Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Seventh Heaven? Brady and the Bucs are Super Bowl Champions, Patriots on to 2021 — 2/8/2021

Episode Date: February 8, 2021

While it wasn’t quite the same, several New England Patriots fans took great delight in watching former quarterback Tom Brady win his seventh Super Bowl championship, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9 in Super Bowl LV. Joining host Mike D’Abate is fan-favorite Thomas ‘Murph’ Murphy, as the duo discuss Brady’s legacy as the Greatest of All Time, as well as the Bucs superior game plan and efforts on the field. They also turn their attention to the Patriots offseason and the team’s greatest needs heading into 2021.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 “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% 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. EchelonGo to EchelonFit.com/LockedOn and try any Echelon Fitness equipment at home for 30 days. 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 in to the Lockdown Patriots podcast. It is Monday, February 8th, 2021, and there's a sense of seventh heaven here on your daily home for news notes and analysis infused with the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. Greetings and salutations, Patriots Nation.

Thank you for kicking off your work week by joining me here on the pod. 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, because it's your team every day, that means your questions, comments, and feedback are always welcomed and very much appreciated. Share that feedback and send it to the internet by reaching out to me and following me on Twitter at MDABATEFPC.

And while you're out there doing some Monday musing through the Twitterverse, please be sure to follow the Locked On Patriots account as well at LO underscore Patriots. Patriots fans, you know I'm a fan of movie quotes. Anyone who's listened to the show in the past knows that I occasionally drop one or two or maybe 300 movie quotes throughout the week here on Lockdown Patriots. Last night as I was watching the closing minutes of Super Bowl 55, I thought of a quote from one of my favorite all-time movies from one of my favorite all-time characters, Hans Gruber in the movie Die Hard. And when Hans looks across the table, the table with Nakatomi's latest project, and

he looks at Mr. Takagi and says, And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer. Benefits of a classical education. But of course, I was watching the Super Bowl, much like all of you. I wasn't thinking of Hans. I wasn't thinking of Takagi. I was thinking of Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr.,

the, in my humble opinion, greatest of all time. In Tom's 10th visit to the Super Bowl, he wins his 7th Lombardi Trophy, becomes a 5-time Super Bowl MVP, leading a total team effort from start to finish as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are your Super Bowl 55 champions. And make no mistake about it, folks, as much as we love Tom up here in New England, each and every member of that Tampa Bay Buccaneers franchise deserves it, from the coaching staff to the offense to the defense. Just an incredible showing last night for Tampa Bay as they defeat the former defending champion Kansas City Chiefs 31-9 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. And I just can't resist throwing in movie quotes,

but folks, when I think about that quote and I think about its relation to what Tom Brady has done in his 20-year career in the NFL, I can't help but think that it's absolutely appropriate. There simply is no denying it. Tom Brady is the greatest of all time. He would still be the greatest of all time, even if he did not win Super Bowl 55 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The six rings he won here in New England already put him at the top of the list of most decorated championship players.

Now, with his victory last night, Tom has two more than the next player on the list, which is defensive lineman Charles Haley. Again, we said it before, most Super Bowl appearances with 10, most Super Bowl MVP awards. Tom also holds the record for most Super Bowl pass attempts with 421, most completions with 277, most Super Bowl touchdown passes with 21. Most Super Bowl passing yards with 3,039. Most pass attempts in a single Super Bowl with 62. Most pass completions in a single Super Bowl with 43. The most passing yards in a single Super Bowl, which Tom did in Super Bowl 52 against the Philadelphia Eagles, a game incidentally in which the Patriots lost. He also holds the record for the most 300-yard passing games in the Super Bowl with four, most game-winning drives in a Super Bowl with six, most decades with a Super Bowl title

win with three, and he now becomes the oldest quarterback to ever win a Super Bowl at 43 years of age. That's an extensive list. His detractors will say, well, yeah, he's been there more times than anybody else. Of course he's going to hold those records. Still doesn't make it any less impressive. No matter how many times you want to slander what this guy can do on the field, one thing is for certain, whether you want to admit it or whether you don't, Tom Brady is simply the best to ever put on shoulder pads and cleats. And in my humble opinion, there's not even a close second.

And as I was preparing for today's pod, I recognize that a lot of us out there in Patriots Nation, and believe me folks, as much as I've sung Tom Brady's praises today, there's a part of me, as well as all of you, that wishes he was celebrating his 7th championship right here in New England. A lot of people still believe it should have happened that way. Truth be told, I don't like to live in a lot of what-ifs and hypotheticals. I wish it was here in New England, but regardless, I'm happy to see Tom Brady be able to succeed if the Patriots are not the one he's succeeding against. And I'll come back to that point in a

minute. But as I search for something poignant or something eloquent to say to adequately sum up Tom's greatness, I realize that everything that needs to be said about Tom Brady has already been said. And they've been said by Tom himself. Not with his words, not in front of a microphone, not through social media platforms or any media mouthpieces or family members that want to sing his praise. What sets Tom Brady apart from the rest of the field is the example he sets on the field. It got me thinking back to 2017 and my first year covering the Patriots at Gillette.

For the first time, I got a chance to watch Tom Brady on the practice fields, watch him interact with his teammates, the respect that his teammates showed to him, the reverence they showed to how he taught them on the field, and their desire, their joy, maybe even a little bit of awe in just playing with him on the same field. Those feelings will always stand out to me in my days of covering Tom Brady, getting a chance to sit in the media room and watch him interact with members of the media. You can really see the joy and the excitement he has when he talks about football. This guy just lives and breathes it every single day. He doesn't need to sing his praises. He doesn't need anyone else to sing his praises for him. He simply sets the standard every time he steps on a football field. And everybody who's played

with him or played against him can tell you that Tom Brady is obsessed with two things, winning and being the best possible football player he can be. He's not obsessed with being the GOAT. He's not obsessed with records. He's not obsessed with having his name on top of the various quarterback rankings that you'll find all throughout social media and sports media. What he's obsessed with is exactly what he achieved last night, winning the Lombardi Trophy, winning championships, and making his teammates around him better. That's why he's still a champion at age 43. That's why he's a leader, and he will be until the day he retires. And I know, folks, I've gone heavy on the Brady praise today.

I would not be doing my job if I didn't mention that Tampa Bay's offensive line, defensive line, their coaching staff, coordinators, everyone on that team and in that organization from top to bottom, all contributed to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers winning the Super Bowl, and they all deserve it. That was a 100% team effort last night. And they did it against a team that is not easy to beat. Say what you will about the Kansas City Chiefs. They may not have had their best game last night, but this is still a very good team, and they're not going anywhere anytime soon.

Yeah, they got hit pretty hard last night, but what champions do is they get up, dust themselves off, and come back stronger. That's what Andy Reid and this Kansas City coaching staff must do to the offensive line, the defensive line, the skill position players, and of course, quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who really, I think, played as good of a game as he could last night, especially under the circumstances. Very little protection from the offensive line. Patrick was on the run most of the night, really could not find a rhythm. He's got to shoulder the load for some of that, but it certainly wouldn't be fair to

put that loss completely on his shoulders. In my opinion, I was more impressed by the defensive game plan of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers than I was disenfranchised by watching Patrick Mahomes last night. Todd Bowles and that defensive coaching staff for Tampa Bay had a brilliant game plan. And to be honest with you, a lot of what Tampa did well is a lot of what we talked about when we took that trip back in time in the Belichickian time machine last Thursday

and took a page out of the Patriots playbook. Cover two and two-man or man-m match defense all night long, utilizing a four or three man rush to put pressure on Patrick Mahomes without blitzing him, on offense utilizing the power running game to open up play action. These were all things that the Patriots did on October 5th. The only difference is Tampa Bay's skill position players that were put in charge of being able to execute these game plans were far more advanced. And in the end, that's exactly why they are Super Bowl champions. And we'll delve into more post-game analysis from Super Bowl 55, because after all, it's Monday.

Yeah, you know what that means, folks. The hashtag is in full effect, and the embroidered chair has been pulled up to the desk. My legendary Big Green Buddy, the Count of Murphy Fisto himself, Thomas Murphy joins me here today on the hot seat and we'll talk about tom brady's legacy as the greatest of all time we'll break down that impressive tampa bay game plan on both sides of the ball and for those of you that are screaming i thought this was locked on patriots fear not because this is locked on patriots and it forever will be we'll talk about the Patriots' offseason plans and what Bill Belichick might have in store for the Pats this year

in what many are reporting to be an uncharacteristically aggressive offseason for the Pats front office. An action-packed agenda. It's always fun, informative, and very entertaining when my good friend Murph drops by. And today, we'll be talking Foxborough past, present, and future when the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. But first, Locked On listeners, the big game might be in the books, but that does not mean that you still can't put your prognostication skills to the test

and maybe even make a little on it. College basketball, pro basketball are still in full swing, and of course, current headlines in the NFL and where your favorite free agent may end up playing next season on it. College basketball, pro basketball are still in full swing, and of course, current headlines in the NFL and where your favorite free agent may end up playing next season are all still in play for that purpose. So, if that should strike your fancy, there's only one place that has you covered, and one place we trust. BetOnline.ag. Sign up today for a free account at BetOnline.ag and use that promo code LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus. March Madness, NFL free agency, and the push to the NBA playoffs

