Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - PATRIOTS POSTCAST: Patriots Blow Home Opener, Lose to Seattle Seahawks in OT!

Starting point is 00:00:00 I did not think we'd be saying this this early in the season, but did the Seahawks win that game or did the Patriots just lose it? This is your Locked On 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. Sports Boston on the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. And welcome in, Pats fans, to another episode of the Locked On Patriots Postcast,

Starting point is 00:00:39 part of the Locked On Podcast Network, where it is your team every day. I am your host, Cam Stewart. And that one kind of stunk. Seahawks win it 23-20 in overtime. And it did feel like the Patriots lost that one. And again, like I said in the open, I didn't think that was going to be happening anytime in this season at all. I thought the Patriots were one of the worst teams in football, that it wasn't going to be a case of them letting one slip through their fingers. But I case of them letting one slip through their fingers. But I think they let this one slip through their fingers.

Starting point is 00:01:08 If we're being totally honest, they had shut out the Seahawks for most of the second half. Seattle scores on their final, well, final real drive of the fourth quarter. They send this thing into overtime, and they win it after the Patriots failed to move the chains on their first possession after winning the toss in overtime. And to me, it came down to the last few minutes of regulation. The Patriots had this one where they wanted it, especially at about the four minute mark. And it completely fell apart from there. We're

Starting point is 00:01:46 going to talk about that more in depth in the play that changed this game later on in the, in the show, but it is, it's the blocked field goal from, from sly. And it was one where the Patriots were driving. They just had a couple of great plays in a row. And I was literally, I was texting my dad, watching the game saying, I have been so impressed through two games at how this Patriots offense has operated in the fourth quarter. I didn't think they were going to operate well in any quarter this year, let alone the fourth quarter and trying to kill off a game. And it looked like they were doing it for the second time in as many weeks, killing the game off in the final quarter with their offense.

Starting point is 00:02:25 They get it to a situation with four minutes left where they're going to kick a field goal. I mean, the way that drive was going, you really would have liked a touchdown to make it a two-score game. Instead, they settle for a field goal, and they don't even get that. And that leads to a three-point game, and Seattle's all their timeouts were left. And they marched down the field.

Starting point is 00:02:49 Patriots actually lucky to just hold them to a field goal there. Looks like you get the momentum again in overtime winning the coin toss. And instead, it becomes a funeral march right down to the end there after the Patriots have to punt the ball away. Seattle just foregone conclusion gets down there and kicks the game winning field goal to take this one Patriots fall to one and one. They got a short week. They play the jets on Thursday. I believe that's at the Meadowlands. If I'm not mistaken, Thursday night football jets only winning slim, by the way, against

Starting point is 00:03:21 Tennessee. This is not a jets podcast, but they only take it by a touchdown over the Tennessee Titans who are a bad football team um and that's the Patriots next opponent but yeah there was a lot of weird ebbs and flows in this game I thought um I thought that in the first half the Patriots defense did not look like as sharp as it had in week one against Cincinnati. Gino Smith had more passing yards in the first half than Joe Burrow had all of last week. And I think honestly, what we're coming down to in this game is the importance of the wide receiver position in the NFL. Because I thought the Patriots outplayed Seattle most of this game. But the main difference to me is the Seahawks have NFL wide receivers. The Patriots do not.

Starting point is 00:04:11 That wide receiver room, it was bad coming into this season. And even in the win in week one, we were praising a lot of things that we might have gotten wrong about this Patriots team. The wide receiver room was not one of them. Was not one of those things where we were saying, oh, well, maybe we were wrong about this Patriots team. The wide receiver room was not one of them, was not one of those things where we were saying, oh, well, maybe we were wrong about that. Maybe this is good enough. It wasn't last week.

Starting point is 00:04:32 It wasn't near good enough this week. Jalen Polk scores his first touchdown of his NFL career, does that in the first quarter. And from that point until the final minute of the fourth quarter, the Patriots did not complete a pass to a wide receiver. How are you supposed to win any games in the NFL doing that? You can't. This is a prime example.

