Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Prognosis Negative? - Pats Pass the Health Test; Game On vs. Chiefs - 10/5/2020

Episode Date: October 5, 2020

Game On! After a weekend of uncertainly and health concerns, the New England Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs are set to square off on a special edition of Monday Night Football. Joining host Mike D’Abate to preview this AFC matchup is Ian Glendon of Full Press Coverage. The duo discuss the NFL’s risky decision to proceed with playing this game, the Pats choice of Brian Hoyer over Jarrett Stidham, and how the Pats might contain Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get $10 off your first order.MyBookieINVEST IN YOUR INTUITION. USE PROMO CODE LOCKEDON AND DOUBLE YOUR FIRST DEPOSIT. NEW PLAYERS GET UP TO $1,000 IN FREE PLAY - DESIGNED TO ADD MORE EXCITEMENT TO THE SPORTS YOU LOVE AND THE GAMES YOU BET. YOUR WINNING SEASON BEGINS TODAY...ONLY AT MYBOOKIE!NFL Game PassThis season, get football on your time with NFL Game Pass. See all the action from every game with full game replays.Go to nfl.com/gamepass to start your free trial today.  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, and it is Monday, October 5th, game day for your New England Patriots. Today's episode of Locked On Patriots is presented by Visa. Help support your local businesses, whether they're your corner stores, coffee spots, or favorite shops. Local businesses have always been on your team, supporting you and your community.

But right now, more than ever, local businesses need our support. So let's be there for them. The next time you go shopping, make the choice to shop at local businesses and look for the contactless symbol and tap to pay with a contactless visa to help support your community because where and how you shop matters. Visa, everywhere you want to be, official partner of the NFL. Greetings and salutations, Patriots Nation. I hope that all of you listening today had a safe and healthy weekend.

It was certainly an interesting one for your New England Patriots, and I will get to that in just a moment. My name is Mike DeBate, your host of the Locked England Patriots, and I will get to that in just a moment. My name is Mike DeBate, 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, that phrase, your team every day, means that your questions, comments, and feedback are always welcomed, strongly encouraged.

Feel free to share that feedback anytime by reaching out to me and following me on Twitter at M-D-A-B-A-T-E-F-P-C. And while you're out there doing some game day gandering at the Twitterverse, please be sure to follow the Lockdown Patriots account as well at L-O underscore Patriots. Pats Nation, as Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar would say, game on! And while I'll leave it to you as to whether or not the NFL is flexing a little irresponsible and maybe even an arrogant muscle by playing this game tonight between the New

England Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs, it was confirmed this morning by ESPN's Field Yates and Adam Schefter that the Patriots had in fact returned all negative point-of-care rapid result testing for COVID-19 as a first thing this morning. That means the Patriots were immediately en route to the airport to head to their matchup in Kansas City with the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs. According to Albert Breer of MMQB, the Patriots planes are scheduled to land at MCI, the Kansas City airport, at around 11 a.m. Central Time, 12 noon Eastern. They will then face a 35-40 minute ride from the airport to Arrowhead Stadium, where the Patriots are scheduled for a 6 p.m. Central Time kickoff,

7 p.m. here on the East Coast. In short, folks, this is going to be a long day for the New England Patriots. And as I previously stated, I'll leave it to you to determine whether or not this was A. Necessary B. Wise or C. A pretty big risk being taken by the NFL in this circumstance Unlike my cinematic paisan Vincent LaGuardia Gambini I'm not going with option B I'm going with option C here

I think this is a pretty big risk by the NFL To be honest I'm a little surprised that a league who claims to have the best interest of their players at heart when it comes to their health, welfare, and safety is allowing two teams who could theoretically still be at risk for transmitting COVID-19 to play a game in this fashion. Save for the fact that they're asking the Patriots to travel on game day, which is generally not done in the NFL,

and you have, again, a very risky proposition. I hope the NFL knows what they're doing. It's my sincere hope that everything works out well when it comes to player health and safety. But when it comes to the discretion of the NFL League office, I have my doubts. But unfortunately, neither my opinion nor the opinion of any of you will change the fact that the Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs

will square off at Arrowhead Stadium, 7 p.m. Eastern Time, brought to you on CBS. So be sure to check your local listings and affiliates for viewing information as Patrick Mahomes and that high-flying Kansas City offense take on Bill Belichick, Brian Hoyer, and your New England Patriots. That's right, folks. If you listen to Saturday's special edition of Locked On Patriots, it looked to be trending in the direction that if, fact the Patriots played this game this week, it

would be Brian Hoyer and not Jarrett Stidham making the start. That looks to be a foregone conclusion at this point. And I actually believe this is the right move for the New England Patriots. And you know what? I don't think I'm alone in that assessment. I also don't believe I'm alone in my assessment of the NFL's decision to play this game tonight. So on this preview Monday episode of Locked on Patriots, who better to welcome in than someone of whom it's been said I might share half of the same brain? That's right, folks. The editor-in-chief of Full Press Coverage, my co-host of FPC Radio Live, and of course my