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Today podcast. Peter Bukowski hosts LockedOn Today, a daily podcast breaking down the biggest stories with analysis from our local experts. Start your day with all the sports news you need in under 20 minutes. Subscribe to Locked On Today wherever you get your podcasts. Patriots fans, when Tom Brady won his sixth Super Bowl championship a couple of years back, we all thought his seventh heaven would be here in Foxborough. At least I did. But alas, Tom wins his seventh ring as a

member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And even though it wasn't as a patriot, I know there are a lot of you here in Pat's Nation that are savoring this victory today. And the best part is, it's Monday, so you can savor it even more, and you might be savoring it with someone else you know and love here on the pod. That's right. It's that time again. Your favorite and mine, my benefactor in this business, the only guest on the pod with his very own branded hashtag, the Count of Murphy Fisto himself,

the legendary Thomas Murphy is back for his weekly appearance here on Locked On Patriots. Thank you for coming to me in friendship and for joining me today, Don Murph. I'm happy to be here, always, man. And, you know, Tom Brady just went out and handled all family business last night, didn't he? He did. He settled all family business. So don't tell me you're innocent. Don't tell me anyone else is the GOAT. Admit what you did

there you go not bad we're only a couple of minutes in we're already quoting the godfather how much better could it be brady i guess the way it could be better is if this was a foxborough championship if we were waiting for that patriots team plane for aircraft to touch down in my neck of the woods in providence rhode island well Well, Warwick, Rhode Island, actually, TF Green Airport. And welcome to Defending Champions back. But in any case, in any case, Murph, really, what can we say at this point? Ten trips to the Super Bowl, seven-time champion, five-time Super Bowl MVP, first quarterback in history to win as a starter in both conferences.

Tom Brady just continues to defy the odds he continues to defy logic and maybe best of all he continues to defy his detractors they're really having a tough day today this really is an anxiety ridden day for those that are not fans of thomas edward patrick brady j. But bottom line, buddy, they're running out of excuses to give TB12 his just due. I thought this argument was over years ago, but apparently some just want to keep it alive. Murph, in your infinite big green wisdom,

now will the GOAT debate finally be settled? You know, I'm right there with you. It was settled for me after Atlanta. Um, it, and it, he's just built upon it. You know, when you, when you talk about cementing a legacy, he's, he's, you know, he's driven a pile down to bedrock. Now there there's, there's nobody can come out and say a thing. I didn't think anybody could after coming back from 28-3. But what he was able to do yesterday was, yeah, it was cementing. It has to change the narrative for a lot of people that were hanging on to this.

This run was amazing. What he did in going into New Orleans and beating them after losing two games in the regular season, beating Drew Brees, his contemporary, and then going up to Green Bay and beating the next guy, the next goat. And then what he did last night to Kansas City and completely stifling any hopes that Patrick Mahomes, or as I say, Patty Mahomes, had of being the next guy, of being in the conversation, was just shut completely down. It was, this is a guy that, that people are calling the heir apparent and once again, another, the next guy and Brady went out and he spanked him.

A lot of detractors over the years have been, have said, well, you know, Joe blew out so-and-so by this score. And this game was over by the second half, and it definitely after the beginning of the third quarter when Mahomes marched the team down, and oh, look, they got another field goal, and then Tom walked onto the field, marched them 70-plus yards, and put the ball in the end zone again.

It was just like, no, it's not happening today. Nobody's going to sweat this one out. I'm going to do what I have to do. I'm going to make the passes that I'm going to have to make, and I'm going to walk off this field with a giant smile on my face and just blown away by what he has been able to accomplish over his career. And last night was just the capper, being able to go in and do it with a brand-new team in a year like this one.

It's just I can't see how anybody could look themselves in the mirror or into a camera or into a microphone and say anything different than Tom Brady's the greatest football player to ever walk the face of the earth. Without question. So well said. And, you know, I think in a lot of ways, I think what upsets people so much about Tom and the success that he has is they're so worried about trying to anoint the next guy. You mentioned that, whether it be Aaron Rodgers, whether it be Patrick Mahomes, whether it be even Drew Brees, who really is his contemporary. We've heard Russell Wilson. You know, now we're going to start hearing names like Justin Herbert.

It's just natural for teams, I think, to want to or fans, I should say, or even media members to want to believe the next big thing, the greater thing is still out there. What upsets people the most about tom brady is he's not done being the guy yet i think in a lot of ways you have to look at this and say who's better than tom brady right now and you know it's it there's i understand the arguments you're going to mix in the arguments oh well he can't throw across his body or he can't make the behind the back pass or whatever. You know, these things that, you know, people want to conjure up as reasons to discount him from being the GOAT. But when it comes down to it, his accomplishments speak volumes on the field. As I watched this game last night, I thought a lot of my father because he and I were both on the Brady train right from the beginning. The moment Drew Bledsoe went down, not necessarily in that New York Jets game, but there was

something different about the way this kid conducted himself in that first game in Indianapolis. And I remember my father looking at me and he said, this is different. There's something in this kid that I haven't seen in a lot of other quarterbacks. Definitely not here. And I don't mean any disrespect to Drew Bledsoe, who I was a huge fan of growing up without any question. Still am to this day. But Tom conducted himself different.

And my dad used to tell me all the time, and I thought about this with Tom, let your accomplishments speak for themselves. You don't necessarily have to have anybody talk for you when your accomplishments are so indelible in and of themselves that they don't need to be sold when you have to sell your worth to people Murph it's a dead giveaway of insecurity and perhaps the reason why we're so consistently sold the argument of this quarterback is more athletic or that quarterback is more mobile really is about insecurity these quarterbacks in a lot of ways have to be sold because their on- field accomplishments in my opinion don't measure up to what tom has done and if you're a fan of anyone except the

patriots and now i guess maybe the buccaneers it hurts to see someone else have the kind of success that tom's had he's ruined quite a few super bowl parties over the years um right but there's a part of him that'll always be a patriot i tweeted that out last night and most of patriots nation i think was was pretty happy to see him do what he did. But even though we're marveling at what Tom has done throughout his career. Still conflicted. Confliction's okay. Exactly.

Patriots Nation. There is some confliction. There is. There really is. And I feel it as well. And we're going to get to that confliction, including very prominent New England name that might be part of that friction, folks. But we'll get to that in a minute.

I don't think we'd be doing our due diligence or our job, really, if we didn't mention the outstanding play of Tampa Bay's offensive and defensive lines in this game because they were outstanding. The offensive line provided Tom with a lot of time, a lot of protection. Credit to Tom. He took advantage of time, a lot of protection. Credit to Tom. He took advantage of that as a great quarterback does. Most importantly, they opened the seams for the Bucs to establish their power run game. And you, Steve, and I talked about this last week on your show, One Patriots Place, and we talked about it even here on Locked on Murph last week. Use guys like Ronald Jones, Leonard Fournette, attack the weakness of this Kansas City defense, vulnerable to stop the power run because they run that big nickel.

They run that dime package that leaves them vulnerable in that area. And they did it. They did it effectively. Defensively, the Bucs were really masterful. Todd Bowles deserves so much credit. The one thing that I think he deserves the most credit for is resisting the urge to blitz. This is a guy that's been very stubborn about that in his professional career, but he did it. Instead of blitzing and going aggressive against Mahomes, he did what we said they should have done last week. Play cover two and then drop to two man. Keep the safeties deep. Rush no more than four.

I even saw a three-man rush at that time. Got to give a little credit to Bill Cowher, who called that before the game as well. Three-man rush. This is the way to stop this guy. I dedicated an entire show last week to encouraging the Bucs to take a page out of that Patriots playbook from October 5th in week four when these two teams played.

The Bucs did that, and they did it better, simply because they have the better personnel. But how impressed were you with the Tampa Bay game plan last night on both sides of the ball? Wholeheartedly impressed. It became really apparent to me during this game and or should I say during this playoff run that Tom Brady has become the head coach, the offensive coordinator, and the GM of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He's the one that's bringing in the players.

He got Gronk to come out of retirement. He convinced them to bring in Antonio Brown. Seeing Gronkowski and Brown catch three touchdowns last night was everything that Tom Brady had envisioned before this season started as to what he was going to do. I even believe that he had a lot to do with Fournette being brought in because he knew that they needed to be deeper there and that they needed to be more versatile. He saw here what happened when you had running backs that weren't versatile,

and he brought them in. Yeah, Steve called that one really well. I think what Todd Bowles saw in their first matchup and what I wrote in my keys to the game played out perfectly. He had the perfect game plan to stop this team. It's been out there for a very long time. I've written these keys.

I've cut these keys at least four times. This was a very easy game plan to do. The guys that can go into this game and look across at the Chiefs, this is how you stop them. You play this game above the head, not below the waist. And that's what they convinced Todd Bowles to do. Hats off to them for staying the course. I think they blitzed maybe four or five times in the entire game, and that might have been too many.

Yeah, absolutely. I think in a lot of ways, you look at the statistics, the Bucs blitzed on 9.6% of their dropbacks. That's the lowest rate by a Todd Bowles-led defense over the last five seasons, completely against type. I don't want to hear that those keys aren't being read throughout the country, folks. I know they're being read throughout the country. It was one of the few things that I saw last night where I said, you know what?

I said, this is really it. And because of the keys and because of our conversations, even the last time the Patriots played the Chiefs, we talked about this type of game plan being a way to control or maybe even contain or marginally disrupt patrick mahomes and he was marginally disrupted last night constantly on the run he looked terrible he didn't know what to do yeah exactly the the ceaseless pressure that uh the the bucks were able to put on him was because they were able to rush only three a maximum of four

that allows your uh you know that allows your defense to be able to stuff the run. It allows you to be able to set the edge, and it allows blanket coverage in the secondary, and those safeties were excellent last night. Whether they were playing cover two, which is the zone coverage with two deep safeties, or they switched to the man match, that two-man coverage with two deep safeties,

keep them deep, prevent guys like Tyreek Hill from getting out into the area where they can get big yardage. Travis Kelsey was effectively shut down. Masterful game plan for the Bucs. Yeah, it really was. All the stats that you see over on the Kansas City side of the ball were garbage stats. They came at garbage time. Kelsey was not a factor in this game at all. Hill was not a factor in this game at all. They did what they were supposed to do on that side of the ball. They said, somebody else is going to beat us Bowl champions today. And I like to think a certain kid from San Mateo, California, had a little to do with that. And instilling some of that killer instinct that Tom is known to bring with him. He is. He's a dyed-in-the-wool killer. He is. He's a dyed-in-the-wool killer. Cold, clean, and methodical. When Arians tried to switch out personnel to stretch the field a little more,

Tom sent them back off the field in the third quarter. He said, no, get off. We're doing what we're doing. And he sat there. You could hear the guys in the booth. They're talking over it. And I'm screaming at the TV, shut up. You're getting audio of Tom Brady here on the game.

And Brady's actually waving players off because he had the grouping on the field that he wanted to. Make no mistake, this was Tom Brady's crowning achievement as a coach and GM and quarterback last night. Yeah, without question. I mean, he just continues to show his prowess. And it's a lot of fun watching tom get the ring i'm not gonna lie to you i enjoyed it last night but uh this is locked on patriots buddy and uh we're gonna talk about that conflict in a minute because with super bowl 55 now in the books it's time to get back to business new england patriots business folks and in just a moment

murph and i will talk pat's business did last night's outcome maybe change the level of urgency in the Foxborough front offices? And last but not least, Murph is going to enlighten us on what the Pats' biggest needs are as the offseason here in Foxborough is about to begin. More with my man Murph when the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. Patriots fans, you've all heard the phrase, often imitated but never duplicated. I mean, is there a better phrase to describe your favorite football team in Foxborough? Six Super Bowl titles in just under two decades?

Yeah, no other NFL team in the modern era can even come close to making that claim. Only the best can provide the best. And when it comes to protein bars, the only ones who could provide the best healthy, low-calorie, and delicious treats you know and love are the ones who provided the best in the first place. So prepare your taste buds for wow and make Bilt Bar your go-to protein bar right now. No one can do it like they do it. 100% real chocolate, soft, easy to chew, and Bilt Bar is available in mouth-watering flavors like cookies and cream, peanut butter brownie, apple almond crisp, lemon almond cheesecake, just to name a few.

But Bilt Bar is not only low calorie and low sugar, but it's also high protein and high fiber. Great for all of you following the keto lifestyle. Bilt Bar has no crazy additives, half the calories of its most popular competitors, and get this, seven times fewer carbs, seven times fewer sugar grams, and more protein. How can it be that good for you and taste that good? Well, folks, all I can tell you is Built Bar is just that good. Go to BuiltBar.com and use promo code LOCKEDON to get 20% off your next order. Don't delay, do it today. Use promo code LOCKEDON for 20% off at BuiltBar.com. Patriots fans Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are Super Bowl 55 champions. Tom gets his seventh Super Bowl title and only cements even more what we already knew up here

in New England. He is simply the greatest of all time. Old friend Rob Gronkowski having a big game, notching two big touchdowns, and in my opinion, proving why he is the best and most complete tight end the game has ever seen. But the Locked On Podcast Network has your Super Bowl recap covered from every angle. After this podcast, listen to Locked On today for the biggest storylines, Peacock and Williamson for the X's and O's, and check out our Locked On Chiefs and Locked On Bucks podcasts for in-depth local expertise. Pats fans, Thomas Murphy joins me here today for his weekly appearance.

It's hashtag Locked On Murph Monday here on the pod. And buddy, most of Patriots Nation seem pretty happy that Tom Brady was able to hoist his seventh Lombardi trophy last night. We did talk about some of the conflict, and I'll be honest with you, it didn't quite feel the same. Really, if I'm being honest, there was a big part of it that was missing, and that was the Flying Elvis logo, the Patriots, seeing Robert Kraft up there. We know earlier on in the week that Robert Kraft was one of Tom Brady's biggest supporters in this game, openly rooting for Tom. The Patriots' official social media account last night even tweeted out its congratulations quote to the greatest of all time. It was nice to see that. But there are some that

will say that one New England resident in particular might not have been so happy to see last night play out the way it did, and that's Pat's head coach, Bill Belichick. Look, bottom line, buddy, I place very little to no stock in the Brady and Bill hate each other narrative. The sticking pins in each other's voodoo dolls or they're out to get one another. I don't place a whole lot of that narrative because I think it's an irrelevant argument. I think these guys are so self-motivated to win in and of themselves. They don't need each other to fuel one another. But we know that in this business, ego can play a role no matter who you are. And I don't think it's overstepping my boundaries to say that now that Bill has won, now that Brady has won without Bill, excuse me, critics are going to say that Bill's now is going to be on the clock. And, you know, I think the Patriots know this too, or they might be feeling it maybe a little more than they want to acknowledge. In fact, our good mutual friend Tommy Curran of NBC Sports Boston recently reported that

his team sources indicate that this could be an uncharacteristically aggressive offseason for the Patriots. Murph, in terms of pursuing talent both in the draft and via free agency and this aggressive uncharacteristic aggression that we might see do you believe that Tom's victory last night might add a little bit of fire to the Patriots sense of urgency to return to contention fairly quickly the Patriots yes Bill Belichick no Bill has a plan folks perfectly you all keep thinking that he doesn't have a plan um he first of all he didn't think Tom was going to walk away

so everybody talking about you don't have the next quarterback you you have no plan you're insane nobody has a plan for losing the the greatest football player that's ever walked the face of the earth you just don't um but no it's bob craft will be a a little more um worrisome the you know you know what the how the media is going to react because it's going to generate phone calls and to you to your to your shows and and clicks for your uh for your columns and but no bill is, Bill is not, he knew that this was going to happen once Tom walked out the door. What he's going to do is the same thing that he has done in the past.

He's going to fill holes where you don't see them yet. He's going to fill holes where you don't see them yet. He's going to go after this draft in the same way that he does every single year. He will bring in free agents, but that aggression is going to be... When was the last time the New England Patriots had $63 million to play with? Honestly, when was the last time that happened? Okay, every single year they go into the season with $5 to $7 million worth of cap space, you know, so they can make moves during the year when everybody else is complaining,

why don't you spend to the cap? Why don't you spend to the cap? Well, this is why. So you can make moves during the year. This year, that didn't happen. Okay, it happened last year, the year before. You can go back for 20 years. Bill has always made some kind of deal at the deadline. He didn't do that this year. He didn't spend money this year when it opened up so he could carry it over to next year. Things are going to change, unfortunately. There's going to be moves to be made on the line of scrimmage, money to be

spent there. There's money to spend at wide receiver. You can't go back and say this is a knee-jerk reaction. No, Bill actually has some cabbage on the counter that he can throw out there and bring some people in here, and that's what he's going to do. He's going to spend the money smartly. He's going to spend the money in the same way that he has before. You're going to be asking yourselves, why are you spending so much money on a position where you are already strong? Because that's how you stay strong, and that's how you stay winning,

is to build upon your, um, your strengths and not chase stuff at your weakest spot at your weakest points. Um, I do believe that, that it's going to, uh, there may be a big signing this year, but I, you know, just don't expect him to go out and throw $30 million a year at a free agent quarterback. Don't expect him to trade a first-round pick for one of these guys that is on the block. It's not going to happen.

Absolutely. Perfectly said. And, again, I agree with you wholeheartedly. But I want Levante David here tomorrow. From your lips to God's ears, we would absolutely love that. And that's not the first time I've said this. It's not. You've been beating this drum for quite a while,

and I completely, completely agree with you. But, look, the one thing that I agree with you the most on is the Patriots, yes, because I think the fan base, the organization, they want that success. When you've tasted that success, you don't want to go back to being a franchise that has to watch this game from the sidelines. You want to be there. But Bill Belichick is not going to be pushed into knee-jerk reactions.

I agree with you. He wasn't sitting there with, you know, with, you know, you know, the chief sheriff. There's no voodoo doll. You know, he wasn't sitting there last night with a voodoo doll sticking pins in anything. That's not what he was doing. I'm not saying he did cartwheels, but that's not what he was doing. The guys get back to work this week, and that's exactly what they're going to do. There will be some money spent, and hopefully this draft will turn out to be –

the thing people don't understand about the draft and the Patriots is the fact that, like I said, they're not looking to fill this year's holes. This year's holes will get filled via free agency. They're going to go with this draft, and they're going to fill holes that are going to happen at the end of next season, at the end of the season before. It's going to allow Bill to make some more moves and maybe trade away some players that you were scratching your head saying, why the hell is Bill trading him?

That's what he does. He's got somebody else to come and fill that spot. Fill that hole before it's made. You just can't do that at quarterback. You can't. He's tried. He's made a few moves. And, you know, unfortunately, not unfortunately for the fans, it didn't work out that way with Garoppolo. And, you know, he flew until he meaning bill belichick proves that he can't do it any longer i'm going to give the guy the benefit of the doubt and he's always going to take the big picture approach and that's something to remember folks i know it's hard to look at tom and bronc and the success they're having in tampa right now and say that could have been us that should have been us there's a good no approach it wouldn't it wouldn't have it

would not have happened here in new england even would have kept rebuilding the way he does, reloading the way he does from the inside out on the offensive side of the ball and from the outside in on the defensive side of the ball. That's why he's brilliant. That's why he's Bill Belichick. And that's why this team has been able to do what it has for the past 20 years along with having Tom Brady well said buddy well said you know so eloquent in fact that I'm going to ask you to keep that GM hat on for a moment because buddy regardless of the approach that the Pats are going to take in the offseason again like we said they have to build a team for 2021 we spend a lot of time talking about quarterbacks here on the pod we're going to spend more time folks but that is far from the Patriots' only need in this offseason. Murph, we started off with a Godfather quip.

Let's end with one. Much like Michael Corleone in Godfather Part 2, ceded temporary control of the Corleone family to Tom Hagen. I'm going to cede that control to you. Not that I have any authority to do this, by the way, folks, but it's my show. I'm going to do it. I'm going to give you the authority.

You're the GM. You're going to be the Don. You're given the GM duties of the New England Patriots. Don Murph, what does your offseason plan look like? What are the Patriots' biggest needs as we head into a pretty important offseason up here in Foxborough? Well, their immediate needs are revamping this defensive line. That's where I'm starting.

I'm going to attack the draft and try to move up and grab the best defensive lineman that is available. This is a very deep draft at other positions. It is not a deep draft on the defensive line and i'm going after quitty pain as as hard as i possibly can because you go back and the biggest problem that this team had besides a quarterback that can no longer play quarterback is uh stopping the run and that's what they're going to have to focus on. They're going to have to get faster at linebacker, and they need that big, giant, run-stuffing

SOB there in the middle, and that's the 6'4", Quitty Payne out of Michigan. That's where I'm going after. I'm not going to take a shot on one of these quarterbacks after what we saw, what we weren't able to see during the season. I'm going to wait. I'll see who's there in the second round and see if we can do something there or even the third round, which I'm not really sure of. Bring in a veteran that is going to be able to be here for more than a season, and also see what Stead really has after a real off-season program with a real training camp.

I'm not going to write him off yet, not after what small glimpses we've been able to see of him this year and what's being written and talked about on Sports Talk Radio in New England. Yeah, and I think, again, quarterback talk is really the opiate of the masses when it comes to offseason talk, especially for the New England Patriots and their fans. Right now, everybody wants to know who's going to be the signal caller. You look at all the success Tom's had over the course of the last couple of weeks

and a few weeks, even months, and naturally it's going to gravitate toward that. I wish you could see the grin from ear to ear on my face when you mentioned Quidipe. First of all, one of my favorite prospects in this draft without any question. Quidipe also happens to hold the distinct honor of graduating from my alma mater, Bishop Hendrick in high school in Warwick, Rhode Island. He is a fellow hawk. Quitty is definitely a lot better than I was when I wore that uniform. Folks, by surprise, leaps and bounds.

But I can tell you this kid in terms of character, in terms of heart, in terms of work ethic. We used to say at Bishop Hendrick in all Hawks are quality one. This kid is at the top of the heap. And you talk about skill on the field, size, speed, ability to move his feet, football IQ. Quitty has it all. I just hope he might be there at number 15. There are so many teams right now that are zooming in on him, and I have a feeling that a lot of these teams are going to have both eyes,

sharp eyes affixed on this kid because of what he can do to a defense. He's a game changer, and if he's there at 15 and the Patriots don't pull the trigger, you're going to be hearing a loud scream and a thud coming from Providence, Rhode Island, and it's going to be because of yours truly, and it probably will coming from Providence, Rhode Island. And it's going to be because of yours truly. And it probably will be because of Murph as well. But I would love to see him in a Patriots uniform.

I just wonder about the realism of whether or not they're going to be able to pull it off. But that would be the ultimate coup for the New England Patriots. He's my new Stefan to it. Absolutely. He's my new Stefan to it. Yeah, without question. And he's also a michigan wolverine as well imagine chase winovich josh uche quidipe and patriot blue kind of good uh you know the maze and the goal you know the maze and blue up there uh in uh in michigan they guys tend to look good in patriot blue too so maybe we're on to something, but you know, Murph, what can I say,

but you lend your wisdom, your counsel, like no other. That's why your family here at locked on Patriots. And that's why we're happy to brand the chair in your honor, give you the hashtag, make it locked on Murph Monday. You make it your own.

Every time you step in the seat and I, for one, I'm so happy to be along for the ride folks. You should already be following my good friend, the count of Murphy Fisto himself. But for any of our new listeners, and we continue to get new listeners here on Locked on Patriots each and every week and each and every day, welcome to all of you. Hope you enjoy the content.

And please follow my good friend on Twitter, at TeamMurph207. Murph alluded to his monster keys earlier. I mean, he hits the nail on the head 99.97 percent of the time don't miss them they're point click learn enrichment material you become a better football fan much more knowledgeable proudly found on diehardbostonsportsfans.com and of course never miss an episode of one Patriots place with my good friend here, our great mutual friend, Steve Balistrieri. And how can we forget the Countess of Clas herself, Ms. Claire Cooper. Buddy, thank you so much. Honored and humbled as always by your presence.

Buddy, always my pleasure to be here. It's my favorite party. It's the only reason I get out of bed on Monday. Well, we love it. You know what? The fact that we can bring you that type of joy and that type of motivation on a Monday, really, I mean, I might as well retire. I'm at the pinnacle of what I need to do. No, I'm only kidding, folks. I do. I take that as a deep compliment. We have a lot of fun at each other's expense here on the airwaves, but there are few, if any, that have as much respect and love for this man as I do. You're one of the greats, Murph, in all aspects. And it's always my honor, always my honor to share the mic with you, buddy. Stay safe, stay well, stay warm and careful out there in the snowy tundra that's becoming the Northeast this week. But we look forward to having you back here next week and talking Patriots with you next Monday. on the pod. Draft profiles, free agency prognostications, Foxborough financials later in the week with

our man Miguel and one of our favorite special guests coming up on Friday. Folks, an action-packed week schedule here on Locked On Patriots, so to ensure that you do not miss a single second of the action, subscribe to and download the Locked On Patriots podcast on platforms such as Spotify, Radio.com, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts, just make sure that you're staying locked in to Locked On Patriots. Once again, my name is Mike DeBate. I thank my good friend Thomas Murphy 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, Pats Nation, stay safe, stay well, continue to be the change you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone.