Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Reasonable Loss: Evaluating the Patriots Performances in Week One — 9/14/2021

Episode Date: September 15, 2021

While learning from a loss is always difficult, the New England Patriots have much to work on as they head into Week Two. Joining host Mike D’Abate is Steve Balestrieri of PatsFans.com, as the duo evaluate the performances of the Pats on defense and offense during their Week One matchup with the Miami Dolphins.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.ManscapedFellas, don’t gamble on shaving your balls with the wrong tools! Choose MANSCAPED™, Your Balls Will Thank You™! Get 20% off + free shipping with the code LOCKEDON at manscaped.com.RunYourPoolCheck ‘em out TODAY and get $10 off at RunYourPool.com and usepromo code LockedOn at checkout. 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 Lockdown Patriots podcast. It is Tuesday, September 14th, 2021, and it is time for a visit from our resident voice of reason here on Lockdown Patriots. And after a week one loss to the Dolphins, folks, we truly need it. Continuing to break down the Patriots week one performance here on your daily home for news notes and analysis infused out the Locked On NFL Sunday show live every Sunday morning at 11 a.m. Eastern. No sketches, no celebrity games, no fluff.

Just football every Sunday morning with hosts Cody Rourke and Ross Jackson. Follow and subscribe to Locked On NFL on Twitter, Facebook, Twitch, and YouTube. And don't forget to turn on notifications to be notified when the show goes live every Sunday morning at 11 a.m. Eastern. Greetings and salutations, Patriots Nation, and thank you for joining me here on this Tuesday episode of the pod. My name is Mike DeBate, and I am your host of the LockedOn Patriots podcast, a proud part of the LockedOn Podcast Network, your team every day.

And folks, because it's your team every day, that means your questions, comments, and feedback are always welcomed, very much appreciated. So share that feedback. Send it to the internet by reaching out to me and following me on Twitter at MDABATENFL. And while you're out there doing some Tuesday traveling through that Twitterverse, please

be sure to follow the Locked On Patriots account as well at LO underscore Patriots. Pats fans, today we continue to absorb and digest the Pats' one-point loss to the Miami Dolphins in their season opener on Sunday. And as Apollo Creed once said in Rocky III, you beat me by one second. One second that's very difficult for a man of my intelligence to handle. Well, a one-point loss is very difficult for all of us to handle, especially my guest yesterday. In case you might have missed it, it was hashtag LockedOnMurfMonday yesterday. And that means a visit from the only man that I know of with more nicknames than Apollo Creed himself. The monster master of disaster.

The green king of sting. The count of Murphy Fisto himself. The legendary Thomas Murphy joined me yesterday here on the pod. And let's just say Murph was a little steamed up. He was not happy with the Patriots' output on the offensive side of the ball. Costly penalties and four fumbles will do that to you. He also wasn't too thrilled with the defensive output for the Patriots, so it led to an interesting conversation. And again, folks, just in case you haven't had the chance to check out yesterday's pod, definitely recommend you go back and do so.

Murph was fired up, he was entertaining, but also made a lot of poignant points when it comes to what the Patriots did on the field on Sunday and what it might mean for potential problems down the line. But here today on the pod, we're going to be taking a more temperate approach to your Patriots coverage because our resident voice of reason, my Patriots Paizan, Steve Balistrieri of Patsfans.com joins me today and and we will be grading the Patriots' offensive and defensive output by looking at certain key positions. Obviously, we're going to talk quarterbacks, and we will talk about Mac Jones' performance in this game. Also on offense,

take a look at the wide receivers, and we'll dabble into the running backs. On the defensive side of the ball, we'll be critiquing that front seven. What was Steve's opinion on their performance, and what does it mean for the Patriots moving forward? Last but certainly not least, we'll take a very early first look at those J-E-T-S Jets, Jets, Jets, as the Patriots prepare to head to the green side of the Meadowlands and take on the New York Jets this Sunday, September 19th,

at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Pats fans, an action-packed agenda, tons to talk about today. So without much further ado, my Patriots Paisan, the resident voice of reason of Locked On Patriots, Steve Balistrieri, joins me on the hot seat when Locked On Patriots continues. Locked On listeners, when it comes to repairing or maintaining your vehicle, why would you spend 30%, 50%, even 100% more for the exact same auto parts at a chain store or a new car dealership? It's still possible to take pride in your ride and even save a little in the process. Visit my good friends at rockauto.com. Rockauto.com is a family business serving auto parts customers online for 20 years.