best good friend Ian Glendon joins me here today. And Ian and I will provide our opinions on the NFL's choice to move forward with this Week 4 matchup, as well as our opinions as to why Brian Hoyer is the smarter choice to go with tonight than Jarrett Stidham. And last but certainly not least, we'll talk about game strategy on the field, what this Patriots offense might do to put points on the board without Cam Newton. Most importantly, we'll talk about what the Patriots defense might have to do to contain Patrick Mahomes. And Ian will offer some very interesting takes on why the Patriots might be better equipped than most teams to be able to do just that. It's always a blast being joined on the microphone by my good buddy, so sit tight folks.

Settle in and enjoy as Ian Glendon of Full Press Coverage and I get you ready for kickoff on this pseudo Monday night matchup between your New England Patriots and the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. But before welcoming Ian into the hot seat today, a couple of news and notes with regard to the health of your New England Patriots. First, folks, an update on Cam Newton, who obviously we all know by now has tested positive for COVID-19. But what's next for the Patriots quarterback? Well, after being placed on the COVID-IR list

on Saturday, it was determined at that point that he could be out from anywhere between 5 and 10 days, depending on whether or not he showed symptoms or if he was asymptomatic. By all accounts, Cam continues to be asymptomatic, which is good news for the Patriots. That means that as of the information available to me as I'm recording this podcast on Monday morning, he would be able to return after five days, but he must receive two straight negative tests at least 24 hours apart. If for any reason in the interim Cam starts to show symptoms, or if either of these tests do not come back negative, then it would be a minimum of 10 days. His return would need to be approved by the Patriots physician after consulting with ICS and NFL's chief medical officer. That would mean there was a chance

that he may have to miss next Sunday's game at home against the Broncos. Right now, the fact that he's asymptomatic is good news for Cam, good news for the Patriots, but I caution all of you to know that Cam is not out of the woods yet and this situation could change. So once again, I will have my sharp eye on the situation and as we get more information on Cam's status, I will keep you updated right here on Locked On Patriots. But Cam Newton is not the only high-profile New England Patriot

that will be out of action tonight. Shortly after word broke that the New England Patriots would in fact be departing for Kansas City for tonight's game, it was reported that they would be doing so without the services of running back Sonny Michel. And again, folks, this is not great news for the Patriots. I can't say it was totally unexpected. Sonny had been limited in practice all last week.

According to Friday's injury report, he was listed as questionable for this game with a quad injury. And once word came down that the Patriots would be traveling to play this game on game day, as Dr. Jessica Flynn pointed out, this was almost a no-brainer. You can't expect a running back with a quad injury to sit on a bus for an hour, a plane for three and a half hours, back in a bus for 35 to 40 minutes, and then expect him to play a football game that night, knowing he's going to have to repeat the same process in reverse. It just doesn't work. Yet another reason why I believe

the NFL is irresponsible in playing tonight's game. But I digress, folks. On the field, the Patriots are going to be missing Sony's production. He had one of the most productive regular season games of his career against the Las Vegas Raiders, was starting to show a lot of the confidence, poise, and prowess that we needed him to show to be an effective member of this running back core. Of course, in Sony's absence, that means an increased presence for guys like Rex Burkhead, J.J. Taylor. I believe you're going to see a lot of James White tonight, both catching the ball out of the backfield and carrying the ball as well.

I said here on Friday, James has a much better ball carrier than he gets credit for, and I think you'll see that in action. It also means, and again folks, this is not confirmed because we don't know if he's officially been activated yet, that we may see the debut of Damian Harris playing a significant role in this Patriots offense. Harris had a great training camp, by all accounts looked to be equally adept at being able to carry the rock and catch it out of the backfield. So definitely something to keep an eye on tonight, especially with Brian Hoyer taking snaps under center. But will that one be enough to keep this a close competition? Obviously, without Cam Newton in the lineup, most people seem to think that this one is going to be a Kansas City romp. But my guest today believes that the Patriots not only

can give Kansas City a game, but might be able to slow down the immortal Patrick Mahomes. This point and more as Ian Glendon of Full Press Coverage joins me here on the hot seat when the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. But first, I don't know about you sports fans, but breaks in the action always make me hungry. I'm Mike DeBate, host of the Locked On Patriots podcast. And folks, if there's one phrase that we've heard a lot of during 2020, it's quote unquote

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to square off on a special edition of Monday Night Football. And my guest today is a great friend to LockedOn Patriots, but a much better friend and colleague to me. He continues to tirelessly fight the good fight for logic when it comes to all things related to Tom Brady and the connection he will always have to New England. And although this man is the latest and possibly greatest member of the Bucks beat, New England is still in his veins. He is the editor-in-chief of Full Press Coverage,

the host of a plethora of shows on Full Press Radio. He is my esteemed colleague and my best good friend. Ian Glendon joins us today. Ian, hello. La, la, la. You know, I always enjoy that you use a significant portion of our time for my introduction, and it really inflates my ego to the point where I'm ready to roll for Monday Night Football. Of course.

Of course. It's all from the heart. It's all dictated by, you know, years of knowing you and years of being able to elaborate your talents. No, I'm just kidding, folks. And the form that I feed you before the show that tells you what to say about me. So it kind of works out well. That always helps. That's always, always a help, and I appreciate that.

And by the way, the return check for that will be in the mail. Okay. Ian, obviously, we are playing a game tonight on Monday Night Football. I guess you could call it Monday Night Football. It's still going to be broadcast on CBS. But we found out this morning that the Patriots COVID-19 tests from Sunday all came back negative. And at that moment, we knew this game was happening. And I understand no one's going to feel bad for the Patriots here.

But I think it's a lot to ask them to cram on a plane. And I know, folks, there's two separate planes, but there's still a risk of transmission. There are still people that might have been exposed to COVID. Symptoms may not be forthcoming, and we may not even see a positive test until tomorrow. So that in itself concerns me, but you're also doing this on the day of a game. They're not going to be playing with this starting quarterback against the defending champions. I don't care, but that's a lot to ask for an NFL franchise, to say the least. First, Bud, what was your reaction to hearing that this game would be played first off?

And what is your confidence level that all of this works out well, meaning health-wise for both teams? Well, when I first heard this, we've you know, we've talked about this already. It just it's irresponsible from the NFL standpoint. It just it further proves to me that their priority isn't player safety and player health as, you know, as they state it is. It's all about the game and it's all about, you know, making sure that, you know, their business as usual, because it's the NFL and they're, you know, invincible to the virus. No, and it's silly because I feel like there's the obstacles and the hoops in which they're trying to jump through to get this game played. Putting both teams at a disadvantage,

I think the Patriots obviously have their disadvantages in this game. You know, Kansas City now has to play three games in 10 days. Two things that again, really speak to the player safety, quote unquote, and I'm going to be very sarcastic there because if, if the priority was clearly player safety, they would not be trying to play this game and they wouldn't be trying to force Kansas city to play three games in 10 days. Excuse me. So like, again, to me, it's just, it's not surprising because if you've been paying attention to the NFL, this has been their MO for forever. I mean,

they say all the right things sometimes. But when it comes to actions, this is clearly an action that says, well, we prioritize the game being played versus player safety, because it's great to hear that no negatives came back today, but we all know that, you know, incubation, the incubation period for this can vary between players and people. And given that all this happened within just a couple of days, it just seems very irresponsible on the NFL's part to push this game through when they could, and I say easily relative to the situation, they could easily pause the season for a week when things like this happen and just push everything back or just simply reschedule the game like they did with the Steelers and Titans game.

So again, I feel like this is a situation where they just want this game played. If it were Patrick Mahomes, I believe 100% this game would have been rescheduled. There's no way that they would have continued to push this game through as quickly as they did. To me, again, I think this is unfortunately for the Patriots, not a great situation when you consider you're not going to have your starting quarterback, but I think the bigger picture is that this just speaks more to how the NFL views its business. And it is a business. It's not necessarily about the health and safety of the players.

It's about playing these games and doing things the way they want to do it. Because, you know, virus be damned, you know, the NFL season is going to go on as planned and we're not going to push it back, even though that's probably the smart thing to do and something very reasonable and probably very beneficial for a lot of the players in more than one way. Yeah, I'm hard pressed to say that I disagree with you. I agree with you on most of these counts, especially when you use the word irresponsible. Dare I say, I may even add in the word arrogant on behalf of the NFL to think that they will be able to contain this, to think that they will be able to make sure that this does not

go off without a hitch, that this is a one-off, that there won't be other players subsequently down the line that could possibly test positive for COVID. You have players out there tonight that might be carrying, that might test positive tomorrow, that didn't test positive today, that all of a sudden are potentially spreading a virus. So it's difficult. I mean, I understand there are a lot at stake. There are other factors that go into these decisions. But if you're talking about a league that is predicated on the premise of defending

and keeping the safety and the overall well-being of your players intact, this is not the message that you want to send. And I think it is difficult to expect any of these teams to be able to do it, whether it's the New England Patriots or whether it's not. And look, the Patriots are never going to use the excuse of, we're playing shorthanded. We're playing without our best player. We're playing without our star quarterback.

You have yours. We don't have ours. We should reschedule it. The Patriots will never use that as an excuse. And honestly, I don't know whether or not that needs to be the excuse. I know fans are up in arms about it, and they're not happy about it. But folks, injuries, things like that happen all the time.

If it were a muscle or a bone injury or anything of that nature to Cam Newton, this game would still be played. There's no question about it. You just next man up that has to be taken under account. I don't think anybody's arguing with that least of all the Patriots, but when it comes to a pandemic and it comes to things that are potentially spread throughout the league and could cause further problems down the line.

Yeah, I agree with you irresponsible and arrogant. And I did mention earlier that Brian Hoyer will get the start in this game, my friend. And that is a little different from what we've been hearing down the line about Jarrett Stidham. We heard, we've talked about it several times, including right here on this very program, about Jarrett Stidham possibly getting the keys to the kingdom, the Stidham stump, we like to call it, and him being the starter in the offseason. Of course, when they signed Cam Newton, that all changed. But Brian Hoyer getting the start here today, Bud, I think is the smart move. It makes a lot of sense to start the veteran, not the second-year player.

Starting Stidham in Kansas City against the Chiefs with all the circumstances surrounding this game, to me, just doesn't make sense for him to make his first ever NFL start. I think Jarrett has more upside than Hoyer. I don't think anybody's questioning that. This is not an indictment on Jarrett Stidham. I see that on social media a lot. Oh, this means Bill's going to trade him.

He doesn't have any confidence. Far from it, folks. It's just not the environment you want to throw a young quarterback into and potentially wreck confidence, risk getting him hurt. There's a lot of factors here. But I think the team has a good idea of what they want to get with Hoyer. That's a steady veteran presence. And I think the Patriots are going to need that steady veteran presence to get through this game tonight. But do you agree with this reasoning by the Patriots? And if so, what type of game plan might we see enacted with Brian Hoyer under center?

Yeah, no, I 100 percent agree. And it shouldn't be a surprise to you watch those movies and you know that there is one shot out of however many different alternate realities where this worked out well, it's the same kind of deal with Jared Stidham versus Kansas City. There's only one way that this all of a sudden goes Jared Stidham's way, and that's if somehow they just wallop Kansas city and he goes out and has the performance of a lifetime. You don't want to count on that. Aside from that, it's kind of a lose-lose situation for him. Short, short, I don't want to say short week, upside down week, upside down week, making your first start. You haven't been active yet this season so there's a lot of circumstances that tell you that this isn't an indictment on his

ability it's just you know Brian Horia was brought in here for a reason and that was to be a veteran presence who if need be could make a spot start or two and you know look Brian Horia is not Tom Brady he's not Cam Newton he's not a not a viable starter in this league for 16 games. But he's also not Nathan Peterman. He's not these bad backup quarterbacks. He's come in and won some games. He won some games in Cleveland, which we know isn't easy to do. So, you know, are they worse off with Hoyer versus Cam?

Absolutely. Does this mean that Jared Stidham's time in new England is over? No, absolutely not. We really don't know. Still. We talk in the off season a lot about Jared Stidham. And that was with the assumption that one that they couldn't afford Cam Newton. I mean, at the time, I mean, who would have thought that he was going to take the deal that he did to come play here. I think maybe if we took that a little bit more seriously,

maybe we would have, you know, considered that an option a little bit more than we did. But, you know, I really just didn't expect that type of deal to be made. And, you know, outside of that, it's like, okay, well, is that or Stidham? Because I wasn't going Andy Dalton. I'll tell you what, I'll take Stidham over Andy Dalton. I know what Andy Dalton is. Cam obviously had the different dynamics. So, you know, look, Stidham's going to get his chance. It may not be here. Who knows? I mean, again, from what we've seen from Cam Newton, he looks like a guy

who could potentially be the guy here for the next few years. And if that's the case, well, then you're running into a Jimmy Garoppolo situation. You know, you're not going to sit on the bench forever as a backup. Eventually, you have to move on or get the job or move on. And I think, you know, we're going to hit that point with Stidham at some point.

But, no, I do think the Patriots have a better opportunity to win. I do, you know, again, I think it might be slim considering, you know. Actually, you know what, I really don't know because maybe the defense, you know, again, the defense has had success at times against Patrick Mahomes. So, you know, I don't want to sit there and write the Patriots off just yet because, you know, Brian Hoyer's in there over, you know, over Jarrett Stidham and Cam Newton's not playing. But it's going to be a tall task for anyone. I'd just rather have the veteran guy, you know, again, has been in situations at least similar to this and and could maybe pull one out of his rear end so and i like that analogy i think that's a possible uh you know uh the outcome here look bottom line folks and i do want to elaborate on one point

that you made in because i think it was a great one about jared stidham maybe not having his future in new england one of the easiest ways to wreck the illusion of Jarrett Stidham is to throw him into a matchup with a lot of profile on it, a lot of spotlight on him, and have him stumble out of the gate. All of a sudden, if you're thinking about possibly moving this kid, his trade value is going to get sucked right down into the bottom, you know, the doldrums of what his value might be on the market. So it definitely has

a lot more implications than just maybe his future here in new england if you're talking about his future being elsewhere you want to maximize that value and you know putting him into a situation like this not just going against uh the uh the defending super bowl champions because we saw justin herbert go in a couple of weeks ago and really look very solid against this Chiefs team. It might be a situation where it just might be a very, you know, bright lights, big city type feel. And I think that might, you know, have some implications down the line. So we'll continue to take a look at that.

Go ahead. I was going to say one of the things we praise Bill Belichick for, and rightfully so, because he's better at this than any coach in the league now or possibly ever. Excuse me. That's putting players in a position to succeed, not to fail. You put Jared Stidham in there tonight, you're setting him up to fail. Like I said, I used the analogy before. If you're an Avengers fan, you know, endgame, all that stuff, you have one.

There's one reality where this works out for, for Jared Stidham. And it's one out of a lot of possible outcomes. So again, the, the odds are low and that's not a gamble. I think Bill Belichick is going to make, and again, he has, he's never made that. So again, it's, it's, it's the smart move to me. It's the obvious move to me. And it didn't come as any surprise when I saw that he was going to be the starter. Absolutely. And, of course, you know, you can't discount the fact that Brian Hoyer has a great deal of experience in this system. We've talked about it a little bit. And coming up here in just a moment, folks,

we'll talk a little bit more about what the Patriots might look like on the field tonight in Kansas City. Cam Newton is not the only high-profile player they'll be without, and we will get into that in just a moment. And of course, Ian, you didn't think I'd welcome you to the pod today and not talk a little in-game strategy against the immortal Patrick Mahomes, did you? Of course not, folks. We're going to talk that, game preview, game predictions,

and much more with Ian Glendon of Full Press Coverage when the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. But before we continue, Patriots podcast continues. But before we continue, Patriots fans, you've definitely heard the phrase, often imitated but never duplicated. Six Super Bowl championships in the last 20 years in the modern NFL era? Yeah, no other NFL franchise can make that claim. Only the best can provide the best. And the only ones who could provide the best healthy, low-calorie, and delicious treats you know and love

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and last season we saw the new england patriots have some success moving the ball against the kansas city chiefs defense and i don't think the Chiefs defense ever really got the credit it deserves. This is a formidable unit. Is it the top echelon, top five in the NFL? No, it's not. But they're capable of making stops. I thought one of the keys for the Patriots heading into this game was going to be utilizing the rushing attack, being able to attack a one-gapping system similar to the way the Patriots ran the ball against the Las Vegas Raiders.

Kansas City likes to play a lot of 4-3 up front. The Patriots were able to take it to them and put it back in their face a little bit with solid running from Sonny Michel, Rex Burkhead. Even Cam Newton sprinkled in a little bit. J.J. Taylor got in on the act. The Patriots' offense looked good on the ground. Well, Cam Newton we know is not going to be in the lineup tonight. We also know now from Patriots.com earlier today that Sonny Michel will not be in the lineup tonight either. Actually, I don't believe he made the trip to Kansas City.

I think it was a lot to expect him with the groin injury, the quad injury, excuse me, that he's had on his injury report for the better part of the week. It kind of a line that this might be a difficult fit. But now knowing that Cam and that Sony are going to be on the bench, I think you might see Steve Spagnuolo dip into what he did last year against the Patriots and Tom Brady, and that's essentially by playing cover seven, which is that covering one man-to-man coverage, but with seven defenders in coverage, allowing their defenders to double or bracket receivers. To me, that indicates that Brian Hoyer tonight is going to need to find a receiver that's not named Julian Edelman. He'll look for Jules, but he's going to need someone else to step up. In your opinion, when you look at this game, now knowing Brian is going to get the start and he's not quite as adept at extending plays with his legs as Cam is, or even Jarrett

Stidham, who has the ability to do that, folks, the Patriots still could run some of those zone reads or some of that RPO package with Jarrett. But knowing it's going to be Brian, I think there'll be more of a pocket presence. Do you think the Patriots employ that, or do you think they still try to get the running game going, maybe with a Damian Harris or with a James White returning tonight? Well, I think you have to, in order to beat this Kansas City team, you're going to have to find a way to run the ball somewhat consistently

because we know how maybe not sustained drives every single drive, but we know that they can strike quickly. So for you, the best defense is to keep their offense off the field and keep them from scoring points. So I think you're going to have to find a way to run the ball. It's obviously unfortunate that you don't have Cam, and of course you don't have Sonny Michel, who looked really good last week. And Hoyer certainly capable of throwing the ball, but like you said,

you've got to find someone outside of Julian Edelman, because it's going to be easy for Kansas City to key in on him if that's who he goes to. And then all of a sudden the running isn't as effective. And again, if you fall behind quickly, you know, you're not going to pound the rock for a half of football trying to get back into a game. So I do think that the Patriots game plan has to change,

but they know they have to be able to run the ball. They can't be one-dimensional with a guy like Coy. With Brady, you can get away with being maybe more one dimensional on the play calling splits. If that makes sense. Like, you know, obviously we always used to consider some short passing, essentially the running game for the Patriots. So like maybe it comes back more 70, 30 pass versus run,

but we know it's closer to 50,50 because of some of the plays that were called. I don't think Brian Hoyer is capable of doing that like Brady is. Very few are, if any, are able to do that like Brady does. So you're going to have to have a good balance. And at the end of the day, Brian Hoyer is going to have to make some plays. I mean, there's no doubt about it. He's going to have to have a good balance. And at the end of the day, Brian Hoyer is going to have to make some plays. I mean, there's no doubt about it. He's going to have to throw the ball. He's going to have to make some plays.

Maybe on his feet. Let's hope not, because I feel like that would be a little bit out of the game plan for him. But he's going to have to make some plays. And hopefully J.J. Taylor keeps kind of flashing some ability, because he's done that so far. And, you know, maybe the return of James White will help as well because it gives Hoyer another guy to throw the ball to. And of course,

I think Rex Burkhead obviously three touchdowns. What was it? Tyrannosaurus Rex or touchdownsaurus Rex, whatever it was. You know, he's, he's obviously playing well. So they have the ability to run. It's just unfortunate that they're going to have to do it without their quarterback and and their running back or their two top runners so um it's just this is going to be a big challenge for the Patriots coaching staff let's let's let's be very very clear here it's this is going to be this isn't going to be easy in any way yeah and I think you're absolutely right look folks the poorest part of this Kansas City defense is still the run defense. And I think the Patriots have to establish that. You're absolutely right, Ian. You hit the nail right on the head. This is an opportunity for the Patriots to be able to utilize the run attack, even without Cam, even without Sony. I think James White will be an option on third down. I think you may see him carry the ball a little bit more tonight. People forget about how good of a running back James White is. He's capable of carrying the ball when he needs to,

and I think you might see that a little bit tonight, especially with the lack of Sonny not being in the lineup and the uncertainty surrounding the health of Damian Harris. We simply don't know if he's going to be active or if he could be a healthy scratch and maybe not active for this game just yet. He did come off of the pup list earlier, excuse me, the IR list earlier this week, but the Patriots do have 21 days to bring him back to the active roster and they're still under that. That leads me quite nicely into my last question, my friend, and that is on the opposite side of the ball. We all know the

white elephant in the room is trying to contain Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who has played at a very high level throughout the first three games. Or has he? Or has he? I'm about to let my good buddy loose in just a moment. But the fact of the matter is, is Ian the Patriots have been able to make life difficult on Patrick Mahomes especially in the last couple of games they played against him they primarily play man coverage with safety help on the speedy receivers like a Tyree Kill or a Nicole Hardman even a Sammy Watkins at times they put a defensive back on Travis Kelsey preferably a corner in years past. I think that may change.

I think you'll see a safety on him tonight and a five-man rush, obviously. Now, if that works, that may end up providing difficulty for Mahomes. Mahomes has been able to find holes in that a little bit and maybe shred the man coverage at times by getting those big chunk plays that we love, you know, to see Kansas City be able to exempt. Calm down. I'm sorry. Did I say that out loud? You'll get your chance in a moment. I'm chomping at the nominally kidding.

Well, I'll call them chunk plays for now. I'll play bad cop here for the New England, you know, fan base right now. But if Mahomes is able to shred the Patriots' man coverage for some of those chunk or pick plays, for lack of a better term, the Patriots try to get something different up their sleeve. And in the past, we've seen the Patriots employ a strategy against prolific quarterbacks. And last Friday here, Joe Valerio of Believe in Chiefs podcast and I discussed what the Pats used to do against Peyific quarterbacks. And last Friday here, Joe Valerio of Believe in Chiefs podcast and I discussed what the Pats used to do against Peyton Manning. And that is put the two deep safeties, defend the vertical passing game and try to take that away, force Peyton Manning

to hand the ball off to his running backs. The problem with that strategy this time is that Kansas City Chiefs have a pretty good running back in Clyde Edwards who's been great for them through the first three games so it gives Mahomes another dimension and when you look at trying to defend Patrick Mahomes you've seen things that we've talked about offline we talked about on FBC Radio Live several times about how he's played the game this year how will the Patriots look to try to attack him? Do you think that they'll use the man coverage that's worked so solid? Or do you think they're going to try to confuse him tonight and show him looks that maybe he's never seen before?

I think you're going to have to get creative and do a combination of both. The one thing they shouldn't do is play the social distancing defense that the Ravens played against this Chiefs team because that was just absurdly stupid in my mind because, well, you left wide receivers wide open. And that's really the thing too, is, you know, I think I've kind of gotten a reputation as a Mahomes hater, as the kids say. That's certainly not the case. I don't hate the kid. I think he's a really good young quarterback. I just, you know, try to fight back against this, you know, we've never seen this before mentality and, you know, God's gift of football type of thing. Because, look, he's a great young quarterback that, you know, is a young quarterback. He's not the greatest of all time. He's arguably not even the best now. I mean, I think that was a, there was a far, very quick rush to anointment for him.

And I think people are still living in the fact in 2018 case in point, people bring up the no look pass all the time. Well, guess what? That, that happened once in 2018. So let's, let's, let's get into the current and realize, okay, yeah, he's a good young quarterback who, you know, I don't think he's by far in and away better than anyone else in the league. I think Russell Wilson's better right now. I think Aaron Rogers is arguably playing better than he is right now.

And like you said, if, if, if you can play good, and it's much easier said than done, because you've got to consider the players you're playing man against. I mean, the Tyree kills, the B Cole Hardman's Travis Kelsey's so on and so forth. It's far easier said than done. But if you keep them in check and not let them roam free and find those soft spots and zone coverage, it makes it so much more difficult for Patrick Mahomes. And look, this is going to confuse some people.

And hopefully, fortunately, there's a lot of Patriots fans listening to this and not Chiefs fans. But me saying he's not necessarily the most accurate quarterback doesn't mean he can't make accurate throws. What I'm saying is when we saw it in the Super Bowl last year, the 49ers defense, they were keeping in check these wide receivers. And passes weren't necessarily on point. Even when these receivers are wide open, he's really good at throwing to a spot and throwing to a wide open spot and these players go out and get it. That's not a knock on him. I'm just trying to put in perspective what he does well. So if the Patriots can all of a sudden not allow those receivers, again, easier said than done, they cannot allow them to get into these open spaces. All of a sudden, you're relying more on him having to make split decisions, going into tight windows, things that he can do, but has he done consistently throughout every single game? I don't know yet. We haven't necessarily seen that consistently because, again,

we see a lot of receivers get wide open for the Chiefs. And I'm not trying to, again, I don't want this to come across as me trying to take away from his ability. It's surely not the case. What this is, is just trying to put it in perspective and saying, like, look, you know, he's not, you know, invincible. The Patriots can play them well, and there's a reason why there's been times where, you know, they've shut them out for half. But at the same time, it's incredibly difficult to keep in check all those players for an entire game. And we've seen that in games that they've shut them down,

where in the second half they make plays. And I'll say it because you won't, but, yeah, you know, hey, pick plays. It happens. They don't get't, but yeah, you know, hey, pick plays. It happens. They don't get called all the time, you know, but hey, when you make contact with a receiver as a defensive back, you know, beyond the line of scrimmage, you don't give him the right away like you should or at least, you know, the right pass, and guess what? It's a pick, and you know, hey, we saw that with the Chiefs against the Patriots in that AFC Championship game.

We're not going to go there. We know the Patriots won that game. But, you know, you're going to look for the same type of strategy from them defensively. That will give them an opportunity because if you can hold the ball, not necessarily control time of possession. I don't think that the Patriots will be able to do that. But if you can come close to keeping a 50-50 split, play good man defense, all of a sudden, you know, Kansas City,

if they score 20-something points, you know what? I give the Patriots a chance. I give them a shot, you know, but if Kansas City is going down and scoring in three or four plays because Tyreek Hill gets open 45 yards down the field and there's not a defender within 10 yards of him, well, guess what, that's going to be a pretty bad end of the night for the Patriots in my opinion so I think that answered your question I kind of answered a few of my own questions there too but no you absolutely did and I'm glad I gave you the other platform in the forum uh to be able to explain a lot of what you've said about the Chiefs and Mahomes and then things of that nature and look I think in a lot of ways you've made some very very good points about accuracy, about it being about his receivers getting open, about taking away the lanes of what he needs to do to be successful. I think a lot of people are forgetting with Cam not being in the

lineup now, especially with Sony not being in the lineup tonight. A lot of people are looking at this as an ultimate blowout. But the defensive matchup on the Patriots' side to the offensive matchup to the Kansas City side has not changed at all. That's still exactly as we expected it to be on Friday, on Thursday last week, heading into this weekend. That hasn't changed. So now what do the Patriots do to be able to control that? Yes, they're going to have to be a lot better because they're probably not going to score as many points under Cam Newton. But if they can find a way to keep Patrick Mahomes under check, yeah, maybe they do have a chance in this game. So ultimately, buddy, we'll see in a couple of hours. I was going to say, I think more so now than if they

had Cam in there, I think they need turnovers. I think they need to not let any sort of opportunity like that slip through their hands, you know, sort of speak. And I think they have to create these turnovers for themselves. I think they could have gotten away with not having a turnover or not, you know, forcing too many bad passes with Cam Newton under center, but I don't see that with Boyer. I think you have to play a pretty perfect game on defense. Yeah, without any question. And absolutely not just the turnovers, but controlling the time of possession, probably more so of an issue now than it ever has been,

because without being able to put up a lot of points on the board, sometimes the best way to defend this Kansas City offense is to keep them off the field. A lot of sustained, long, clock-killing drives that need to end with maybe some short runs. But again, we'll see, and hopefully the Patriots can pull out a win and shock the world tonight on, again, folks, pseudo-Monday Night Football. Ian, you're a great man, a great friend. I always appreciate your candor and your insight.

Folks, follow my best good friend on Twitter at IGLEN31. You can find his great work at FullPressCoverage.com, along with all the great writers we have at Full Press Coverage. Analysis, opinion, much more. Ian has you covered. We all have you covered. And we also remind you to download the app on Apple, Google Play, everywhere that you can find an app. Definitely download it. All the great full press coverage content, all in one convenient spot. You can find Ian on the airwaves on shows like the Full Press Buccaneers podcast, FPC Radio Live, Cheap Pop, every morning, Monday through Friday from 9 to 10 a.m.

My honor to share the microphone with this gentleman each and every day. And of course, all you Bruins fans, the Big Bad Bruins podcast with our mutual friend Chris Blackie. That's a great listen. Highly recommended. Buddy, what can I say? Thank you for joining me today. Always an honor. Always a pleasure. Absolutely. And I'll do it anytime. Definitely. And we look forward to having you back here really soon, maybe to talk some playoff Mahomes potential. But no, I'm just kidding, folks.

We know we're going to have Ian back a lot sooner than that. So stay safe, stay well, my friend. Enjoy the game tonight and have a great week. Thanks for joining me today. And so, Patriots fans, the time for the talk is just about over, and kickoff is nearly upon us. And usually I close my game preview episodes with a prediction of the action on the field. I did so on Friday, and believe it or not, folks, I'm not amending that much at all. I still think the Patriots employ the same type of defensive strategy against Patrick Mahomes.

Using man coverage on him, having the safeties help out with the speeds to receivers, maybe having a corner or hybrid safety cover Travis Kelsey someone like Juwan Williams or maybe the rookie Kyle Duggar ultimately I think the Patriots try to do everything they can to shut down the vertical passing game and take their chances in being able to stop the run on the offensive side of the board I think the Patriots will still look to utilize their running game obviously Brian Hoyer is nowhere near the running threat that Cam Newton was but I do believe but I do believe the Patriots will still look to utilize their running game. Obviously, Brian Hoyer is nowhere near the running threat that Cam Newton was, but I do believe the Patriots' backs will be heavily leaned upon in this one. As will their receiving core, and as Ian and I spoke about, someone other

than Julian Edelman will need to step up in this game. Will it be Nikhil Harry, Jacoby Myers, Damir Bird? Maybe a combination of all three, but if the Patriots are hoping to put points on the board tonight, at least one of them will have to have a pretty big game in the final analysis I don't see the final score changing much I think the Patriots are going to be able to put points up on the Kansas City defense I do believe that Brian Hoyer is a better manager of this system than a lot of people are giving him credit for so I still think the Patriots put up 31 but at the end of the day I still go with my assessment that the Kansas City Chiefs

will put up at least seven more. Sticking with my prediction from Friday, Kansas City 38, New England 31, and a game that might be a little closer and a little more hard fought than most are giving the Pats credit for. And if today is game day, that means tomorrow,

right here on Locked On Patriots, we'll be breaking down all the action from Kansas City. What went right? What went wrong? And hopefully the action on the field will not be overshadowed by any of the lingering health concerns for both teams. So to ensure that you do not miss a single episode of Locked On Patriots, download us

wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe via Google Podcasts. Follow us on Spotify. Subscribe to Locked On Patriots via Google Podcasts. Follow us on Spotify. Subscribe to Locked On Patriots on Apple Podcasts. Whatever you do, just make sure you're staying locked in to Locked On Patriots. Once again, I'm Mike DeBate.

I thank my good friend Ian Glendon for his time, his insight, and his appearance on today's pod, but most of all, I thank you so much for listening and for making Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Until tomorrow, folks, stay safe, stay well, always be the change you wish to see in the world, and that includes wishing the very best of health for both the New England Patriots

and the Kansas City Chiefs in this matchup. Have a great day, everyone, and enjoy the game tonight.