Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Patriots in the Top Five and Tight Endage Talk with the Countess — 12/1/21

Episode Date: December 3, 2021

As the New England Patriots continue to savor their 36-13 victory over the Tennessee Titans, they are looking ahead to their Week Thirteen opponent, the Buffalo Bills. Joining host Mike D’Abate is Clare ‘ClazzyClare’ Cooper, as the duo discuss the Patriots ascension to are the top five in many national power rankings, Clare’s thoughts on Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith’s performance on Sunday against the Titans, and a look ahead to the Buffalo Bills, including their own prolific tight end, Dawson Knox.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.StatHeroStatHero is the first of its kind Daily Fantasy Sports platform where it’s YOU vs. the HOUSE in head to head fantasy matchups - winner take all. Sign up for FREE - RIGHT NOW - at StatHero.com/LOCKEDON and use promo code LOCKEDON for a One Hundred Percent Deposit Match. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. You are now locked into the Locked On Patriots podcast. It is Wednesday, December 1st, a whole new month here on Locked On Patriots. And once again, I thank you for making Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage and your first listen every day. Remember, Locked On Patriots is free and available on all platforms. Greetings, salutations, and welcome to this Wednesday episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast, Pats fans.

My name is Mike DeBate, and I cover your New England Patriots for Patriot Maven of Sports Illustrated. I am also your host of the Locked On Patriots podcast, which of course is a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And folks, because it's your team every day, that means your questions, comments, and feedback are always welcomed and very much appreciated.

So share that feedback. Send it to the internet by reaching out to me and following me on Twitter at MDABATENFL. While you're out there doing some Wednesday wandering through the Twitterverse, please be sure to follow the Locked On Patriots account as well at LO underscore Patriots. Pats fans, yesterday here on the pod, we had a tremendous interview with one Steve Balistrieri, our resident voice of reason, the great man from patsfans.com.

And unfortunately, technology wasn't quite our best friend, but fear not. Those technical issues are being worked through, and my interview with Steve will be posted here on Locked On Patriots as soon as possible. So keep a sharp eye out for that. But today is Wednesday, and we're going to be talking a little tight endage on this Wednesday the empress of tight endage the queen of te the baroness of blockers and of course the countess of clads herself miss claire clazy claire cooper joins me here on the hot seat and not only will we be talking claire's favorite, which is tight endage, most notably John U. Smith and Hunter Henry,

but we'll also talk a little Buffalo Bills tight endage. Don't forget, folks, and I know you haven't, Monday night the New England Patriots head to Orchard Park, New York, Highmark Stadium to take on those Buffalo Bills, and this game has huge divisional implications, and the Bills have a tremendous offense and defense, very well stacked on both sides of the ball and one thing that they do have is one of the more prolific tight ends in football

right now Dawson Knox so we're going to get Claire's thoughts on Dawson and how he may be able to change the complexity of this game along with Jono and Hunter on the Patriots side but it's not all about tight endage when Claire joins us. Well versed and able to speak on a numerous amount of subjects. We're going to talk about the Patriots place among the power rankings. In the last few weeks the Patriots have been making a slow and steady climb. Well the victory on Sunday over the Tennessee Titans vaulted the Patriots into the top five in many of the national rankings. Claire and I will discuss whether or not this really is a top five team. And last but certainly not least, we will get Claire's thoughts on the New England Patriots

and Buffalo Bills matchup coming up on Monday night as a whole. So as usual here on Wednesday, lots to talk about, tons of things to discuss. So without much further ado, I will welcome in my good friend, the Countess of Clas herself, Claire Cooper joins me on the hot seat when this Wednesday episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. Locked On listeners, we're back and better than ever. All eyes are on the gridiron as teams are back to start another football season. As always, BetOnline is your

number one spot for all the pro and college football action this season. With a new updated site and interface, even more odds, props, and contests, BetOnline.ag continues to be the number one source for everything football. Head to the website or use your mobile device to sign up today to receive your 100% welcome bonus. That's double your initial deposit, just for signing up. Don't forget to use the promo code NFL100. From football, basketball, boxing, right to your favorite Vegas casino games, don't wait to take advantage of all the amazing offers available for the 2021 season.

Bet online, the fastest and easiest way to bet all of your favorite sports. Bet online, your online sportsbook experts. Patriots fans, you can still feel the excitement here in the air in New England. The Pats continue to bask in the glow of a 36-13 victory over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, but now they're starting to turn their attention toward Monday night, December 6th, and a meeting with the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, New York. There are a lot of storylines to get to in this one, both from a Bills perspective and a Patriots perspective,

and here today to help us break it all down is a good friend of the program, a regular here now on Wednesday. Of course, the voice, the giggle, the accent is something we all know and love, but it's the wit and the wisdom that she brings to the table that keeps her coming back each and every week. From West Midlands in the UK, a phenomenal Patriots writer for Pat's Propaganda, the third voice of One Patriot's Place alongside other good

friends of the program, the legendary Thomas Murphy and our resident voice of reason, Steve Balistrieri, and of course, a special contributor to Full Press Coverage Patriots, where she hosts her very own podcast, A Claire Perspective, the podcast. And folks, every time Claire puts voice to microphone to record one of these podcasts, it's truly a Clas herself, Miss Claire Classey. Claire Cooper joins me today. Claire, thank you so much for joining me from across the pond. Welcome to now your regular seat here on Wednesdays on Locked On Patriots. Well, thank you so much, Mike.

This seat is really quite comfy, actually. I'm quite liking it. This Wednesday spot, yeah, definitely making it my own now. It is. It's pretty good. good yeah it's good if you'll welcome you here in the studios of course you got the total poster hanging on the wall in honor of my good friend and predecessor mark scofield will be joining me here on the air waves very shortly um and also the legendary thomas murphy with his very own embroidered chair. Nobody sits in the chair. We do that.

There will be no Boeing of Murph on these airwaves. No Boeing. There's no Boeing. There's another outburst. I'm going to start getting up here and doing stand-up jokes. Nobody wants that. But no, all kidding aside, folks, that is something that we really, really enjoy. The voice of reason here on Locked On Patriots, Steve Balistrieri joined me yesterday here on the pod.

And of course, the Countess of Blas herself, the Baroness of Blockers, the Queen of TE, the Empress of Tight Endage, but so much more in terms of knowledge. Again, I'm so happy that you are now in a regular Wednesday slot here on the pod. And Claire, we'll dive right into it. The New England Patriots right now at eight and four, very strong positioning within the AFC right now. Playoff started today. They're the number two team in the conference.

And that is something that I don't think a lot of people saw coming when this team was two and four coming out of their first six games didn't look like the Patriots were really ready to make that playoff push maybe get to 500 maybe a game over but the expectations were pretty low but when you rattle off six straight victories and an impressive fashion the way they've done that it does change the public perception and it has changed the public perception if you go back and take a look at the power rankings, and I wrote about this for Sports Illustrated yesterday, Patriots power rankings now in the national sense, looking at the Pats really in the top five in a lot of these rankings. And Claire, I think it's interesting that the public perception has changed so much for the Patriots. Doing what they're doing and winning on a regular basis will do that.

But when you look at this roster from top to bottom, how they're winning, the coaching style that they're using, the contributions that they're getting from their players, how do you think this team shakes out? Do you think it's a fair assessment that this team is being considered a top-five team? And do you think they'll continue that progress into the next few games as we move into the home stretch of the season well Mike

firstly I do need to say that I suck at these kind of questions I am the most indecisive of people so when it's like oh what do you think kind of thing it's like oh that makes a reason why I ask the question I just kind of want to see you squirm a little bit and then find out how you're going to answer it. However, I am prepared. It's fine. No, but as you said, Patriots eight and four, second in the AFC, currently first in the AFC East, obviously only currently and fifth in the whole of the NFL. So I'm guessing that's probably why people are kind of putting them you know in the top five I want to say something very specific first of all top five in the whole of the league with a rookie quarterback and a lot of new players and new coaches in the system now people should just digest that in all fairness sort of regardless as if they think that this current

team is a top five team you know there's been so much inconsistency in this league in this season so far it's been talked about on kind of many shows I know and I've talked about it myself on a few shows because it's kind of it it seems a bit of a strange year with regards to that with the way that teams are being beat by teams that you would never imagine and likewise vice versa teams are beating teams that you'd never imagine that they would beat so it's it's all a little bit hinky already but I think that I mean looking at it first off they've had six straight wins any team that's had six straight wins now they haven't been very pretty wins and you know that is something to always take into consideration is although they've performed and

they've won they haven't always necessarily performed brilliantly that well there's there's been sort of margins of error there's been things to be concerned for sort of concerned about so you know but having the six straight the six straight wins I love it when I kind of get so excited that I talk too quickly and I fall over all of my words but anyway I always do that when I'm here because it's so much fun but yeah it's something to take into consideration a winning streak like that not only a winning streak but a winning kind of on the road streak as well which is something that a few years ago wasn't really you know wasn't really gelling for the Patriots kind of on the

road and that kind of thing I think it was a 2019 season but as you all know my memory absolutely sucks so I mean if you're putting me on the spot to say are they a top five it's very difficult for me to say no because I'm one of those glass 99% for kind of fans and I kind of always see the good side of my team and you know love my team that kind of thing I know they've got kind of situations to improve on there are points that they need to kind of get better at um and that's but I think that's going to be a season-long thing it's there's as I mentioned there's new pieces in a new system as such with new coaching staff so you've got a lot of things that need clicking together before it can be a whole

sort of thing and I think that's what this whole season is going to be a kind of a clicking together of the pieces and I think they're doing a good job of it they could do a better job but they could also do do a worse so I mean really if you if you're going to put numbers on it which I kind of tend to hate really I'm never very good with the numbers and stuff then yeah you know the sixth straight win you can't ignore so I think that's something that puts them up there and they are top um in the whole of the NFL at the moment so short answer yes this is a top five team pretty much. I agree with you.

I don't think that you're necessarily looking at things through a Foxborough filter. I've been accused of that several times, that I tend to look at things through rose-colored glasses when it comes to the New England Patriots. But bottom line, you can't ignore the prowess that this team has showed on both sides of the ball, but especially on defense. To me, that's what makes this team a top five team because they're winning based on that prowess and being solid on all three levels. Look, you win six straight. You continue to flex your muscle in the AFC. Sunday's win over the Titans put the Pats in the second slot in the AFC playoff picture.

Like you said, that's impressive regardless of where you start where you finish to be in that position right now this deep in the season shows that you're a team to be reckoned with they've got a tough test looming on monday night folks and neither claire nor i are lessening that to any stretch of the imagination this is going to be a tough one the buffalo bills are solid on both sides of the ball but during the Patriots six game winning streak the Patriots have averaged 35 points per game they've scored 211 points they've allowed an average of just 11 points per game only 63 points allowed you look at what they're doing on both sides of the ball they're putting the ball in the end zone they're finding ways to score I joined my good friends in

the rock pile report a couple of nights ago to talk Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots, and one of the knocks they had on Matt Jones in the Pats, well, oh, you're getting a lot of scores off of your defense. Well, yeah. Okay. The whole point is to put points on the board, regardless of where you're getting them. I never understood that argument. That's why I think, you know, the wins quarterback stat and all that. I think that's a load of complete and utter garbage. I think that, you know, yes, they are a quarterback stat. The wins are a team stat, but it is a quarterback stat because he is quarterbacking that team.

He is leading that team, especially on offense, just the same way a pitcher gets credit for a win as opposed to a loss in baseball. I know people are going to sit there and the statisticians and the elitists are going to go, oh no, that's not the case. No, there's analytics to show the obvious. No, you're in a position to be able to dictate the tempo and the win of the game and you deserve credit for it. But I'm going to digress. That's a conversation for another day that to me put that little sandbox away mike yeah exactly i went off on a tangent brings me back just when i thought i was out she pulls me back in so that's it that's good but um one thing that the patriots are doing very impressively is shutting teams off in the second

half when they know that they need to clamp down and be a stronger team, they're doing it. The Patriots have allowed just 13 points in the second half during this six-game stretch. Thirteen points in the second half in six games, that's shutdown football. That is dedicated football, and it's disciplined football. And the Patriots are playing that, and they're starting to play it on both sides of the ball.

We saw some issues on the offensive side of the ball where they were coughing up some fumbles. They were not taking care of the ball. Now they're the ones causing the fumbles. You saw J.C. Jackson do it on Sunday. And these guys are forcing their issues and getting loose. Juwan Bentley, who I criticized during the game, when you go back and take a look at the stat sheet, Juwan led the team in tackles and he had two forced fumbles. So, you know, even guys that are having subpar games, or it seems like are making contributions when the Patriots need it. If they continue to combine great coaching, which I think, and I say this without hesitation, they have the best coaching in the NFL from top to bottom

starts with Bill Belichick, but give Josh McDaniels his due. Give Steve Belichick his due. Give Gerard Mayo, Cam Atcher. These guys are all doing a tremendous job coaching their individual units, and they're coming together and doing it at the right time. They continue to do that and play smart, complimentary football on both sides of the ball. This is a top-five team, maybe even a top-three team when it's all said and done so take that for what you will folks but uh bottom line the New England Patriots are doing it and they're doing it very very well don't forget Nick Cayley

can you know tight ends don't don't forget to add his name to the list just for the record people you know see this is why Claire makes such an amazing guest and could make an amazing co-host someday because she leads me directly into the next question I'm going to ask her. And Nick Cayley is actually having his name thrown around as possible head coaching candidate someday because he does do an amazing job coaching this group of tight ends. And Nick is a tremendous guy as well, having the opportunity this season to get to know him a little bit better. Just one of the great guys in the business and one of the more humble coaches you'll ever come across. And I think he had a very good day coaching his two tight ends on Sunday. And we're talking John O'Smith and Hunter Henry. Claire, this was maybe the first opportunity we've had all season to really fully

absorb what these two guys can do on the field together when they're both clicking and both playing at a high level. Granted, I know that a lot of people and the skeptics out there are going to look at the final stat sheet for the New England Patriots, and they're not going to see a whole lot of, you know, wow factor in the final stat sheet for the tight ends on Sunday. Hunter Henry played 41 snaps. John O'Smith played 34. They combined for only five catches, 65 yards, but I think they were a lot more productive than that stat line would indicate. Henry, I thought, was effective in his route running, still showing that he's one of the best pure route runners on the team. Had that near completion buck for the overthrow from Mack Jones, and Mack's been asked about that all week long.

That's one he knows he needs to have back. That was completely on him. Mack got the blocking. Hunter made the route. Mack made the read correctly. He just overshot him. He just went through it. And it does happen, but it's one the read correctly. He just overshot him. He just threw it and it does happen, but it's one that I know he'd like to have back,

but I thought Henry did a solid job. And if he makes that catch, you're talking over a hundred yards for the tight end. You're talking a touchdown adding to that stat line. That would have been really, you know, I really have very, very impressive stat line, but John O'Smith on the other hand, very active off a play action. That to me is where they can really utilize him best. He had 49 yards receiving three catches, nine rushing yards from the backfield. Claire, when you look at this tight endage set,

and I know Sunday was a big game for you to be able to watch, to see these two guys on the field and that 12, 22-man personnel that the Patriots have been rumored to want to run this year. Was this finally the game that made you say, OK, this is what this tight endage group can look like moving forward? To be honest, to be completely honest, not really. Now, I appreciate what you've just said and the stats that you've just given and it was good and not denying it at all I actually think that to be fair what we've seen out of Hunter Henry so far for the season it's just impressed me kind of a little bit more each time now I know that people didn't say oh well she's a massive Hunter Henry fan and I am I'm not going to deny that I'll never deny that but he has been able to show himself earlier in the season than Janu Smith has now Hunter

suffered tight end coverage recently teams maybe have started to cotton on that he's you know he's a threat that he's been utilised by Mac he hasn't always been targeted when he was open and unfortunately in the last game as you mentioned we saw a few poor throws by Mack. And so he did make the catch. Now, I'd just like to make a comment that so far this season, Hunter Henry, zero drops. So that's like a point to make. Now, Jonu is a completely different situation entirely. He's an athletic guy. He's built to be utilised very differently to Hunter Henry.

As Evan Lazar actually mentioned on One Patriots Place this week. Very, very smart smart Evan is but because Hunter is so the traditional they've utilised him the way that I know we've said this before that they he would have been utilised at the Chargers so kind of that in a way in itself is a given he's not gronk but he's gronk-ish he's gronk-esque he's got that about him sort of thing Smith less so but super versatile and we all know that Bill likes that but the problem is and I know I've mentioned this before and I don't mean to harp on about the same thing but I do think it's significantly important is that Smith has been hammered with inconsistency because of his injury because of his in and out of the locker room his

fluidity of time in the offense I think has really put a damper on us being able to see him as the player that he he was when he signed if you like that kind of thing I mean coach talks about availability being key and it's unfortunate on Smith that he you know he hasn't had that he's been in and out kind of thing and it's unfortunate with his kind of mildly heavily mildly heavy price tag as well so it kind of works against him in that way but in regards to you mentioning this game significantly I think because they didn't get to put up the numbers that they that particularly Hunter has recently he had his stretch of um six games touchdowns, that kind of thing.

I even wrote about it and I can't even remember now. I'm that good. My memory's that good, people. But yeah, so he's been able to sort of show who he is, that kind of thing. And I think, as I mentioned, teams are kind of cottoning on that he's still really good and he's got a really good dynamic with Mac and he's a big threat. And he's a big threat in the red zone anyway sort of thing so I think teams are seeing that and are adjusting to do that what that could also mean is that it would break out Jono Smith and give him the chance to shine more to be

utilized more and I think that if going forward they can just get more out of him like the game that they've just seen so that maybe they put up a bit more numbers so it kind of shows people more blatantly sort of how good he still really is I think that's going to be key so from a personal perspective this game wasn't the game for me tight endage wise but that's you know that's not to say it wasn't good and that's not a kind of a downer on it whatsoever I just I don't think we got to see them as much as maybe I'm just being kind of too greedy I just want more I always just want more when it comes to tight endage so maybe it's more that but yeah it's moving in the right direction so if we can if we can just keep

building on this in regards to not only the tight end is in the offense, but the, you know, the offense, the offense in general, you know, I think then, then, then they're onto a winner. Absolutely. And I think that's a good point. I'm glad that you mentioned that. And that's something that I really hadn't considered a good perspective. And, uh, based on what we've seen and what we've seen from Hunter Henry and from John O'Smith, I think you're spot on in both analysis. I think Hunter has definitely established himself as the pass catching threat in this offense that is going to be a reliable target for Mac Jones. He already has been. I think that will continue. I don't think that'll stop anytime soon. You know that teams are going to try to take that away. And we'll talk about this a little bit more this week as the week progresses

and we head toward the Buffalo Bills game on Monday night. But at the same time, I think in a lot of ways, John who's emergence and his ability to show that he is getting healthy, that he is feeling much better. And the fact that he is getting more comfortable in this offense is something that will allow him to be a bigger factor down the stretch. We heard Josh McDaniels talk about this last week. We talked about it last week here on Locked On Patriots.

John was coming from a different type of environment and a different type of role that he was asked to play in Tennessee. And his role has changed a little bit here in New England. There's a little bit more off the ball prowess that's needed from tight ends. And Hunter has adapted to that a little bit better because it's a similar circumstance and a similar system to which he played in Los Angeles. In Tennessee, it was a little bit different for John. And when he's getting used to being able to do that,

now once he gets comfortable in his blocking assignments, knows what he's doing, he has been much better in that area in the last couple of weeks. That'll help to free him up and be a little bit more of an offensive threat and you saw that the jet sweep a few times did run some big plays uh got some yards after the catch this is something that i think he can do and if these two guys really start to click and come together things are going to be a lot of fun to watch in foxborough over the course of the next few weeks quick thing to take into consideration

sorry he's no good the one thing that i say in smith's inconsistency because he's been in and out due to injury so i keep talking about the the sort of the consistency the flow within the team but we've also got to kind of take into the consideration that that also means that this guy's dealing with injuries and tight end is a brutal position it's always been known as that and you know so it's something else to consider that maybe he's not having his and there's a lot of people like to say his breakout game in inverted commas just because the guy's not quite at peak health I'm not saying he's not healthy enough to play don't get me wrong I don't have any inside information

please don't take it as that but it's just a case of in and out with injury consistently he's not you know he's not going to be 100% and you aren't going to get 100% out of a guy if he's not got 100% to to kind of put in sort of thing so I think that's another key that we keep kind of shying away from a little bit is not just blaming his inconsistency on his injury it's also blaming the fact that they can't utilize him to his full of his full potential possibly because of aggregated injury so it was just another point sorry to to mention no and i think that's a good point and a shoulder injury for a tight end can be very difficult that is a i mean any type of you know injury is going to hamper a player especially at this time

of year but especially for a shoulder, it really is. It's so important when it comes to lunging for the catch, when it comes to being able to run, when it comes to being able to throw a block, that's a tough injury to overcome and a very difficult one to deal with in season and try to get it to heal because it's not like you can favor that. It's difficult to do. So the good point, and you know a valid one that our

listeners will appreciate as they always do you always bring the wit and wisdom when it comes to tight endage and folks good news we are not done talking tight ends just yet because in a moment buffalo bills also house a very impressive tight end in one dawson knox we're going to get claire's thoughts on Dawson, what the Patriots might do to try to neutralize him. And I'll provide my thoughts on that in just a moment. And we'll also take a quick look ahead to the Buffalo bills and get Claire's thoughts on Monday night's matchup.

When this Wednesday episode of the locked on Patriots podcast continues locked on listeners, this holiday season, grab the protein bar that tastes like a candy bar or even better than a candy bar. Built Bar. Filled with so much holiday goodness, rich with decadent flavor, covered in chocolate. Sounds so good,

doesn't it? It is that good. But amazingly low in calorie, which is true. It's even better than you think. Sugar, net carbs, fat, all very low when it comes to this delicious treat and very high in protein. You get the better than you think. Sugar, net carbs, fat, all very low when it comes to this delicious treat and very high in protein. You get the best of both worlds. Delicious and healthy. And there's

so many flavors to choose from. You're going to have a hard time choosing. You could either choose from raspberry or mint brownie, cherry, double chocolate, cookies and cream, pita butter brownie, my personal favorite, but so many. Definitely check out the website built.com you will go crazy over the flavors that they offer but built bar also offers that extra

fuel you need to bust down those mall doors and battle all of those holiday shoppers or if you're just standing in endless shopping lines built bar can give you that extra something to keep you going so throw one in your jacket or your purse You never know when you're going to need it. Don't delay. Do it today. Go to Bilt.com and use the promo code LOCK15 to get 15% off your next purchase. Use promo code

LOCK15 for 15% off at Bilt.com. Patriots fans, once again, the Empress of tight endage, the Queen of TE, the Baroness of blockers, the Countess of class herself, Claire Cooper joins me here on the hot seat in her normal Wednesday spot. Now I'm locked on Patriots and Claire in the previous segment, we talked a little bit about the Patriots and their rankings in the national scheme of things. And in the conference, in the division, we talked a little bit about a subject that's very near and dear to your heart and tight endage.

And we talked Hunter Henry and we talked John Smith. But Buffalo coming up does employ a number of offensive weapons that can give the Patriots headaches. And one that I am particularly watching very closely, my sharp eye is on, is tight end Dawson Knox. Now, Knox had a little bit of a difficult year in 2020. A lot of that was due to injury. His coming back and being healthy this year has showed that he does possess the ability to be a significant factor for the Bills, and I think a significant factor in this game. Dawson is at his best when he finds space sitting down in the soft zones, as well as being utilized in the flat combinations that the Buffalo Bills like to employ.

What that does is it creates mismatches in the middle of the field, and this is where the Patriots' defense can have some cracks, some fissures a little bit. If you're going to attack the Patriots, it's those passes over the middle of the field where the linebackers typically are, and that's where they can be vulnerable against play action. Cole Beasley is a solid slot receiver,

and his presence is going to create problems for the Patriots there because not just do they have to account for someone like Dawson Knox, but they also have to account for a guy like Cole Beasley. So this is something that, to me, could be a problematic matchup. You always put in a lot of work. You always put in a lot of time exploring the tight end position. And we talk a lot about the Patriots tight ends, but Claire is a student of all tight ends in this game, folks. And I know Dawson is someone that you're going to be keeping your eye on. What are your impressions of Dawson Knox for this week?

And how much of a factor do you think he can be against the Patriots? Well, to be fair, my tight-ended radar does tend to hone in on mostly just Patriots. I know little bits of tight-ended radar does tend to hone in on mostly just Patriots I know little bits of tight-ended around the league so there's you know I have the few little drips and drabs of information so I went back and had a bit of a watch of Dawson because I don't specifically sort of sit and watch Bills games if I can help myself because obviously not very much of a Bills fan am I but um I had a look i kind of looked back into him and looked at his stats and i did a bit of reading up sort of thing um and he's having his best years statistically

so far drafted in 2019 as you said played with injury sort of thing so far he's put down 415 yards and seven touchdowns um which is some serious yardage and I also read that the Bills um where is it it's oh yes sorry that he has set the team record for single season touchdowns by tight end so he's obviously a very significant part of the Bills offense and sort of building up and going forward now the Bills use two tight ends on on the field very less frequently than than the majority of the of the nfl actually as as i as i researched um he's a he's a very powerful guy some of the clips that i watched his blocking wasn't quite up to my standard um there was quite a few sort of missed blocks and sort of he let his guy go kind of,

but still didn't do it to make a run kind of thing is what I watched. But he pushes through defenders and continues through them very, very well. So he's a big guy, 6'4", 254. So, you know, significantly bigger of the tight end kind of thing. So, yes, he's he's definitely a threat and I know that we're going to talk about the bills particularly a little bit later so I don't want to kind of throw all the sort of stats in regards to that so the one thing that I thought I noticed was that he's back from injury so it's sort of something to sort of keep an eye

on that being as we've mentioned with Smith it's it's a brutal position playing tight endage so any kind of weaknesses in regards to injuries always going to be something that that's of a concern and can limit the ability kind of thing so I don't think that that's really going to play into a factor as he had a good game against the Saints so yeah it's still something to to be wary of kind of watching but yeah I don't really know if that's something that's going to sort of hinder him going forward he's a big threat as you said and he's somebody that the Patriots offensive sorry defense are going to have to shut down have to pay attention but I don't want to kind of touch too much on what we're going to talk about in the bills but to me

the biggest threat for the bills is actually josh allen so my worry was more on him than than the tight end in all fairness then on knocks he's a good tight end and things like that but my concern more so touches on the quarterback which is what i know we're going to talk about in a minute anyway so so i won't go forward so but to be honest with you it's it's the bills are all around it's a good offense I don't think singling out anyone is going to be significant in that respect because there's just so many others um that you know you say one good name and then another one rolls up kind of thing so it's it's an offense in general that that's to be concerned with and it's a defense in general to be concerned with as well,

which I know we're going to touch upon in a minute. So I don't really want to keep rambling on about stuff that I know we're going to touch upon in a minute, but yeah, big, powerful, tight end, someone that we're going to have to keep our sharp eyes on. Definitely. Yeah. Without any question. And you're not rambling. So never say that. You don't want to ramble. You pontificate, Countess. You know, we try to use the king's English, for lack of a better term, or the queen's English, I should say.

But, no, I think you do make a good point that the bills are not limited to merely one offensive weapon that you have to shut down. The Patriots are arguably going to try to take away what the bills do best, and that is Stefanon Diggs. I mean, let's face it, he is probably their crown jewel of offensive weapons. But it goes beyond that. Gabe Davis is someone that can break for big yardage. We've seen him do that before. Dawson Knox obviously can do that.

Devin Singletary can run the ball. I know the Bills have had difficulties running the ball, but this is a team that has run the ball effectively against the New England Patriots in the past. So that's have to be very concerned with that. Again, we mentioned Beasley in the past. So, I mean, there's, there's a lot of different ways that this team can beat you and, you know, New England is going to have to be, you know, very, you know, they're going to have to be strong and they're going to have to be solid in their coverages and pick their coverage as well. Do they double team digs? Do they take a guy off of, you know, some of the receivers or allow a tight end or a slot receiver to be able to beat you underneath? What are you going to dare the Bills to do? You know, the Patriots love to

take away your top option, maybe try to take away your second option and say, okay, we're going to give you, we're going to take away your alpha, we're going to take away your beta, and then we're going to have you, you know, try to beat us with the rest of what you've got. And if a team can do that, they'll have success against the Patriots. If they can't, Patriots are ready to tee off on these teams. And I think it's going to be tough to tee off against Buffalo. This is a tough, tough ball coming up. And that leads me quite nicely into my final question for you today. And that is with the bills and the Patriots essentially neck and neck in the divisional race right now. I know the Patriots hold a tiebreaker and they hold the strength schedule.

They hold the top spot right now, but Buffalo has been the media choice all season long. My choice as well to be the division champions when you look at this game on Monday night uh what are your thoughts on the Bills and what do the Patriots have to do to come away with a win see I think it's really interesting because the Bills is another team that's had that inconsistency in this season I mean they got utterly spanked by the Colts excuse my language but then they kind of turned it around and really hit the Saints hard. So they've had a run of being good, then kind of inconsistent. And I mean, what, just to reel off

some of the really weird ones was they lost to the Jags 9-6. They smashed the Jets 17, no, sorry, they lost to the Jets 17-45. And they lost to the Colts 41-15. But then they take the Saints 6-31. No, they beat the Jets. What am I saying?

I don't even understand my notes anymore. Flippin' heck. But I'm sorry about that, folks. But yes, those sorts of scores, so inconsistent. And it's a little bit like the Patriots in a way, how the Patriots have had such inconsistency so far this season. Arguably, they're using a first year quarterback who's a rookie who expectations shouldn't be so large on so there's that in the win column for the Patriots

but they now seem to be doing what the Patriots need to do and it's kind of pulling it together getting themselves back to how they're supposed to be and yeah going forward going into this season sorry everybody was in on the bills I wasn't in on the bills simply out of stubbornness because I can't stand them so I was we're gonna smash the bills and that's it totally just blasé no real logic about it didn't really care anyway but I was like yeah we're gonna crush the bills and that's it if we do fabulous I'm gonna sound so smart but obviously it was all just bravado because I wanted to smash the bills but if we can catch if the Patriots can catch them on one of those random kind of lost to the Jags 9-6 games I

mean yeah that that would be epic particularly on the road now the Patriots had a very good on the road um season so far so that in itself is something like normally you might be concerned about the Patriots being on the road but that's actually been a positive of their season so far so if they can play really good on the road then you know more for it if you can beat Buffalo at Buffalo I'm in on that I'm buying t-shirts and everything for that one so but being realistic Buffalo is Buffalo is a great defence. It's number one in the NFL at the moment for horizon stuff like that. It's going to be a nightmare for Mac.

And O-line, the Patriots O-line, need to step up. They need to pull together the way that they have in some other games recently. And they need to sort of protect him. They need to stop this because yeah, it's such a good defense kind of thing. Flip side. It's such a good offense as well. You know,

they've, they've been top of this season sort of thing. I was just, I had some statistics, but I don't think I'll bore people with statistics on bills in all fairness. As we all know, their offense is really good. And I think the only real

weakness that people can see is their running game but it's not that big of a weakness and the Patriots run defense has been spotty this year it's been very good but it's also been spotty and the Titans game really showed that I mean they they were without Derek Henry but they still managed to put some run on the Patriots and that was something I wasn't expecting I wasn't really expecting any with with the um absence of Derek Henry so I found that a little bit surprising just personal opinion there so I think as much as Patriots we kind of want to be like oh well yeah we're you know six game winning streak and it's only the the Bills are a good team.

And I hate to say it because I hate them so much kind of thing. But they are. They've got a significantly good defence and a significantly good offence. I think the Patriots can beat them. But they need to bring the best version of themselves so far this season. And I don't see why they can't do that because they've been good on the road, because they've been good on the road because they've been good this season but it's just i think it's going to take a lot for the patriots to beat buffalo um on the

road but i think they are well and truly capable of doing it and i really hope that they do so that they can prove me right and we can smash the bills this season there you go folks the countess is declaring that the patriots need to smash the bills on monday night and i'll tell you you're getting a lot of applause right now from all of your fans in new england everybody can't wait for this and you're getting a lot of booze and a lot of razzing going on right now from those that are hate listening to us from buffalo right now and i know there were quite a few of them i do love my buffalo brethren out there i gotta say it they're very fair to me because i'm fair to the bills uh in my coverage and i am uh you know effusive in my praise of them sometimes because i'm very impressed by what this team can do on

both sides of the ball whether it be on offense and the number of different options that they have when i talked about their offensive options i didn't even mention emmanuel sanders who can really be a problem uh whether it be in the slot on the outside. I would look for JC Jackson to match up on him a little bit. I know a lot of people are going to go, oh, JC's got to be on digs. Go back and take a look at what Bill Belichick does. Your top corner doesn't always draw the top option. They may flank Stefan with a couple of, you know, double coverage there, or maybe a double team. So be aware of that. But you're right. Defensively, that 4-3 base defense is definitely a formidable unit.

And even with the loss of Tredavious White, a cornerback, this is still a team that can make plays happen in the secondary. Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde really, I think, are two of the top safety tandems in the league. I'd put the Patriots right up there as well. I think Kyle Duggar, Ian Phillips, and Devin McCourty are up there, but this is going to be a real chess matchup. And Teron Johnson coming in and playing for Trey Davies' fight, that's not as much of a downgrade as people are thinking, and that's no knock to Trey Davies, who I think is one of the best corners in the league, but that just shows you how well this team is equipped. So a lot of fun.

This is going to be, you know, very, very, you know, fun to nail by. Absolutely. Yeah.

There's no question about it. This is going to be a fun one to watch on Monday night. And it's always fun when the countess joins me here on lockdown Patriots each and every Wednesday. Now folks, and I, for one could not be happier to offer her the seat here. And, It's fun when the Countess joins me here on Locked On Patriots each and every Wednesday now, folks. And I, for one, could not be happier to offer her the seat here and absorb her wisdom and counsel each and every week. So, Claire, we look forward to talking football with you again next week as the Patriots head into the bye. We'll have tons to talk about.

But in the meantime, please let our listeners know where they can find you and where they can interact with the great work that you do each and every day, whether it be for Pat's Propaganda, whether it be for full press coverage, or your very own excellent listen, A Clear Perspective, the podcast. Well, thank you, Mike. Yes, as you mentioned, you will find me on patspropaganda.com. That's where I do the predominant amount of my writing because I tend to do what I do do a um game recap every week so you'll find me there each and every week with my game recap and a few bits here and there throughout the season sort of thing so that's also where you'll find my tight-ended design t-shirt so that's patspropaganda.com as you mentioned I'm also part of the full press coverage patriots team and that is what holds my eclair perspective the podcast the most

recent episode i celebrated was my 20th episode which i was really so proud of and i had the great of um around the nfl and of nfl network erica tamposi also known as ricky hollywood and it was it was such a good laugh to have it was such good fun so i please urge you to kind of go out and find that all the places that you download your podcast i think that's it oh no one more place you'll find me each and every week on one patriot's place with Murph and Steve Ballester we're obviously good friends of this show Mr Monday Mr Tuesday so yeah you can find us there we released yesterday we had the absolutely fabulous smart very very smart Evan Lazar as our guest yesterday. So that was good fun. So I do hope you guys go out and look for that wherever you download your podcast.

Absolutely. And again, folks, smash the subscribe button when it comes to Claire's podcast. A Claire Perspective consistently delivers an amazing listen, regardless of the guest that joins her. And Claire always holds her own with amazing guests in sports media, not just within the New England realm, but all over the NFL. Her show with Ricky was phenomenal. I highly recommend downloading it and listening to it. In the meantime, Claire, thank you for joining me here today.

Continue to stay safe, continue to stay well. And we look forward to doing this all again next week here on Wednesday, Locked On Patriots. Thank you so much, Mike. Thanks for having me. And thank you, everyone, for downloading and listening to get me my Wednesday regular seat. I very much appreciate it.

It is very well deserved. My honor to offer it. Just like that, Patriots fans, we are more than halfway through your work week. But fear not, because the coverage here on Locked On Patriots is just getting started. Once again, my interview with Steve Balistrieri will post here shortly, so keep a sharp eye on your Apple feed, your Spotify feed,

or wherever you get your podcasts for that great interview. And, of course, don't forget that tomorrow here on Locked On Patriots, across the entire Locked On Podcast network is Crossover Thursday. Joe Marino, host of Locked On Bills, will join me here on the hot seat. And we will break this Monday night's matchup down from a Patriots perspective and from a Bills perspective. So to be sure that you do not miss a single second of the action, download, subscribe to, and follow the Locked On Patriots podcast on platforms such as Spotify, the Odyssey app, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts.

Just make sure that you are staying locked in to Locked On Patriots. And of course, thank you for making Locked On Patriots your first listen every day. And now, make your second listen, the Locked On Bets podcast, your daily one-stop shop for all of your gambling needs. Locked on Bets is hosted by my good friend, your boy Q, with expert analysis and insight from Lee Sterling. It's free and available on all platforms. Once again, my name is Mike DeBate. I thank my good friend Claire, Klazzy Claire Cooper, for her time,

her insight, and her appearance on today's pod. But most of all, I thank you so much for listening and for continuing to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Until tomorrow, Foxborough faithful, stay safe, stay well, be the change that you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone.