Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - PATRIOTS POSTCAST: Drake Maye INJURED in Loss to Chargers, Is It Time to Shut Him Down?

Episode Date: December 28, 2024

The Patriots dropped their record to 3-13 with a lopsided loss to the Chargers in Foxboro. The story of the game was the injuries, with Drake Maye getting hit in the head in the first quarter but returning in the second, while Christian Gonzalez was knocked out of the game with a head injury. With one game left, should the Patriots just shut down Gonzalez and Maye and lock in the no. 2 overall pick? Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! PrizePicks Download the app and use code lockedonnfl to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game. Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuel You can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

There have been all kinds of rumors about the Patriots needing to make a drastic move this offseason. But does that drastic move need to start this week? This is the Locked On Sports Boston Patriots Postcast. You are a Locked On Patriots Postcast. Part of Locked On Sports Boston. On the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. Welcome to the Patriots Postcast here through the Locked On Sports Boston YouTube channel.

I'm your host Cam Stewart. It's not brought to you by anybody today, but it's part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, where it's your team every day. The Patriots dropped this one 40-7 to the LA Chargers, who, yeah, I am. I am getting around to calling the Los Angeles Chargers. The San Diego's slowly rotted away from my vernacular. And we're going to go over what, obviously, what went wrong in this game today. There's almost too much to account for. But are the Patriots going to need to start making some drastic moves, Obviously, what went wrong in this game today? There's almost too much to account for.

But are the Patriots going to need to start making some drastic moves, including shutting down some players as early as this week with one game remaining? The just crucial, embarrassing part of this, other than the 40-7 scoreline, was the guy who kept doing a bunch of damage on the other side for LA and how he could have been a Patriot. And let's look at Drake May's performance in this one. How much did he have to contribute to this? And how much of it is the whole big picture? All that and more coming up on this postcast.

40-7 the final. The Chargers take out the Patriots. But for a free play, throw up a prayer, the Patriots don't score at all in this game. And they probably didn't deserve to score in this game the way they played throughout the whole game. And there was one of the touchdowns that I think puts LA up 27 to 7, I want to say. The announcer from NFL Network says, and this crowd in Foxborough is stunned. I just thought, no, they're not. Don't insult the intelligence of these people.

They might have been stupid enough to go out there a couple days after Christmas in 40-degree weather in the rain and spent money to park and spent money on and spent money to park and spent money on beers and food to go and watch this team. But they're not stupid enough to be stunned by this. They suck. And once again, this game was just another reminder of, of how much different this team is in the Boston sports landscape than it even just a few years ago even post Brady and obviously the Patriots are still a humongous engine in this town don't get me wrong um but like I had I had family Christmas today I met my parents basement in Rockland Massachusetts right now like we we just it was kind of on in the background.

I would have rather just had the family Christmas, see my nephews. You know, I don't, it's like you're just taking three hours of your day to watch this versus it was the best three hours of your week for so long and for so much of my lifetime. That is obviously falling flat big time. The Patriots have one more chance, not only to win a game this year, but to win a game at home

because they've only won two home games the last two seasons. Did the math on that today. It's just, it's an embarrassment. And I thought Ross Tucker actually brought up a good point, speaking of the broadcast, because he says in that game, he's like, you know, the thing that, it's not just that the Patriots suck. He obviously didn't say that. This is my words. It's not just that the Patriots suck, but it's that there's no improvement. And this is my argument for why you probably should fire the head coach,

is that there's no improvement. Like at any point in this season, you have had the most important position on the football field figured out for 10, 11 weeks now, and nothing else has gotten any better. So you look at these last two games, they have a pretty damn good performance against Buffalo last week. Had every chance to win that game. Buffalo's a better team. They've got the MVP, so you don't. But then this week, it's one of the worst performances of the season. You know, after you, I think it was right after you beat the Jets, you lost to Jacksonville. And it's like, it's just been that all season long.

Like there's zero improvement. There's no two game stretch where you say, boy, the Patriots don't look like a team that's picking in the top three. And that's why they're going to be picking in the top three, in the top two, most likely, as they're locked in at number two right now with one week to play.

But obviously the big story of this game was Drake May going out in the first quarter and having, was it one series or two series? It could have been two series with how quickly they punt the football. That Jacoby Brissett was in there in the first half. He obviously gets some mop-up duty at the end of the game as well. But Drake May takes another hit to the head. It's very similar to the, the, the hit

that knocks him out of that game against the, and I just had this thought of like, do you just shut him down? I know shutting him down is a big term for one more game, but I wouldn't have been surprised if they did it last week. You know, I, I'm not like saying, Hey, like let's bang this drum. Let's shut Drake May down, but he's taken a couple of, a couple of hits to the head this year. Okay. You know, one where he did not come back in the game and one where he was clear, but did go through all of the protocol and whatever. And you see how many other hits he's going to take in the game. This is where it's a fine line, you know, because a lot of people were

saying in terms of when he was going to go in and start this season of like, Hey, don't he's, he's going to take too many hits. And I was one of those people that were saying, well, you know, what's the NFL kid's going to take hits. If he's not ready, he's not ready, but don't make it because he's going to have to take hits to contact sport. But after you get two significant hits to the head throughout the year, I know every rep is valuable for this kid, obviously, but I don't want to jeopardize other parts of his career for him taking hits to the head in a game that ends 40 to seven or, you know, a meet completely meaningless game next week for both teams, you know, against Buffalo. I don't want that to, to ruin some of the progress that he's made throughout this, this whole season. And I know

live reps are always helpful, but it be that an at-what-cost kind of deal. And to me, if there's any question on whether he should have gone back into that game today, then he shouldn't be playing next week because there's just no use for it. And now you've got to wonder the same thing about Christian Gonzalez because as Drake May your only good offensive player comes back into the game after a hit to the head Christian Gonzalez your only good defensive player does not come back after a hit to the head if he's got any kind of concussion symptoms or anything do not play him next week again I know we only focus on that with quarterbacks mainly,

but it's any position on the field. If it's going to stunt their growth, this is not worth it. It's not worth it. Plenty of the players out there show you in different ways that they don't feel like it's worth it with their effort, but these guys are no excuses. The only ones that are performing for you on a consistent basis. It, I think it's worth the question of should they even play next week? Cause it means nothing. It means nothing to you. It means nothing to Buffalo.

If there's any hint of, he's kind of fuzzy up there, it's not worth it. And I mean, it leads to a poor performance today from everyone. And it wasn't the best Drake May performance either. And it comes down to a couple of big mistakes, which we'll get into later on in the show.

But it was just another of these. The Patriots just did not stand a chance in this game. And one of the reasons why they didn't stand a chance in this game was a guy on the other side that was carving him up who should 1000% have been a New England Patriot. Let's go over that next on the Locked On Sports Boston Patriots postcast. But first, a word from our sponsor, Rocket Money. Let me ask you this. Did Rocket Money help you find any subscriptions you forgot about

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Again, all of these subscriptions that I have after cable, uh, cutting the cable cord, they keep them all in one place and I can set my goals for next year. So cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to rocketmoney.com slash locked on today. Once again, rocketmoney.com slash locked on rocketmoney.com slash locked on. Patriots lose 47 to the Chargers. A reminder, Mike debate is going to keep you up to date all week long with the Patriots. And more importantly, after that game against Buffalo, Mike DeBate is going to get right into

the draft and free agency. So keep up with him every weekday on Locked On Patriots. He is going to get you ready for exactly how the Patriots are going to improve next year. One of the ways they could have made their team better this year was drafting one of the two top receivers that was available at the beginning of the second round in last year's draft. Problem is they picked the wrong one. They picked Jalen Polk. They do this trade that puts Ladd McConkie in a Rams uniform because they want to pick Jalen Polk. They do this trade, um, that puts Ladd McConkie in a Rams uniform because they want to pick J one Polk and they get a pick later in the draft that becomes Javon Baker. Okay. Those two guys, the same position, they now have combined less touchdowns at Gillette stadium this year

than Ladd McConkie and it's their home frig stadium. Ladd-McConkie is out here setting records, okay? I mean, he's got the Chargers rookie reception record. He carved the Patriots to ribbons today, and he was the leading receiver for the game. Eight receptions, 94 yards, two touchdowns. Eight receptions on 10 targets. That's almost Jalen Polk's catch total for the year. He came into this game with 69 receptions and 960 yards. He obviously goes over a thousand yards for the season, adds two more touchdowns. And where was Jalen Polk? Did you see Jalen Polk today? One target, no catches. Who could have saw that coming? So on the other side, this guy's got 70-plus catches, over 1,000 yards, seven touchdowns.

Jalen Polk is sitting here with 12 receptions for 87 yards and two touchdowns. That's a pretty solid game. That's his whole season. Ladd McConkie is putting up as many touchdowns in this game against the Patriots as Jalen Polk has scored for them all year long. 12 receptions on what? 32 targets? 30 targets? What a joke, man. This is what I mean when I'm saying like you have the quarterback, you need to build everything else around it, and I don't trust the people in place.

This is what I'm talking about. You could say, oh, it was always a rebuilding year. It was always supposed to be that. Of course. There was no scenario where they were going to be a good football team this year. It was going to take a 2001 Patriots storyline to even be a good football team. But there are plenty of things you can point to in this awful season and say, it shouldn't be that bad. And it's not like that Jalen Polk was just

the slam dunk. You've got to take this kid lab. McConkie never heard of him. I mean, we're not talking about whatever Chad Pennington versus Tom Brady in the, in the 2000 draft. That's not what we're discussing. These guys were pretty similar in their college careers, pretty similar in their measurables, and Ladd McConkie is just blowing Jalen Polk away. It's got to make you wonder about the talent evaluation on this team because they haven't been able to do it at the college level, and they haven't been able to do it at the pro level in free agency. They didn't do it this year. Everyone

but Drake May from the draft and free agency, everyone but Drake May was a waste. Every single one of them. Antonio Gibson, fine. I'll give you that. Nice player. Almost got Drake May killed today by not even trying to chip Khalil Mack on a play that, of course, Cole Strange snapped the ball early. Another draft pick of the last few years, albeit a Belichick draft pick. That's completely useless. I mean, I know I say it every week, but it is just amazing how much one player can make a difference in a team. Drake Mays sometimes makes the Patriots look competent, but it's, I just don't know how you instill confidence in your fan base and your organization and your locker room by rolling with this, this group again. And by this group, I mean Gerard Mayo, Alex Van Pelt,

Marcus Covington, and Elliott Wolfe. I don't know how that instills any kind of confidence. And I can see it in the comments here. Nobody is losing sleep if they fire Mayo. Nobody's saying, oh boy, they just didn't give him enough time. Nobody's saying that. This is the NFL these days. I think some franchises are not patient enough. I do. But when I'm looking at three things at the end of a season for a bad team, Gerard Mayo cannot say that any of them he did well. And what I mean by that, let's go to these three things. Okay, the Patriots are going to win three games this year. So for me of an owner of a team, I'm evaluating looking at,

okay, did you get better throughout the season? No. Do you have a clear direction for the franchise going forward? No. Is there anything that you do well that you can build on? No. None of those things.

You don't have a young core. You have two good young players. You are so far off from being competitive. They talked about the turnaround the Chargers had this year with Jim Harbaugh, and it's been nice. I mean, they, they were not a good team last year, but they had good young players, you know, and they had some good veterans in there. A guy like Khalil Mack is mixed in there. And you look at their top two draft picks, Joe Alt and Ladd McConkie. That's a, that's a franchise that knows how to build a team.

And they have a dynamite head coach. A head coach, by the way, that the Patriots didn't even think to interview. Didn't even throw a bone to him. That's where this all starts. Is the fact that you ran the best coach in the history of the league out the door and did not think to interview anybody else, that you made the Patriots an entry-level position, the head coach of the New England Patriots,

an entry-level position. And you know what you get when that's the case? You get this 40-7 where you are just blown away in every statistical category. 29-11 in first downs. They had 30 more total plays than you. 30 more plays than you. Like, are you kidding, man? You didn't even crack 200 total yards.

Chargers go for 430 almost six yards of play uh 85 yards passing for the patriots on the day allegedly um that i just it's you just you were dominated in every statistical category two to one in time of possession i'm not gonna win anything doing that. This is what you get. You didn't turn them over. You turned it over once. They had 18 more first downs than you, 29 more plays than you.

And how, I mean, what? 250 more total yards? But sure, run it back. I'm sure you have plenty of confidence in Gerard Mayo. He knows how to talk to the players, I'm sure. Of course, he's throwing them under the bus in the press conferences. He's probably doing it right now as we speak. Look, again, I ask this all the time, so I don't want to sound like a broken record,

but how do the crafts just sit up there and just say, yep, we know where this team's going. Because I feel for Drake May, you've got the lottery ticket right here. You've got the lottery ticket, but you've got to go through a couple of steps in order to cash it. And they don't know. It would be like if you won the lottery, you had to go somewhere to cash the money, and you don't even know how to drive. You don't even know what the car is. You have no shot of getting there.

That's what the Patriots feel like right now. But they did have a quarter where they held the Chargers to single digits. One quarter. And again, let me remind you, the seven points the Patriots put up today, again, purely me remind you, the seven points the Patriots put up today, again, purely Drake May. I mean, a nice catch by Pop Douglas, but free play, Drake May knows it. He's about to get sandwiched even on a free play

and just chucks it down there. Just throws up a prayer, puts it in a good spot, but just hurls it. And it's a touchdown. That was the only shot you had today. The only shot was the Chargers messing up. It's just an embarrassing, embarrassing team to watch. Without even, don't even need to get into specifics, man.

But I'm going to tell you the scenario that I am deathly afraid of next week with the Patriots because, trust me, even though it feels like there's nothing to play for, there is something the Patriots can do next week that can really mess up their entire season and mess up their franchise going forward. That's coming up next on the Locked On Sports Boston Patriots postcast.

But this postcast is also brought to you by our friends over at Game Time. Look, it was dirt cheap to get to Foxborough today. It certainly will be that way next week if you want to send these Patriots out of the 2024 season in style or maybe you want to pull them. That's fine. You can go and do that. It'll be cheap

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It's GameTime. Patriots drop a nail-biter in Foxborough. Only a 33-point game. My girlfriend was saying at the two-minute warning, there's no feasible way, and I said, well, let's wait a minute here. Let's see what the Patriots had up their sleeve. They didn't. They didn't have anything.

They lost 47 at home. And a reminder that you'll get a much more measured breakdown of this game by Mike DeBate, who will get you ready all week long for the Buffalo game and then have your guide to the off season unlocked on Patriots. But I'll tell you what, they go into the game next week against Buffalo, meaningless, right?

For both teams, Buffalo's clinched the division. They're going to have the number two seed. The Patriots are obviously not making the playoffs, but there's one thing they can do next week against Buffalo that will really put this season and this season on a sour note and would really mess things up for the future potentially. And that sin would be winning because I'll tell you, my dad told me this during the game

and I can't agree more. Our greatest fear for this game next week is that Buffalo, having sealed everything up, is not going to play anybody. Josh Allen not going to play, maybe one drive. The way we used to see the Patriots do it in week 17, now week 18, and the Patriots certainly don't have that luxury. But I have a huge concern that the Bills are going to not play some of their best players and that the Patriots will mess around and win the game. They played them tough last week, even with the starting bills out there. Who knows if they put out some of the reserves specifically at quarterback, I don't even know who their backup quarterback is still Trubisky

might still be Trubisky. Then that would be, that would suck if the Patriots went out and won the game and potentially messed up this draft order. But right now at number two, even at number three, you're going to have Travis Hunter there in your lap. I would love Travis Hunter. I would like to know what you guys think down in the comments below, but I would love Travis Hunter. And I will say one other thing that I kept thinking about during the game and I talked about in the first segment that maybe you just don't play Drake May next week what I couldn't

understand during the game and I know we've had someone in the comments say it is why why when Drake May is going out is Jacoby Brissett going in? Why? Jacoby Brissett has nothing for your future. Why is Joe Milton still inactive? Why is he not your backup quarterback and Jacoby Brissett is the emergency guy? What benefit does it have when Drake May does get hurt in the first half and you're putting

Jacoby Brissett out there? Like Joe Milton is obviously very raw. He's not ready to be a starting quarterback in this league, but you have nothing to play for. You're playing to lose. And he was exciting in the, in the preseason. He clearly showed you could do something, give you some element. Like, why not just play him? Why is Jacoby Brissett going in there? That's the worst of all of this. That is worse than coal in your stocking on Christmas,

that Drake May goes out of a game and Jacoby Brissett goes in? Like, for what purpose? Why isn't it Joe Milton out there? And by the way, Drake May, who I think has been excellent and almost flawless this season, does not have the best game of his career in this game against the Chargers. You could argue it was the worst game of his career

because usually he plays pretty well. 12-22 for 117 and a touchdown. A fumble lost as well. That was that weird play where they tried to get cute. I don't know exactly whose fault it is because it looks like a timing play, but when the quarterback's pitching it out and the back can't even get a hand on it, I think it was actually Douglas coming across the formation. If he can't even get a hand on it, that's probably on the quarterback.

That's a mistake. Going four and fourth down at the 30-yard line in the second half and getting sacked inside your own 25, that's a mistake going forward and fourth down at the 30 yard line in the second half and getting sacked inside your own 25. That's a mistake. Throw that ball away. So there, there were some definite mistakes by Drake May in this game. Is he the reason they lost the game? Of course not. They lost 47. I don't think he was the reason. Um, but he didn't look all that sharp after the hit to the head. Of course he does throw the touchdown, which again was, was more or less a prayer. He had one or two nice throws, but he missed more guys than we've seen, uh, this year, or at least the last month and a half,

um, did not look that sharp after, after the hit to the head. So look, if he's not 100%, start Joe Milton next week. Who cares? Like, who cares? Don't put this kid in harm's way anymore with head injury. You know, that's a tough one. And don't put Jacoby Brissett out there. For the love of God. Like, the product you're putting out there is already shit enough.

Sorry, already bad enough for us to watch every week. Don't put Jacoby Brissett out there. Give us some kind of excitement. Let Joe Milton run around for 30 yards and gain 10. That's better than watching whatever the hell Jacoby Brissett's going to do. Anyway, let me know what you think down in the comments below of this Patriots game and what needs to change for this team going forward. How many things need to change, I guess.

Would you shut down Drake May? Would you just not play him next week? Would you not play Christian Gonzalez next week? Let me know down in the comments below on YouTube or tweet at me at RealCamStewart if you're listening. You can find us wherever you get your podcasts as well, but we're live on YouTube after every game, which we've got one more, folks.

One more! And we'll, of course, be talking offseason plenty in that postcast next week. It's after Patriots-Bills next Sunday. We will see you in 2025. Golly. Feels weird. But we'll see you after game number 17 in 2025 here on the Locked On Sports Boston Patriots Postcast.