Starting point is 00:05:01 Because you played well enough to win, but you literally cannot run an offense that doesn't have any contributions from the wide receivers. You cannot do it. And try as they might, they could not do that today. I haven't minded the play calling from Alex Van Pelt through two games. In fact, I thought it was pretty good in week one, especially like I mentioned in that fourth quarter. But it's just not creative enough,

Starting point is 00:05:32 and you just don't have the personnel to win many football games. This looks like a team that is going to be in plenty of games, but not one that's obviously going to win plenty of games. And I was a little surprised at the setback at the wide receiver position that they absolutely could not get anyone open because this is a decent enough Seattle defense. They're really known for their pass rush, which wasn't huge today, but they did blow up a couple of plays. But the difference to me is you look at Seattle,

Starting point is 00:06:02 and they have a JA Jag veteran QB. I know there's been a lot of nice things to be said about Geno Smith the last few years of making the Pro Bowl, but is he any different than Jacoby Brissett? Not really, guys, no. They're both Jag retread journeymen, NFL career backups. And Gino, the difference there is he has three legitimate wide receivers,

Starting point is 00:06:33 three pro bowl wide receivers. He's got DK Metcalf, Jackson Smith and Jigba, and one of the most underrated wide receivers of the last decade in Tyler Lockett. And usually he's got Kenneth Walker in the backfield. Charbonnet is not a bad backup. In fact, we saw him have some big games last year. But that's the difference. They have an offense that's built around having a Jag quarterback. The Patriots have an offense that's built to barely tread water with the Jag quarterback.

Starting point is 00:07:12 And both Smith and Jigba and DK Metcalf go over 100 yards receiving. And Tyler Lockett, only two catches for 15 yards, but they were two pretty big ones, I would say, right? I mean, including that one in overtime. DK goes for 10 and 129. Jackson Smith and Jigba goes for 12 and 117. They both average more than nine yards a catch on the day. Obviously, DK Metcalf has the long 56-yard touchdown in the first quarter. Christian Gonzalez, just an okay game today.

Starting point is 00:07:40 His numbers looked pretty good through three quarters. DK caught a couple on him in the fourth. And there was one play that I believe was an overtime that Gonzalez could have kept the man short of the first down, did not because he went for a shoulder hit rather than the great form tackling that the Patriots had once again today. On that Metcalf touchdown, that was not Gonzalez's fault, um, Gonzalez's fault. I thought it looked like they were supposed to be in zone coverage and he had no safety help. That's, that's the only

Starting point is 00:08:12 reason DK Metcalf gets that open because, you know, Christian Gonzalez is not just letting him blow by him like that. That was zone coverage and someone did not get the memo. And that's what led to the Seattle touchdown. But in the first half, it was Seattle going for touchdowns and the Patriots going for field goals. We'll talk a little bit about that coming up in this next segment of the Locked On Patriots Postcast. And this Patriots Postcast is brought to you by our friends over at PrizePix. It is the number one daily fantasy sports app with over 5 million active users.

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Starting point is 00:10:10 Mike debate of locked on Patriots is going to have the full breakdown tomorrow. Okay, not as emotional as I am, which is coming up just a few minutes after kick. Mike is going to give you the measured true breakdown of what went wrong for the Patriots. And this one I have said it's essentially a wide receivers game that they lose. When it's going to be a game that comes down to wide receivers, they're never going to win it. They don't have a significantly better wide receiver room than any team in the National Football League. And they got away with it last week because their defense was great. The Tee Higgins was not out there for Cincinnati as a second option.

Starting point is 00:10:44 They took away Jamar Chase. They really put a ton of pressure on Burrow. And I was thinking in the middle of this game, how bad is the Bengals offense? Because through the first half, Seattle was getting what they wanted. And really, it was in that third quarter that the tide turned. In fact, I had this play that I'm going to talk about in a minute as the turntables play of the one play we look back on and say, that's where the game changed. Because in that third quarter, Seattle was driving. They were in field goal range. They were inside the Patriots 25 yard line and they got it to a fourth and one. I think that's right. It was fourth and one. I think that's right. Um, it was fourth and one. They went for it, uh, with, I think it was,

Starting point is 00:11:30 what was the time here? 10 minutes left in the third quarter. So first drive of the second half, Seattle's up for, they're looking to keep the foot on the gas. Their win probability was at 65% on that play. And then the Patriots stuffed it got the ball back then they went three and out so it doesn't become a huge game changer at that point they were over their last five on third down they didn't capitalize on it and that woke the Patriots defense up because they only gave up six more points the end of the till the end the game, but it didn't do a lot for the Patriots offense. A couple drives later, they do score the touchdown. Ramondre Stevenson, excellent again today, I thought,

Starting point is 00:12:13 and both guys in the running game. Antonio Gibson, too. Ramondre goes for 21 carries and 81 yards. Antonio Gibson even better at 11 carries for 96 yards. Obviously a big chunk of that, almost half of that on that 45 yard run. But I thought you got a very productive day from your running backs. Once again, 185 yards on the ground, including two from Michael hasty about that. Uh, but that's the way the Patriots are going to move the ball. And I'm, I'd be remiss

Starting point is 00:12:43 if I told you guys, I was, I told you guys I've not been surprised by that. I have been surprised by that. This offensive line has held up. Viderian Lowe gets injured in overtime, which is too bad. I didn't think I'd be saying that in week two. But Viderian Lowe has been pretty solid for them through two weeks. In's, he's been good enough to like make Chooks a Cora for just quit football. So, uh, Caden Wallace goes in at left tackle and that proves to be a big move because, uh, on that third down, um, in overtime, he gets called for an illegal formation call that backs it up. It was, it was a third and one that backed them up to a third and six. And that just, that to me screamed out classic Patriots of the last

Starting point is 00:13:34 two, three seasons. That has been the classic, I mean, really post Brady at all, even the year they went to the playoffs, just stupid mistake, rookie mistake. I mean, he's a kid who's playing out of position in week two of his NFL career, and he ends up getting called for it, and it makes it a third and one to a third and six, which is not a place you can go when you don't have any wide receivers. And they tried to patch it up big time with Hunter Henry this game,

Starting point is 00:14:09 which I'll talk about in a second, but you can't patch it up like that. Five yards and a third down is huge from third and short to third and intermediate when you don't have any wide receivers. I was surprised by the penalty, though, because Caden Wallace did line up as eligible a couple of times last week in week one, but that, that becomes a game changer. Hunter Henry was absolutely the star of the passing game for the Patriots. Obviously eight receptions for 109 yards, uh, eight receptions on 12 targets. They, they tried to get him for a couple of bailout plays.

Starting point is 00:14:42 That wasn't really his fault that he didn't come up with it. So that might be a little deceptive on an 80% target to catch rate, but he was terrific. I think he only had one catch in the second half though. The Patriots really were not moving the ball through the air in that second half. The big drive for me was the touchdown drive that put him up 20 to 17 and they really kept the ball on the ground on that play. They used a lot of clock, used a lot of plays to get there, and that Ramondre Stevenson direct snap touchdown when they split Jacoby out wide, I really liked that. I liked that.

Starting point is 00:15:21 Again, I've been impressed somewhat by Alex Van Pelt's play calling. Um, I think they've been a little conservative, but Hey, it's been working. It's been working 36 points through two games. I didn't know if the Patriots were going to get to that. Okay. And they have shortened the games and they've, they've really dominated on the ground. And I've been surprised by that. I won't lie to you, but yeah, Ramond Dre, that was his big drive. He had a, he had a big run to start that and a couple of very physical runs where he's making guys miss much like the end of the game last week. The thing with the Van Pelt offense, I was thinking about this in the third quarter,

Starting point is 00:16:02 especially after you made that fourth down stop on Seattle. It's like I find myself thinking this a lot the last few years of big shot plays, a couple of sure things that could get first down yardage and really start to get you back into rhythm. Almost as if you are sniffing blood in the water here, tasting blood in the water, I guess. Um, and they don't have that right now. And it's mainly because of the receiving room, but they don't have that right now. And it's mainly because of the receiving room, but they don't have that. When you have a Jag quarterback and no receivers and barely better than Jag tight ends, you just don't have plays like that. You've seen the Patriots can sustain some offense with the run game that they have, but you can't kind of go in for the kill the way that they used to. And that's what, I mean,

Starting point is 00:17:02 obviously we're getting extreme examples there. McDaniels and Brady are two of the best ever at what they do. But that to me was like, man, this game just beckons for it right now. Just beckons for it right now. We do have a comment here about that offense, about Mac Jones sucking with the Patriots, happy that he's with the Jaguars. I actually, I'm highlighting this because I thought about this earlier in the game. When the Patriots were moving the ball and scoring in that first half, I was like, this is actually what the offense was supposed to look like in the early days of Mac Jones. And they kind of got away from it once they got outside of the McDaniels playbook. But they were hitting tight ends.

Starting point is 00:17:47 They were establishing the run. They were more or less keeping ahead of the chains. They'd go to third down a lot, but they were third and short. And, you know, I mean, Brissette was avoiding sacks. He was throwing the ball away. And I said, that's what the Mac Jones offense should have looked like. And it never really did, save for a month or two in that 2021 season where the Patriots were really rolling

Starting point is 00:18:11 and got to the number one seat at one point beginning of December. But that's what I was seeing in this game that I was like, that's what it should have been. It's better late than never, I guess, because I think there's a formula for you to win games in the NFL like this. But that team did have better receivers than this team does now. Actually, 2021, I'm talking about. They did have Kendrick Bourne.

Starting point is 00:18:32 Kobe Myers is still on the team. The Patriots just don't have a guy they can go to on third down or second down or first down that you think is going to get open. I'm not sure Taequann Thornton even dressed today. I don't think he got a target in the whole game. KJ Osborne got one target. It was an overtime. And then the other catches come from Jalen Polk. Again, one in the first quarter, one in the final minute of the fourth quarter. You just can't win like that. I thought the Patriots defense was good and physical today. Not as good as it was last week,

Starting point is 00:19:02 but they did absolutely turn it up in the second half. But it was in that second half, in that third quarter, that the play sequence that sunk the ship for the Patriots happened. It's called the turntables. We are going to have that next on your Locked On Patriots postcast. But this postcast is also brought to you by our friends at GameTime, the only place I go and buy tickets. So if you want to get out to Gillette this year, GameTime is the only place I can recommend you go out there and find your tickets for a couple

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Starting point is 00:20:32 Download GameTime today. What time is it? GameTime. Final segment, rounding things out here on the LockedOn Patriots postcast. And once again, I recommend definitely listening on the locked on Patriots postcast. And once again, I recommend definitely listening into locked on Patriots podcast with Mike debate to get more of a statistical analytical measured breakdown of this whole thing.

Starting point is 00:20:54 I'm coming on right after the game to get emotional with you guys, but the turntables is what we call this segment. And it is where the table turn within the game last week. It was where the Patriots won the game this week. It's more it is where the table turned within the game. Last week, it was where the Patriots won the game. This week, it's more or less where the Patriots lost the game. And I am looking at that third quarter with the blocked field goal. Now, I was so impressed with the Patriots special teams in week one. It's something that has not been good for this franchise.

Starting point is 00:21:20 The last few years after being so good for so long under Bill Belichick, they really lost their way there the last few years after being so good for so long under Bill Belichick. They really lost their way there the last few years. Game two, it's something of a game-losing play on special teams. Let's go back to this third quarter drive. The Patriots are starting to find their rhythm defensively. They forced a couple of three and outs after the fourth down stop. The Patriots' offense had really become stagnant at that point. They were in an 0 for 5 stretch on third down. And then they start going. And really what it is, is it's a handoff to Antonio Gibson. He slips in the backfield and he loses a couple yards. It's like, oh God, here we go. Second and 12. Then they pitch it to Antonio Gibson and there's a Seahawk right there.

Starting point is 00:22:07 He's fought off his block and he is going to knock Antonio Gibson back for a loss of four. Maybe not this year. Gibson somehow gets out of it, runs 45 yards, gets it to the Seattle 25. And I literally, I wrote in my notes, that may be the play. It was not, it was not because you're thinking, okay, the Patriots at worst are going to get a field goal here and make it a six point game. So one possession, but you make them go and score a touchdown, which would have been huge instead on like third and six, Jacoby Brissett takes a sack, which backs it up to, I think it was the 31-yard line for your rookie kicker to come out and now try a pretty tough or a significantly tougher kick. Instead of making that field goal, making it a six-point game, it gets blocked. You give Seattle

Starting point is 00:23:00 a lifeline. Instead of having to make them go and score a touchdown, you instead make it a field goal game with four minutes left. They've got all their timeouts. And to be quite frank, you're lucky that they didn't go down and score a touchdown. They got it inside, I think, the red zone. I think they got it just inside the red zone. It looks like they were going to go for it on fourth and one. They tried hard counting it twice.

Starting point is 00:23:24 And Jonathan Vilma, for some reason, was like, yeah, I don't get it. They really should be going for this year. I'm like, really? I get it. People think like, oh, they're on the road. Go for the win. But like, I don't know, man. Coaching the second NFL game.

Starting point is 00:23:39 I don't think you can afford to not take the points there and send this thing into overtime when you are the better team. I know you're on the road, but you are a better team than the Patriots. And that's where it starts. It starts with that missed field goal. That becomes the play that kind of derails the Patriots' chances of winning this game. And that was too bad. I mean, they had another chance afterwards.

Starting point is 00:24:03 And I thought the clock management was terrible from new England in this game. Um, at the end of both halves, um, because in the first half they got the ball with, I think just under two minutes left and they basically take a whole minute for one snap. They run a play and they let the clock run down. It's like 20, 25 seconds to under a minute. And then they go empty and they're throwing incomplete pass third down 55 seconds left incomplete pass. What was that? Now, now you got to give Seattle the ball again and they get the ball to start the third quarter and Seattle made them pay they get the ball at midfield with 40 seconds left all three timeouts they go down and they kick a field goal it's like what are you trying to do you looked

Starting point is 00:24:56 like you were just trying to run out the clock get into halftime when you shut it probably should have been in a two-minute drill but that's not showing a ton of confidence in your quarterback and your offense and instead you did the worst of both worlds. You went in between, you gave them plenty of time. They come down, they kick a field goal and lo and behold, you lose the game by three points. You mismanaged the clock at the end of the fourth quarter. And thankfully it did not come back to bite you, but you go a quick three and out instead of thinking, oh man, I'm going to cut my losses here and run the clock down for overtime. Instead,

Starting point is 00:25:27 you end up having to punt the ball again, which like the last thing you want to do in that situation is throw a pick, I guess. But the second to last thing you want to do is give them the ball again. And their first play failed like 25 seconds left. So they ended up running it into overtime, but it's, that was

Starting point is 00:25:45 piss poor clock management at the end of both halves for the Patriots. And those are, those are the things they can't afford to have. Those are the things that have led to some terrible results. The last two years, you've got a young team that is still trying to figure out how things are done in the NFL, but that's on the coaching staff and your veteran quarterback for not having a plan out there and leaving time on the clock for these guys at the end of both halves. I thought the Patriots have played very clean through two weeks. They have not had debilitating penalties. They had their first bad one today and overtime with Caden Wallace going from a third and one to a third and six, but for the most part, they have not made the dumb mistakes that they have the last two years. They didn't jump off sides on two hard counts that would have given Seattle first towns. I

Starting point is 00:26:33 think they would have done that last year. I do, but it's these it's, it's losing games in the margins. And is that, and that's what the Patriots did in this game. They lost the game in the margins. And that is much better than I think a lot of us expected going into the season. We thought they were going to just get pummeled every game, myself included. I didn't think there were going to be many times I'd be saying, wow, they really only lost this game in the margins, but they did. I asked myself why I'm so pissed off at the end of this game. Um,

Starting point is 00:27:06 because I felt, I thought going into the season, the Patriots would like two games and I was pissed off because I thought they threw this one away, but I still do take solace in the way they played today. They are clearly, clearly handicapped offensively. And it's not going to get much better until you start getting some NFL wide receivers. So I will start the Jamar Chase to New England propaganda campaign starting tomorrow on the Cam Show on Rogue Media Sports Network.

Starting point is 00:27:36 Check that out. We'll have a full breakdown as well. After you listen to Mike debate, come on and talk to me about that. But yeah, I felt pissed off because I thought they threw this game away, but they're not as boneheaded as they have been the last two years. The talent is not there yet, but they're not as boneheaded, which does make me think that Drake May can come in here and be the starter sooner rather than later, and that he can have a competent football team around him. His wide receivers might not be able to get open, but it looks like his offensive line can block

Starting point is 00:28:11 and they are not making stupid boneheaded plays. And by the way, Brissette was okay today. Brissette was what he was. I mean, 150 yards passing, right? Touchdown pass, Jalen Polk. He was what he was. But the Patriots lost this game in the margins. And that's how I'm going to end this postcast today. Thank you guys so much for tuning in

Starting point is 00:28:30 live and getting in the comment section. And for those of you listening afterwards, definitely get involved in the comment section as well. Let me know what you thought about this Patriots game today, whether the Seahawks won it or the Patriots lost it and where the Patriots did lose this game. What aspect of the game was just not good enough? Can they correct that going forward? Can they correct that in a short week as they go on to take the New York to take on? There we go. The New York Jets on Thursday night football.

Starting point is 00:28:56 And we get to hear Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit absolutely hate each other for a couple hours. And then after that, you can tune right in here on YouTube live. And then afterwards, wherever you get your podcast for the Locked On Patriots Postcast with me, Cam Stewart, I will see you then after Patriots Jets on Thursday. Thank you so much for making it your first listen today and every day and every game day for Locked On Patriots Postcast and, and the Locked On Podcast Network. We'll see you Thursday night.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - PATRIOTS POSTCAST: Patriots Blow Home Opener, Lose to Seattle Seahawks in OT!

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