always an honor and a lot of fun to share the microphone with my guests today, and especially with all the news surrounding Spygate 2.0. Yeah, it's a ridiculous name, folks.

I hate it as much as you do, but it's how the masses are referring to it. Tom Brady, some news with him, and all else that brings the deranged out of their lair. He is the ideal person to be welcoming in today because he tirelessly fights the good fight in the crusade against the Patriots and specifically brady derangement syndrome he is the editor-in-chief of full press coverage the managing editor of full press nhl and the host of numerous great shows on full press radio he is my great friend ian glendon joins us today ian hello how you doing buddy i'm doing good you know i mean for regardless of all of the news and all of the hoopla surrounding the New England Patriots, having a platform like this where I can bring in a knowledgeable source and one that also happens to be a good friend is always an honor.

So thank you so much for joining me today and lending your wisdom and counsel and insight because I think it's something Patriots fans desperately need a heavy dose of, and that is reality and a little bit of grounding, and I know you'll bring that to us today. Ian, I'm going to start right off. Like a Band-Aid, like Jerry Seinfeld says, one motion, right off. We're going to start right in with the news of the week, and you as well as I saw the news coming out on Monday afternoon. We started to see this trickling out.

The Diana Rossini report from ESPN comes out. A lot of people start to debunk it right away. All of a sudden you're thinking, okay, false alarm, nothing to see here. Everybody go back into their caves. And then the Patriots issue the statement, the statement of apology, and you start to say, okay, maybe this has got more legs than we thought. Not necessarily thinking that the Patriots were up to something sinister, but just something that led you to believe that there was more to

this than originally met the eye and that this was going to start catching wildfire. And sure enough, Tuesday, Wednesday, lead stories. We even saw it trickle into mainstream news as well as sports media. And I, for one, I'm really surprised and shocked, and I say that with a lot of sarcasm, that this caught as much fire as it did. When you take a look at the story at the heart of the matter, the Patriots are definitely saying that the two entities are separate, Kraft Productions and Football Operations. I'm around this team quite often, cover it. You have covered this team in the past, you still do. It's something that we know to be a fact. These two entities are indeed separate.

The Patriots are saying that the producer that was there on behalf of craft productions was a craft employee, did not know the rules of the league, that you couldn't film the sidelines, you couldn't film the field. And they're also saying that the footage that was being used was for a B-roll production, which I covered here a little on Lockdown yesterday and let everyone know exactly what the difference was between B-roll footage and main footage or A-roll footage. When you look at this story, my friend, from start to finish, what was your, basically, what was your initial impression? And then now that you look at the information that we've seen from the last 24 to 48 hours, what do you think could be imposed as a penalty for the Patriots if there's anything in store for them at this point? Well, you know, at first I thought logic and reason would prevail.

However, logic and reason should prevail, although I didn't expect it because, you know, again, if you look back and look at this case logically and without a jaded point of view, because the main crew, I guess you can call it, was in New England filming during the Chiefs and Patriots game. So you're using a third-party camera crew that's there filming a day in the life of a Patriots scout. And just as we've seen from many sources, other people who are familiar with particularly sports documentaries, they say, look, you know, it depends on the cameraman. But you're going to film a lot of just crowd reaction, coaches, field play, all that, because like you never know what you can use and what's going to be the best shot for you to do any sort of transition or like you talked about yesterday, B-roll footage. So, again, if you think about it from a logical standpoint, the Patriots got permission from the Browns. Where they aired, they obviously probably should have spoken to the Bengals and the NFL.

But, you know, at the same time, they got permission and credentialed by the Cleveland Browns. They showed up in plain sight of everyone else in that media box. And right then and there, you have to sit there and think, well, you know, if they're really trying to do some, you know, grand cheating scheme or whatever, like why would you go, why would you do any of this? Why would you do it in plain sight? You know, why would you go out of your way to get credentials?

And, you know, like you've spoken about and what like other people have spoken about, when you're in a press box at an NFL game, you know, you're going to get knocked for, you know, pulling out your your phone to take video footage or photos or anything like that. So, you know, you got to you got to figure like, you know, he would have been told right away unless someone was looking to create a problem. So, you know, how could you allow that to happen in front of all those people for for eight minutes? And that's kind of the So, you know, how could you allow that to happen in front of all those people for eight minutes? And that's kind of the big, you know, the eight minutes of footage, you know, with really no context. It was like a couple of years ago when people were talking about two pounds of air,

when you really didn't understand what you were talking about. You're thinking, a lot of people were thinking like physically two pounds of weight of air out of a ball, when in reality that's not the case. So again, it's the same idea. People are, oh my God, eight minutes, that's such a sketchy number. In reality, it isn't, especially when you consider all the facts of the case. So in a way, again, you would think that logic would prevail, that reason would prevail. And the most obvious solution to this case would be to, at the very least, if you want to find Robert Kraft, find him. OK, because at the end of the day, you know, the guy wasn't supposed to shoot the camera at the film, you know, the field. And it happened. So you can't dispute that. The Patriots admitted that it happened.

But aside from that, I really don't see any reason to go any further than that, because, again, you're looking at the situation, if you're looking at it logically and with reason, you say, oh, this was clearly a very innocent and obviously non-nefarious mistake. You know, they weren't there was no intent here to cheat because, again, we're not even getting into the logic of what the value of doing what they supposedly had done is because there's really no value in it. So, yeah, so, again, they shouldn't get fined. They shouldn't be punished hardly at all. But, again, you have Roger Goodell.

You have Troy Vincent involved. Who knows? Yeah, and I think you make a good point there. And up until yesterday, some of the information that was starting to trickle out in sources and people that I not only, some I know personally, but others that I respect an awful lot, were giving reports yesterday that really started to make you believe that this was tipping in favor of the Patriots, that the NFL was inclined to believe their story. That was reported by Judy Batista of NFL.com, who I put a lot of stock into what Judy says.

She's an excellent reporter for the NFL, has been for years, and does a great job. Doug Kyatt of Nesson, Jeff Howell of The Athletic Boston, both issued reports yesterday that said that the Patriots, they've spoken to several sources within the organization, their own sources, that really relied heavily on the story that this indeed was a misunderstanding. Bill Belichick was furious. He was extremely adamant that the football operations team had nothing to do with this. So I think that's a big, big part of this. I did mention B-roll yesterday, and I'm glad that you brought that point up.

Joe Geisel of WBZ here in Boston had a tweet yesterday that said that he took B-roll footage on Patrice Bergeron for a 30-second news piece on WBZ-CBS News. He shot for in excess of 15 minutes for a 30-second spot on a news show. That goes to show you that maybe eight minutes of B-roll footage is not as excessive as some people are making that out to be. I know my friends at Locked on Bengals tweeted out yesterday that when I came on their show to talk about what happened in the press box last Sunday in Cleveland, that I was, quote, reading from the Book of Sith and that I was defending the cheating. Anyone who heard the show knows that's exactly not what I was doing. But in any case, all I was trying to do is say that keep an open mind. There's a lot of information that still hasn't come out. And the information that came out on

Wednesday really solidified that. As for any type of penalty, I think you hit the nail right on the head, my friend. You usually do that. And when, you know, it's in the hands of the league. You take a look at the track record of Roger Goodell, Troy Vincent, when it comes to ruling in matters with the Patriots, you never really know which way that's going to go. I'm not going to issue any type of decree or anything like that that's going to say, oh, well, that means they're going to get the book thrown at them or that means they're going to get nothing. Virtue probably lies in the middle, but I can't see this being any more than a finable offense. I really and truly don't. I don't think there was an intent.

The Patriots were not trying to steal signals. If that's the way you're going to do it, then that's a very poor way to do it for an organization that has a reputation of being among the smartest in football. It's not like they were trying to be covert. They didn't have a guy hiding under the drain cap or anything like that with one of these pin-sized cameras that you find in CSI or one of these TV shows. This is simply a different animal. It's a different circumstance. They were right in the press box.

The press box is not a place where you can hide in plain sight, and you pointed that out as well. So hopefully we'll be able to try to put this matter to rest a little bit. We're going to put it to rest for a little while today anyway. We are here on Locked On Patriots. And I'm going to transition into another story, my friend, that unfortunately is a story. And I don't really understand why it's a story, but I guess a lot of people are thinking that it is. And that is the news on Tuesday that Tom Brady has been the chair, the global chair, and he also has been the chairman of the Hyannis chapter of Best Buddies here in New England. It's one of his favorite charities.

He runs the charity events every year. He's so active. As a matter of fact, it was part of the My Cleats, My Cause on Sunday. He wore a Best Buddies patch on his cleat to commemorate that and the great work that he does for this organization. Tom Brady announced that he is stepping down and that in his place, Julian Edelman and Jason Tatum of the Boston Celtics will be taking that mantra. And people started to put the pieces together. I will admit it raised my eyebrow a little bit. This one more so than putting the house up or any of the other chatter that you indication that he's leaving or heading anywhere else

or will be the quarterback of any other team next year other than the New England Patriots, save for the fact that he retires. When you see this objectively, what was your first reaction to it? And the more you've had an opportunity to think about it, what do you believe are Tom Brady's plans for next season? Well, first off, I'd say this has the legs. This has as many legs as Aaron Rodgers in 2017. So I give it about, you know, like you said, I think you said it well.

I think this to me means a little bit more. And, again, this isn't making any know, assumption or anything like that. This means more to me than giving up the house. Because, again, I think that was just kind of just utterly ridiculous speculation, especially when he bought a house in Connecticut and that kind of put to bed a lot of those rumors or ideas. But, look, you know, to me, this really, this doesn't make me think that any different than what I had before. And it's essentially how you feel. And that's the only way he's not a Patriot next year is if he retires. And I don't think he's going to retire.

So in my mind, he will be the starting quarterback for the Patriots next year. And this is just a look. I mean, he's going to be 43. I mean, I'm sure he would like to take a little bit off his plate, spend a little bit more time with his family, and I'm sure football is at the bottom of that list in terms of things to get rid of. And this is an opportunity for him to kind of pass the buck to guys that are up and coming. Well, I mean, obviously Julian Edelman has a history here,

but guys like Jason Tatum, you know, to kind of carry that torch for when he does leave. Because, look, I mean, you know, this could be a move for two years in the future. Like, you know, start easing up his workload when it comes to stuff like this. Start focusing more on family and just on football and those matters. And enjoy the last year or two of your career. Because again, at the end of the day, I think him going to another team makes, I mean, it just, it makes no sense in my eyes from either party, both the Patriots and Tom Brady. It makes no sense for him at, you know,

going on 43 to go to another team at this point, if he's not retiring, especially the teams that people mentioned. Again, people keep bringing up the Chargers. And why would he want to go play for that franchise in a situation where, you know, there's a lot of uncertainty around where they're actually going to play and who their fans are? And look, I mean, the only report I would ever put stock into is if he decided he wanted to go play for the 49ers. Now, again, there's obvious obstacles to that because, you know, the ironic thing is, is, you know, Jimmy G is the franchise quarterback in San Francisco. So I put that at like a negative five percent possibility. So to me, it's either retirement or the Patriots.

And again, I put staying with the Patriots at like 80 percent. I'm never going to say 100 percent because, again, at his age, you never you know, you never know how things can change, you know, on a dime. But I'm also inclined to believe him that he plans on playing until he's 45. And if he does, he will be a member of the Patriots. Yeah. And I agree with you 100 percent on both counts. And I think 80 percent is actually a very good percentage to say 80 20 in favor of returning quarterbacking the to say 80-20 in favor of returning, quarterbacking the Patriots, and 20% in favor of retirement. Anybody that's going to be 43 years of age beginning next season has to understand

and has to realize their own mortality. And look, Brady is the type of athlete that is very similar to an athlete we've never really seen before, doing what he's doing well into his 40s and still doing it at a high level despite of what you read on the hot tape machines and here in the mornings or whatnot he's still playing at a very high level folks this is a guy that can still get it done a lot of what's happened in the Patriots offense is not directly related to Tom Brady's play it's been a lot of factors around him that have contributed to the offensive struggles that the Patriots have had but I I think what it comes down to Ian and we've talked about this offline before.

We've talked about this on several other shows. We've talked about the fact that for Tom Brady at age 43 to go into a new situation, to learn new weapons, new receivers, new schemes, again, it's not a situation where he's the type of guy that's going to have a really steep learning curve. Tom Brady's seen it all, done it all. He can pick things up fairly quickly. Again, it's not a situation where he's the type of guy that's going to have a really steep learning curve. Tom Brady's seen it all, done it all. He can pick things up fairly quickly. But at that age, I can't imagine him wanting to do that and uproot for maybe one to two years maximum that he has left in the tank, where his best opportunity and his best chance

to win is in New England. Everything that is Tom Brady says he wants to win. That's what drives him. The next one. We hear that all the time. All I want to do is get the win. Everything that is Tom Brady says he wants to win. That's what drives him. The next one. We hear that all the time. All I want to do is get the win. I don't care about individual statistics. I want to win. I want to get there. He wants to help his team do that. I think the frustration that you're seeing on Brady's part this year is not him whining and taking the ball and going home and saying, I don't have my weapons. I don't have this. I think he feels he has so much more to give to this team than he's giving right now, and the circumstances are preventing him from doing that.

So there's where the frustration lies. All of a sudden, if these guys start to click on offense a little bit, or next year if you bring in another piece, and we'll save that for a conversation for another day, folks, because Ian and I can probably fill about an hour and a half just on who we think could be good fits in this offense. But if you start to bring in pieces to do that, my friend, I think a lot of the frustration goes away. And I think that's where it's going. I don't think there's sinister problems behind the scenes or any type of hatred going on between Brady and Belichick or

even Brady and Kraft. We're starting to hear those rumblings right now. I think it's much ado about nothing when it comes to that stuff, and I think the Patriots will be just fine. I was going to say, I think the people that are most behind this idea of all these situations being tea leaves and predicting a Brady future are ones that kind of believe in the nonsense that Belichick and Brady are at odds or Belichick wants to win without Brady or Brady wants to win without Belichick. All this nonsense that you, you know, you hear people speak as if it's fact. And it's in reality, it's really not.

And I've likened the season quite a bit to 2013. And look, I'll even admit there's, you know, you're not at 42, you're not the same as you are at 36, 35, 36, you know, talking about Tom Brady specifically because we've seen other quarterbacks, you know, fall way off at 35, 36. But, you know, this I tell people all the time and I ask them, you know, when you're when you're talking about Brady, because the easy thing to do is to be like, oh, look at his completion percentage, passer rating, all those great, and I use my quotation marks, great individual statistics that really tell the big picture. And my sarcasm, I think, is coming across very strong there. Let it flow, my friend. Let it flow. Well, I always ask them, and they always come back with this, oh, that's a ridiculous question. Why take this out of the equation? And I ask them, I'm like, okay, where in Brady's game do you see a decline without mentioning statistics? And by that, I mean, do you see him not being able to push in the pocket. He's a prime example of great pocket awareness and how you can manipulate the pocket, even at a limited amount of speed and agility like Brady has.

I mean, he's the best at it, and I think he's still the best at it. So to me, those are the signs that I look for if I'm looking at age as a factor for his subpar play. And I don't see that. I see him still driving the ball. I see him still driving the ball. I see him still moving his legs just fine. If you want to sit here and argue decision-making, I can live with that. But at the same time, I can come back and say, well, decision-making can also be a factor or be a cause of some of the circumstances in terms of the revolving door of weapons and the inconsistency on the offensive line and all those issues that the Patriots have faced all year.

Very similar to 2013. Now, again, he's not 36 year old Tom Brady. He's 42 year old Tom Brady. So maybe, you know, he can't quite elevate some of these other guys the way he used to.

But at the same time, when I watch him play, I don't see a weakened arm. I don't see a loss of intelligence or ability to read a defense. I mean, he's not going to lose that overnight. I mean, that's a little bit wishful thinking. So he still has that. He still has the arm. He still has the ability to throw accurately, very accurately. Again, I think it's a lot of the circumstances around them. And if they somehow get it to click, I mean, that's why it's funny to watch people sit here and write them off and say, oh, they can't do this. They can't do that when

they still have one of the best defenses in the league. And all it takes is them to figure one thing out, figure out the one thing that's going to take them to the next level offensively. And then all of a sudden you've got a team that's going to be knocking on the door. And look, part of that is getting more familiar with Nikhil Harry and Muhammad Sanu and getting Myers back involved. And that can take time. And fortunately for the Patriots, they still have three weeks to figure this out. They absolutely do. And again, I think you make some great, great points, especially the point about the decision making and especially the point about maybe there being some frustration when it comes to that. The point that I really want to hammer home and expound upon, though, and I'm so glad that you

made was arm strength and capabilities and physical capabilities. Last week, I had Dr. Jessica Flynn from Boston Sports Journal on the show, and we talked about Brady's arm and we talked about his mechanics and we talked about essentially whether or not his arm looked like it was in decline. And she flatly answered the question and said, no, it doesn't look like it's in decline. You can see the zip. You can see that his arm strength is still strong in decline. And she flatly answered the question and said, no, it doesn't look like it's in decline. You can see the zip. You can see that his arm strength is still strong. Now, if he's tested repeatedly over and over again,

especially with the elbow that I know was wrapped after the game on Sunday, a lot of people are going to be worried about that. He was a full participant in practice on Wednesday, expected to be one again on Thursday. We'll know a little bit more when the practice report comes out on Thursday evening. But in any case, I do still see a lot of strength from Brady. And, again, I think that at the end of the day, I just can't see him up and leaving and heading anywhere other than New England. I'm sorry, go ahead. I was going to say, before you move on from the Brady point, I mean, he leads the league in pass attempts.

I mean, a 42-year-old is throwing more passes than anyone in the league right now, and we are already into December, and if he was declining because of age, you would see a drastic drop-off in arm strength, and it's just not there. Again, you can argue all this accuracy until you're blue in the face, but at the end of the day, accuracy percentage is not equate to accuracy um accuracy is is making the right decision throwing the ball where you want want it to throw and there's oftentimes that brady throws it to where he wants to throw but the receiver is either a not there or b uh can't handle the pass and um again i think that's it's giving false hope to a lot of people that hope that brady is just lost and it's it is not going to be the same guy in the playoffs. But just watch his arm, watch his legs, watch him move around the pocket.

I mean, that scramble to throw to Julian Edelman, I mean, you're 42 years old and, like, you can do that and no one talks about it. They just talk about the obvious throwaway and speak to it as if Brady was missing his receiver or whatnot. So, again, it's all about how you perceive it. But the actual reality of the situation is his age has been affected this way. Absolutely. And I completely agree. And some of the negative comments that surround him and surround some of his play, along with all the negativity that surrounded the Patriots all week long with the Spygate 2.0 stuff that we talked about earlier, could this possibly light the fire when the Patriots all week long with the Spygate 2.0 stuff that we talked about earlier.

Could this possibly light the fire when the Patriots are on to Cincinnati this weekend? In just a moment, folks, Ian and I are going to be breaking down the game on Sunday because keep in mind, there is still a game to be played in Cincinnati on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Paul Brown Stadium. Pat Bengals will get into a little bit about what the injuries may mean for this game and some of the breakdowns and even a prediction as to what may happen in this game in Cincinnati on Sunday, folks, as the Patriots attempt to snap a two-game losing streak

and get back in the win column. So stay tuned, folks, and we will be back in just a moment to discuss that. And again, ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for joining me today. My good friend Ian Glendon joins me on Locked On Patriots today. And Ian, we've talked about a lot of the noise surrounding the Patriots all week long, a lot of the periphery stuff that happens

either away from the field when it comes to the Spygate scandals or when it comes to whether or not Brady's going to play or how he's playing or what he's doing. But ultimately, the New England Patriots are all about what happens on the field. Bill Belichick in his press conference yesterday made it clear he was not there to address anything other than what was going to happen on the field. And to me, that spells for a pretty ominous task for the Cincinnati

Bengals to be able to put up with an angry Patriots team now that I believe all this is done is simply woken a sleeping giant. But we will get into the prediction on what's going to happen in the game in a minute. I know you watch the injury report as closely as I do, as we all do, and you saw that Julian Edelman yesterday in practice was held out. Now, a lot of people were saying that it was from load management, which is a term that I really hate using, but it really is accurate, folks. I mean, it's just exactly what it is. You want to manage the workload. Apparently, he's suffering from a knee injury, and the more

film that I watch, whether it be All-22 or whatever, with regard to Sunday's game, you start to see him limping on a lot of plays, and it really was obvious, a lot more obvious than you could see in the observations in the game, from the you know the press or at Gillette or if you watch the broadcast at home you really couldn't see it that much but when you see this footage it really is a little more obvious that he was holding up and in some pain in his knee on on Sunday he's been fighting the chest injury all year long it looks like that's healed up a little bit uh there's still the shoulder injury that bothered him a couple of weeks ago, where you still see him rotating it quite often on the field.

Julian, in covering Julian the last three years, and you covered him long before I did as well, this is a guy that really wants to be in the game and wants to be out there playing, practicing, doing whatever he can on a football field if his foot was on fire. To hold him out is probably a smart move by the Patriots, and I think it's great, and I don't necessarily think it indicates anything ominous or imminent on the horizon. But long term, Julian Edelman's health is so important to this team, given that he is such a key cog in this offense. When you see that he's being held out of practice knowing his

competitive spirit does it concern you at all as he moves forward to try to move forward as the season progresses into the playoffs because this is a guy they just cannot afford to be without no and i think that's the reason why i'm not concerned is is that you know they excuse me you know he has been dealing with injuries all season i mean like, like you said, chest, ribs, now the knee. And that's something I also noticed while watching the game very briefly. But there was a hit in particular that he took that really shook him up a little bit. But, no, look, at the end of the day, this is not a situation where Brady and Edelman need reps every single day.

And this is a situation where they could be away from each other for three or four months, hop right on a field, and pick up right where they left off. So that continuity is not what I'm worried about. And if you're into looking, if you like silver linings and blessings and disguise and all that stuff, you can look at this as an opportunity to put the rookies and Sanu and those guys, you know, right front and center in terms of being the guys on offense. Because we know what happens is, especially when the game gets tight or things get, you know, a little stressful, Brady's going to key in on Julian Edelman.

Now, there's a lot of reasons for that. One, obviously, you know, you can trust Julian Edelman. Two, specifically with Jacoby Myers, there seems to be a little hesitation on Brady's part to throw him the ball, especially after some key drops recently in big situations. Obviously, touchdown pass against Kansas City on Sunday. So this would force, if Julian Edelman is out, and again, this is a big if, this could just be a little bit of quote know quote unquote gamesmanship in terms of okay we plan on playing him but let's rest him up and give him as much rest as he needs but if he is out this could be an opportunity for those young guys to step up

because brady's going to have to throw to them he won't have a choice and and maybe you force that that uh continuity in that relationship to grow uh through that mean so again it's a good thing that they're playing the Bengals this week because it gives you an opportunity to try some things out, in my opinion. And I agree with you. I think it is good that they're playing the Bengals this week. Playing a 1-11 team definitely cures all. And it's a good point that you bring up.

And, again, the power of positivity is why I bring you on this show, my friend, not just because we love to talk football, because we can do that at any time, but the wisdom and counsel that you bring to the listeners here at Locked On is definitely important. And that is if Julian Edelman is indeed out this week, and nobody's saying that he is. He may be back on the practice field on Thursday, look just fine, and everything could be all set.

But if he is out and they do decide to hold him out of this game, it's probably for his benefit and the benefit of the team moving forward. And it does give the young guys a chance to be able to move up. Guys like Jacoby Myers, Nikhil Harry, maybe get Philip Dorsett back on the same page. Mohamed Sanu, this is his former team. I think he may be wanting to show a little bit. And, of course, the white elephant in the room here is Rex Burkhead, who left Cincinnati probably thinking that this team really didn't give him a chance. He goes to a perennial Super Bowl contender, and he's been a very big part of

what this team does. I look for him to be able to have a big game, maybe catching the ball out of the backfield, simply because I think the Cincinnati linebackers are not going to be equipped to be able to handle him. If Edelman is in the game, you know he's going to command a double team, and that's going to leave the open uh you know part middle uh part of the field open for play action and burkhead could be a guy that could create a mismatch on a linebacker and they could take advantage of that and that leads me quite nicely into my final question of the day for you my friend and that is sunday 1 p.m paul brown stadium cincinnati oh, purely from a football standpoint on the field.

What do you expect to see out of the New England Patriots? Is this going to be a scorched earth game? Do you think it's going to be closer than people think? Or do you think they just simply go in, take the W, and move on to the Buffalo game in two weeks on a Saturday on December 20th? I don't think it's going to be scorched earth because, again, as much as I still believe in Brady's abilities and his ranking among the elite quarterbacks, there's obviously still questions about how efficiently this offense can work. And I have high hopes, let's put it this

way, that they can put it together against a team that obviously is fighting for the top overall pick in the draft this year. So they're certainly not a good team. I don't think this is going to be that close of a game. I think the Patriots are going to answer some questions, but in the eyes of the national media, it won't mean anything no matter what they do because they played the Bengals. And of course, we'll get the, well, they can't beat good teams.

They can only beat the bad teams, a talking narrative all week. So from that standpoint, the Patriots can't beat good teams, they can only beat the bad teams, a talking narrative all week. So from that standpoint, you know, the Patriots can't win. But in reality, what they can do is try to find some things that work, and they have three weeks to do it. Obviously, there's a big game against Buffalo, but you have three weeks to fine-tune some of the things that you're trying to figure out, and I expect them to do that a little bit against the Bengals. I would like to see a little bit more

creativity when it comes to play calling. Again, I think that's partly because you need to get more of these other guys involved. You know, this run, run, pass to start every drive is maddening to watch, especially early on when it's like, well, I clearly know that you're going to run on first and second down and then, you know, try to pass the ball. I mean, if I know it, the other team likely knows it. So I want to see a little bit more creativity. I want to see, you know, if you have to, especially if Edelman is limited or out for the entire game, you got to get these younger guys going. Because again, I think the talent is there. I feel like I know the talent is there. I know this offense can look more like the offense of old.

It's just you've got to figure it out. It's not a lack of talent. It's just a lack of utilizing it. Excellent, and I do, and I agree with you. I spoke with Joe Goodberry here earlier this week on Crossover Wednesday on Bengals and Locked On Patriots, and he had mentioned about Andy Dalton and his difficulties and Ryan Finley and the fiasco that came in when he was put in

as the quarterback of the Bengals. And now Dalton returns playing halfway decent but still playing in the bottom echelon of quarterbacks in the NFL this week. I think the Bengals right now are definitely primed for turnovers and the Patriots defense can force them. We've seen them force turnovers against excellent offenses, including the one that they played earlier this week in Kansas City, against Kansas City. So I think if the Patriots can force turnovers, this could be a long day for Cincinnati.

I also think that you hit the nail on the head again, and I love to say that. That's an inside joke between Ian and I. We're not going to go into that because Locked On Patriots is a family show. But what happens with this type of offense is they're going to need to capitalize on that. I think the Bengals' defense allows them the opportunity to be able to capitalize off any turnovers that the defense does force. We didn't see them do that Sunday against Kansas City. I think the Patriots need to right the ship and need to be able to do that. Part of the success that

they were having in the early part of the season is they were capitalizing on those. We haven't seen them do that as of late, and I look for that to continue. Ian, you are a great man, a great friend, and I appreciate you always coming on. I appreciate your candor, your insight. I know you'll be closely watching all of the situations surrounding the New England Patriots when it comes to Tom Brady, when it comes to the Spygate situation, and also that you'll be watching the game this weekend. I thank you for your words of wisdom on this matchup with the Bengals. Folks, follow him on Twitter, at IGLEN31.

Find his great work and the work of all of the great writers at FullPressCoverage.com. You can follow them at F-P-C-O-V-E-R-A-G-E. Follow Full Press Radio, FPC NFL. Ian is all over the place, has his footprint and his fingerprint all over the site. It's his vision that has made Full Press what it is today, whether it be FPC NFL pregame, FPC Radio Live, cheap plug there, and the Big Dad Bruins podcast. My friend, thank you so much for joining me today. Always an honor and a pleasure to share the microphone at the holidays with the people that mean the most to you,

and I appreciate it. Thank you so much, my friend. Oh, thank you. Those were very kind words, and I was going to hit you with the thank you very little, but, again, you put a lot of thought and effort into that, and I appreciate that. So I always look forward to coming on here, and I can't wait to do it again. Absolutely, and the thought and the effort always come from the heart, and you know that, and I know the same in return.

And again, Ian, thank you, and we appreciate it, and we wish you the best and hope that you enjoy the game this weekend. And as for me, folks, I will be back tomorrow to give a final preview for Pat Spangles. I'll offer my game prediction for this Sunday's matchup, and I might just have a special guest joining me as well that's going to lend a thicket of reality to everything that's been going on in Foxborough when it comes to video recording, footage, and the like. So definitely stay tuned and keep locked in to Locked On Patriots as always please join me each and every day

on the Locked On Patriots podcast subscribe and listen via your preferred podcast provider once again I'm Mike DeBate of Locked On Patriots I thank Ian Glendon for his appearance today but most of all I thank you so much all for listening best wishes and have a great day everyone