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put Locked On in their How Did You Hear About Us box so they know we sent you. Amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need. rockauto.com. dot com. Patriots fans, as we continue to sift through the rubble of the Patriots week one loss to the Miami Dolphins 1716 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. You heard some anger on the other end of the microphone yesterday here on Locked On, and we love our buddy Murph and his insight. And I hate to give him credit, but he was more right than he was wrong. But today here on Locked On Patriots, we are going to tone things down a little bit. We are going to bring in our resident voice of reason to give us that level-headed type

of analysis that we all so desperately need in Foxborough, especially after a week one loss. He is one of the best, most knowledgeable columnists that you can find on Patriots Media anywhere. You know his great work from Patsfans.com as well as being the co-host of two amazing podcasts, Patriots 4th and 2, and One Patriots Place. He is my Patriots paisan,

and always I will give this man credit for saying and for being worthy of all of the praise he gets. And then some. Steve Balistrieri joins me here today. Welcome back to Locked On Patriots, my friend. And thanks for having me, Mike. Yeah, we're going to tone it down just a little bit, like 300 percent. Well, 300 percent is a bit lower than it was yesterday. And look, bottom line, I love Murph. You know that the two of us have a great relationship in terms of opinion and in terms of professionalism than the both of you. Yeah, Murph was a little steamed up yesterday. There's no question about it.

And I can't blame him for some of it. I know that there is a lot of anger when it comes to the Patriots' ball protection issues, costly penalties. Those things really, I think, can raise the ire of the fan base, and they should. And you know they're raising the ire of the fan base, and they should. And you know they're raising the ire of Bill Belichick and that Patriots brain trust. We had the opportunity, Steve, to talk to Bill Belichick yesterday. Even post-game, he did not sound thrilled. And you know the Patriots now,

even though Tuesday is a player's day off, that coaching staff is working hard to devise schemes to get better, to improve that, and we'll see it probably on the field starting tomorrow on Wednesday when the Patriots return to the practice field and start putting Miami in the rearview mirror and start preparing for those J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets. But before we take our leave from the Thieve, there's still some analysis and still some opinions we want to get, especially from you, because you are

our level-headed voice of reason here on Lockdown Patriots. But we'll start with the obvious. The talk of the town right now is Matt Jones. And obviously, you want to learn from a win. That's really, I think, the best way to do it, to learn and to bargain from a position of strength. But there's a lot to be said from learning for a loss, especially when you're a rookie and you dropped your first game.

I had a chance to talk to David Andrews yesterday, and David mentioned him going, I asked him going up to Mac post game, kind of putting his hand on his shoulder, just giving him some words of encouragement. David was very forthcoming in saying that he remembers those moments as a rookie and what players did, you know, the same to him and how much it meant to him and just how much that helps to build team camaraderie and to give a rookie quarterback a little bit more of a boost. Mack has gone on record several times in

the last couple of days of saying that, you know, he is extremely hard on himself and maybe sometimes to a fault, but that's essentially how he prepares. Steve, in terms of your opinions on Mack and his leadership ability, first of all, what type of reaction did you have to that type of leadership ability on Mack? And what were your general thoughts of him on the field as quarterback of the New England Patriots? Well, I'll go to the second part of the question first. I thought he, you know, projected this aura of leadership right off the bat. I like the fact that it seemed like the offense was his. You know, when you're talking about a rookie quarterback,

a lot of times they have that kind of aura about them that they're kind of unsure of what they're doing and how they're, you know, comporting themselves in the huddle. And it seemed like Jones was, after that, you know, first miscue he had, he settled right down. He was leading the offense. And, you know, he had them moving the ball all day long. Now, there was some issues with them finishing drives.

Not all of them were his fault. You know, they had a lot of penalties. They had, you know, ball security issues. But overall, I was really, really impressed with the way he handled himself during the football game. He didn't seem like a rookie. He seemed like a veteran out there, which was really, really good. And I love the fact that after the game, you know, he was saying all the right things, things that you know Belichick wants to hear.

It wasn't good enough. You know, we have to get better. I have to get better, he kept saying. So these are the things that the coaches want to hear. I think he's, you know, putting himself in a leadership position right off the bat. And all of it is very, very – I think it's very optimistic looking forward. I mean, if this is his floor, then the ceiling is going to be pretty high. I agree with you about the ceiling being high.

And look, I know there are some that are talking about checkdowns and shallow crossers. You wrote about this in your grades piece, which, folks, if you haven't checked it out yet, please do so on PatsFans.com. Steve puts out a great report card each and every week for these games. And you mentioned about those checkdowns, those shallow crossers that have made it a little easier for him, even some defensive backs with an ax to grind against the New England Patriots. Excuse me. Yeah, I got a little, it's an annoying little cough, I guess is the best way for me to describe that. But bottom line, you look at the work that Mack did against the Blitz. And I think you're very hard pressed to really come down on this kid unless, again, you just have a personal agenda against this franchise for things that they may have done to you in the past.

And look, we all know the record, you know, it speaks for itself, but 14 of 18 for 129 yards against the Blitz, nine for 12 for 89 yards on third down and seven of 10 with a touchdown under pressure. That is impressive for any quarterback, let alone a rookie making his debut at home. And Mac talked about this a little bit, getting the rookie jitters out of his system that first snap was ugly there's no question about it that's not the way you want to take your first snap in a Patriots uniform but Mac settled right down he really understood that the game needed to slow down he needed to slow down and the leadership that he showed was very awe-inspiring to me as a member of the media covering this game and watching this kid at 22 years old lead a franchise that has six Super Bowl banners hanging on the facade at Gillette Stadium.

Not an easy environment to come into and not for anything knowing that in another couple of weeks, the man that built the very house that you're playing in, so to speak, folks, I'm not saying that we all give credit to the Kraft family for uh putting gillette stadium together but let's face it tom brady is going to be an immortalized figure in this region for his entire life and beyond uh and that's the way it should be and mac jones is now taking that mantra for him to be able to show the poise he showed i was very impressed so great stuff coming off uh from mac jones and a good um debut for him to be able to show the poise he showed, I was very impressed. So great stuff coming off from Mac Jones and a good debut for him in a Patriots uniform. And again, we look forward to seeing more of that. Offline, Steve, we had a little discussion about the wide receiver room,

and that was really the talk of the Patriots and the Dolphins game heading into this matchup. A lot of people thought this was going to be a very thin depth chart. Nelson Aguilar was, you know, tweaked up a little bit. The Patriots already without Nikhil Harry. Who were they going to be able to rely on as a whiteout threat beyond Jacoby Myers? Would Kendrick Bourne step it up? Would the Patriots have to go to Gunnar Oshelski? Would Malcolm Perry be someone that they could rely on? Would they elevate a practice squatter? Well, Malcolm is now on IR. We knew that wasn't going to be an option.

The Patriots didn't call up a wide receiver in this game. Nelson Aguilar looked very good. First of all, folks, he looked healthy. So anyone still worried about his ankle injury probably don't need to be worried about that much longer. He looked very good moving around very well on Sunday. But the one thing that I noticed was his ability to get separation, something that is not easy to do when you're making a debut in a new uniform, especially knowing the pressure that's on you as a Patriots wide receiver to come up and to come up

big in those moments. As a whole, Steve, looking at this game, whether it be Aguilar, whether it be the consistency of Myers or the depth they're showing on this wide receiver core, how would you grade the Patriots wide receivers for this game and what's your outlook on them going forward? I thought they had a pretty solid game. I mean, you know, you mentioned Aguilar was, you know, he was dinged up last week. You know, he was questionable right up until the game. So we weren't sure, you know, how well he was going to run. And then right as the game started, I was watching him to see if he could, you know, when you have an ankle, it's usually not straight line speed that's affected.

It's when you have to cut. And he seemed to be sharp out there. His routes seemed to be sharp. I thought he acquitted himself extremely well. He made a really tough catch going down to the ground that I wrote about that. It was like a 25-yard BB from Jones, and he took a good shot in his back as he was going to the ground catching that. And, you know, for a guy who's had trouble this summer holding on to the football,

and that's been the knock on Aguilar, I thought that was a really solid play. I thought he looked very much in sync with Matt Jones, and that, you know, was one of the things I was worried about. It was how well these guys are going to gel. You know, they didn't get a lot of work this summer, you know, was one of the things I was worried about. It was how well these guys are going to gel. You know, they didn't get a lot of work this summer, you know, for one reason or another. Jones was getting second-team reps. You know, Aguilar had some, you know, injury concerns there for a little bit.

So, you know, for that, the first week of, you know, NFL action, I thought that was pretty impressive. Once again, it's not a finished product by any means, but that's a really good starting point. Yeah, it definitely was a very good starting point. And anybody that is looking at Aguilar as a possible vertical threat and someone that can stretch the field, I think you saw enough seedlings there on Sunday to let you know that this can continue, assuming that Aguilar stays healthy and the hand stays sure. Those are two question marks that I've always kind of followed

Nelson Aguilar. He will continue to work his way into the rotation, I think, by showing that he's adept at being able to maintain both. Jacoby Myers obviously will continue to be a solid contributor, and he will continue to be the first option at wide receiver and continue to eat up the yardage. And in a lot of ways, I think it does lend itself into my last question for you on offense for today before we flip the script and talk a little bit about the defensive side of the ball. And, Steve, we're not going to get into tight endage today.

I do apologize because we're going to get into tight endage tomorrow here on Locked On Patriots. And I'm probably tipping my hand as to who my guest is going to be, but we'll talk about the running back core. And Steve, for all of the talk that the running backs were going to be the bread and butter of the Patriots offense, they went to them often. They went to them early. Damian Harris, I thought, up until the fourth quarter, had a solid game and a solid performance. But again, ball control continues to be the issue for this team, up and down.

There's just no other way to say it. The easiest way to earn your way into the Bill Belichick doghouse is to fumble the ball away. And from Andre Stevenson's fumble on the, you know, the, one of the first drives in the first quarter, I still think he was down. It still looked like he was down to me. I know people will, you know, argue otherwise, but I still think he looked down, but bottom line, you have to protect the ball better in that situation. And he simply didn't do it. And he paid the price for it, only playing five snaps on Sunday. Damian, toward the end of the game, obviously a costly fumble. But the more film I see on that, I mean, Damian Howard made a great play.

You can't deny that. There's no question about it. We know that the Patriots are going to be working hard, like we said earlier, to shore up the difficulties that they had with regard to keeping the ball secure. But from a running standpoint, how do you think the Patriots utilize their running backs and what do you expect them to do differently this Sunday against the Jets? Well, I think they did start off running the ball extremely well. I think Miami kind of, you know, they adjusted to it a little bit.

Yardage got a little harder to come by. But I thought the running backs, especially Harris, played very well. You know, until that last fumble. I agree with you. And when I first watched the replay, I thought Stevenson's backside was on the ground before the ball came out. But it was one of those really close plays where the officials went with the call on the field.

I think if they had ruled that he was down and then Miami challenged it, they probably would have kept the call that he was down. I think it was that close. So I think this week with the Jets coming up, I think they're going to continue. I don't think they've lost faith in Damian Harris by any means. I'm sure it's going to get drilled into his head, obviously, this week. But I think we'll see more of him as well again this week. I think we'll see some of J.J. Taylor this week.

I think with the Jets, they'll probably try to utilize Taylor's speed a little bit more, but we'll see how it all works out. I think they have to be pleased overall. They ran for 125 yards on the ground. When they passed for 280,

I thought the offense was pretty balanced. Obviously there was things that need to get cleaned up. The pass protection wasn't great. But overall, I thought the running backs had a really good game. It was great to see James White being James White again this year. Absolutely, Steve. You were the first guy I thought of when we got that wheel route.

You want to see it. You love to see it. We needed to see that wheel route. And it was great. It really was. It was a return to basics, back to basics a little bit on Sunday with the wheel route to James White. And that really was a great play, one of my highlights of the day on Sunday without question. Yeah, you beat me to the punch because as soon as I saw that,

I picked up my phone. I was like, I don't know if Mike's going to have his phone on him in the press box, but I'm going to tweet him. And then my phone beeps and it's like, hey, we were waiting to see that. Absolutely. I think we've covered this, haven't we? Yeah, absolutely. But great analysis on the running back. We missed that wheel route last year, didn't we?

We truly did. We really did. And it's great to see James back in the fold. There were times during the offseason where we thought he might have played his last down in Foxborough, and it was a grin from ear to ear, two huge grins from ear to ear, when I saw that both James White and David Andrews would be returning to New England. Definitely good things for the Pats, and we're glad to Harris and Ramondre Stevenson regain that swagger, regain their confidence and help them to shake off a bad game. Yeah, it was, they were too costly fumbles, but you have to put it behind you. And the way that I would look at it is to say with all of the mistakes that they made, they were still within striking distance to be able to beat the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, who I thought played a very good game as well. So it's always interesting to break these games down. And folks, we are not done yet,

because if there's one thing that Steve knows, well, there's a lot that Steve knows, but if there's one thing that we love to pick his brain on, it's the preventive side of the ball. Defensive grades and Steve's analysis when the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. Locked On listeners, we're back and better than ever. All eyes are on the gridiron as teams are back to start another football season.

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Locked on listeners, does this sound familiar? You've got one device that lets you catch the game live, another device that lets you stream your favorite shows, you're watching sports highlights on your phone, and you've got your neighbor's best friend's login for the good stuff. Well, I want to tell you about a simple way to get all that entertainment you love without the hassle, and a great way to finally get your TV together. It's called Direct TV Stream and it brings your live TV and on-demand favorites together like never before so you can watch your favorite sports, movies, and shows all in one place. That means no more juggling remotes and no need to buy another device ever again. And the

best part? There's no annual contract. So get rid of the clutter and the confusion and get your TV together with Direct TV Stream. You can learn more at directtv.com. That's D-I-R-E-C-T-V dot com. Compatible device required. Content varies by package. Patriots fan Steve Balistrieri of patsfans.com joins me here on this Tuesday episode of the pod continuing to break down the Patriots 17 to 16 loss to the Miami Dolphins in week one of the 2021 NFL season and but we talked a lot about the offensive side of the ball in the first segment we talked about Mac Jones we talked about the receivers and we talked a little bit about the running backs those of you craving tight endage, tune in tomorrow. I guarantee you, you'll be

more than pleased. Let's put it that way. But I digress. It's time to talk the preventive side of the ball and we'll start on the defensive line, Steve. This is one of the areas that the Patriots really prided themselves on making some significant upgrades in the offseason, probably with this game in mind for one of them, playing against a Miami offensive line and a Miami offense that is able to move the ball in a number of ways. I don't think they get the credit they deserve for the running attack that they can put out there. I thought Myles Gaskin looked good on Sunday for the Dolphins.

They've got themselves some good weapons out there in the wide receiver core davante parker is still good at football and jalen waddle is looking like a tremendous addition to the repertoire or they should say to uh the arsenal of tuataga vailoa uh for uh for this season uh jacqueline grant mike iseki at the tight end position they've got weapons there but I thought the defensive line after a very rough first drive settled down and played better in the game. Steve, when you look at the defensive lines performance in this game, and I know Murph was still a little myth. Um, I thought this was a positive takeaway for the Patriots. And I thought after that first drive, they settled down and really did things the way they want to do them.

How impressed or how much lack of impression did you have when it came to the Pats defensive line and their performance against the Dolphins on Sunday? I think you hit it right on the head. I mean, that first drive, it seemed like they were out of sync, and Miami was going to that, you know, the hurry up a little bit to stop them from, you know, switching players out, and it really showed. And once they got over that hump, the second drive and then on, I thought they did a fantastic job of stopping the run. And, you know, Miami only averaged, I think it was 3.2 yards a carry,

74 yards on the day. That's a tremendous change from the last time they faced the Dolphins. We all remember that game. I thought, again, it was a good spot, you know, to start from. Could it get better? Sure. You know, I thought that first drive and the first drive of the third quarter, they kind of got put back on their heels a little bit.

But, you know, once they settled in both times, I thought they acquitted themselves very well. I thought Lawrence Guy and Devon Godshock, the guy they picked up, you know, this year, they look pretty solid in the middle of the line. Christian Barmore, again, looked pretty solid for a rookie making his first NFL appearance. I think the run defense looked a lot, a lot better. And I think it will improve as the season goes on. I agree with you.

I think it will improve as well. I'm glad you mentioned Barmore, Stephen. Murph and I talked about Barmore's prowess yesterday and getting some good pushes at the line. And I think those will continue. Playing 26 snaps as a rookie, you're looking to see more from him. But I think that was a good initiation a baptism into the Patriots defensive scheme for Barmore and you're going to continue

to see a lot more than him of him I should say folks a little surprised to see Henry Anderson only getting a couple of a handful of snaps yesterday this is someone that came in with a real reputation of being a very good run stuffer and someone that could actually drop back and get after the passer as well. He did it well for the jets a couple of years ago. You have to think that if Henry is going to be a part of this defensive rotation, that he's going to see more snaps this coming Sunday against the jets. And we'll talk about the jets in a little bit,

but that was a little bit of a surprise for me. But other than that, I completely agree with you on the defensive line. I thought, gotcha. I thought Lawrence Guy played a solid game. Dietrich Weiss had his struggles, but I think overall he played well. So it'll be interesting to see how the Pats build on that and what they do against the Jets this Sunday. And then a couple of high powered offenses coming into Foxborough two weeks in a row between the Saints and the Bucs. That could get very interesting for this defense. Before we switch gears to the Jets and take us all home today, Steve, the linebackers were another core of, you know, this Patriots roster that looked to

be extremely upgraded, at least on paper, from the unit that we saw last year. Juwan Bentley obviously took on a lot of the responsibilities in 2020. In 2021, you saw the benefit of having guys like Kyle Van Noy, Dante Hightower, Matt Judon, I thought had a very good game, and Josh Uche finding his way through. I think he absolutely just annihilated Liam Eikenberger, you know, just pushed him to the ground and then getting to to a tug of Iloa for the big sack. That got a lot of pop out of the crowd. Your impression of the linebacking crew in this game and what it means for the Patriots going forward. But. Oh, yeah. You know, you go back to last year, how thin they were and, you know, they they just did not seem to have it all season long. And then you looked at that game on Sunday, and I thought Dante Hightower looked kind of rusty out there

in his first real game action. But I thought Van Nooy had a very strong game. You talked about Uche. That play there was fantastic. And then, you know, Matthew Judon, I thought, was really, really solid in this game. In fact, if the Patriots had ended up pulling out the win, I think that that picture of Judon just launching himself into Tua's ribs

would have been the lead picture on every, you know, periodical cover in the game. That would have been the big turning point. I thought the linebackers were really solid in this one. You know, they still have some issues covering running backs out of the backfield, and I think almost every team has that issue. So, you know, it's just because of the speed of the game has gotten so fast. Overall, I thought it was a really solid game for the linebacking crew.

Agreed. Absolutely agreed. And I want to give a little linebacking love to my guy, Adrian Phillips, as well, who did play some hybrid linebacker on Sunday. And I was a little surprised to see it because of all of the upgrades that they made. But he can still prove that he can penetrate, get in on some of the coverage. He was instrumental in the interception by Jonathan Jones, he and Matt Judon, and even Kyle Van Noy assisting on that as well. And then making a couple of key stops in the third quarter that really gave the Patriots a chance in this one defensively. So that core is definitely looking solid. And folks, I do believe that there was much more positive than negative for the Patriots defense with the exception of that first drive. I thought they looked good for the better part

of the game, even in some of the subsequent drives where they gave up some points, they didn't make it easy. Only the first drive really made it look easy for the Dolphins. So we'll continue to build and we'll continue to move forward. And that leads me quite nicely into my final question for you today, bud. And we continue now to look ahead to the Jets, or I should say we start to look ahead to the Jets. And, you know, this is going to be a game that a lot of Patriots fans are going to look at and say, oh, this is a great opportunity for us to get back on track. You know, we'll get to the Jets and then we'll focus on the Saints and on the Bucs coming up. But the Jets are kind of an enigmatic team. I mean, they have a new quarterback in Zach Wilson, some new pieces. We now know that Mekhi Becton is going to be out. He will not play on Sunday. He's going to be out with surgery for quite a bit. So the Jets are coming into this game.

They're going to be at home. The Patriots are going to be on the road. First initial thoughts on the New York Jets and how you see this one playing out from the Meadowlands this coming Sunday. Well, you know, you look at that game they had against Carolina and their offensive line really had a rough day. You know, Zach Wilson was sacked six times. He was hit 10 times. He was hit ten times. He was pressured 14 times. And now with Beckton out, you know, you have to look at this,

and I think the Patriots are going to try to force the issue here with him and try to force him into making some mistakes. And part of that was Wilson's fault. It was his first game as well. And, you know, he held onto the ball a little too long on some of those games, some of those plays, excuse me. And, you know, but you look at the Jets' defense, you know, they lost Carl Lawson, who was their big free agent signing.

You know, he's on IR. And I thought, you know, with everyone focusing on Beckton, you know, when they lost safety to LaMarcus Joyner, I thought that was a really big loss for them because then Sheldrick Redwine comes in and he gets burnt for like a 60-yard touchdown pass. So the Jets have some issues, especially with injuries right now. But, you know, they have some speed on the outside and that's something the Patriots are going to have to address this week because I thought Miami speed kind of took

them back a little bit yeah absolutely and if that is going to continue to be an issue that could end up being a long-term problem for the New England Patriots. So, you know, they're going to look to contain the speed of the Jets. And I also think that from an offensive standpoint, like you said, maybe take it up a notch a little and maybe look at a guy like J.J. Taylor who might give you a little more pop in that lineup on an offensive standpoint as well. So Steve will continue to keep our sharp eye on the jets as Sunday's game approaches, but thank you so much for joining me here today, lending your wisdom and counsel on a tough loss to open the season, but some bright spots and there is, you know, some positivity on the horizon for the New England Patriots as they head into week two. Before I let you go, my friend, for the benefit of our new listeners, please let everyone know where they can find you, your great work, and what you have coming up from the great pen and the great voice of Steve Balistrieri. Well, thanks again, Mike. I appreciate the invite and all the kind words every week. You can find me on Twitter at SteveB7SFG.

I write for PatsFans.com. And as you can tell by my last answer to your question, right now I'm looking at the Jets. I'm re-watching the Jets game. I'm going to play back that and maybe the last preseason game. And, you know, we'll be looking at the J jets and seeing how they match up with the patriots absolutely and it's always fun when divisional rivals get a chance to hook up in the green side of the medellins this weekend and we'll have our sharp eye on it for you right here on locked on patriots and steve we look forward to breaking this one down again in similar fashion next

tuesday in the meantime stay safe and well. And thank you for being my guest today on Locked on Patriots, as always. Honored and humbled by your presence, buddy. Just like that, Patriots fans, we are almost to the halfway point of your work week. But fear not, because there is still tons of Patriots coverage to come, including Thursday's Crossover Thursday episode with John Buchko of Locked On Jets. So to ensure that you do not miss a single second of the action,

download, subscribe to, and follow the Locked On Patriots podcast on platforms such as Spotify, the Odyssey app, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts, just make sure that you are staying locked in to Locked On Patriots. Once again, my name is Mike DeBate. I thank my good friend Steve Balistrieri 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 continuing to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Until tomorrow, Foxborough faithful, stay safe, stay well, be the change you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone.