Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Showdown: Patriots Win Streak Faces Ultimate Test Against Rested Bucs

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Patriots look to extend their winning streak while the Bucks look to come out of their buy week hot. That and more on a crossover Thursday edition of Locked on Patriots and Locked on Bucks. You are Locked on NFL crossover, part of the Locked on podcast network. Your team every day. up and welcome into a crossover Thursday edition of Locked on Patriots and Locked on Bucks, your daily podcast covering the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:42 I am James Yarko at J.R.co underscore Bugs, host of Locked on Bucks. He is Nick Cattles at Nick C. Radio, host of Locked on Patriots. And we are here with you covering those two teams five days a week for Locked on. This crossover Thursday is presented by Price Fix. Download the Price Fix app today. Use code locked on NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Nick, we have a lot to talk about. We're going to start things off with the Patriots because this is a really, really interesting matchup based on where these two teams are right now, how they've been playing over the course of the last month or so. But you have the bucks coming out of the buy. You have the Patriots getting ready to play this road game and then be on a short. week and play on Thursday night. So I'll kick it to you first. What is the biggest story right now for the New England Patriots outside of maybe Drake May being one of the MVP leaders in the NFL, quite a fun surprise there. Well, I actually think it is May. And it's not because of, you know, the MVP stretch that he has had. If you go back to, you know, what happened last weekend,

Starting point is 00:01:51 James, I think that was Drake's toughest game, probably since the Pittsburgh game, where he had multiple turnovers. The Atlanta defense kind of got to him a little bit. He made some mistakes. He wasn't seeing the field necessarily great. He made some interesting decisions, you know, leaving the pocket early, missing some open guys. And he said, you know, during Wednesday's meeting with the media, that there are a lot of sacks that he has taken. And he said, you know, a lot of them are on me. And he's right. So I think people are interested, James, to see how Drake May responds after maybe his rockiest game in a while. I don't want to say it was a terrible game because it wasn't.

Starting point is 00:02:29 If you wanted to grade it, you'd probably grade a C. So, you know, how's he, how's he feel going on the road against Tampa, tough defense to face, tough defensive front? And oh, don't forget, Kishon Booty, not practicing on Wednesday. Doesn't sound like he's going to practice or play this weekend. And Kishon Booty's been very critical to this offense. Yeah, selfishly, from a fantasy standpoint, I was hoping that the top story was going to be the Trayvion-Henderson breakout.

Starting point is 00:02:58 We haven't gotten that yet. But Drake Mays been a lot of fun to watch. I know a lot of Bucks fans were dialed in to that game because they were rooting for the Patriots. They wanted to see the Falcons get beat. And it was a super entertaining game. And it was kind of a tale of two halves, right? This was a Patriots team that came out and just dominated the first half.

Starting point is 00:03:19 And then the Falcons slowly worked their way back, thanks in large part to the play. of Drake London, but I got to tell you, from the outside looking it, and obviously you can, shed more light on this, it seems like when you get the right fit at the top, it just changes the entire landscape of what this team is capable of. And I think that Vrable has brought that. And you kind of, I know I personally have wondered, could Mack Jones have been doing this same thing with this coaching staff? Because Mac Jones has been a solid quarterback. And you look at all these young quarterbacks across the league where teams give up on them or coaches move on because they're they're fighting for their job. But kind of what has Vrable meant for this Patriots team

Starting point is 00:04:02 this year that is rattled off six straight wins. Oh, he's meant a ton. He's met the ton, James. You know, when you look at the culture that he is setting in New England, you know, after last year, which was a debacle in every sense of the word, I mean, you just can't imagine a head coach handling as many things badly as Gerard Mayo did, unfortunately for Gerard. And that's off. you know, letting Bill Belichick go and back-to-back four-win seasons. Mike Vrable walked in, and, you know, it's not like he's won a Super Bowl as a coach, but he did take Tennessee to the AFC championship game. He has won at a decent level as a head coach in the league.

Starting point is 00:04:40 I think he's a well-respected guy. Players seem to love to play for him, and he's been able to get the most out of some of these guys already. And, you know, his messages seem somewhat simple, but they're consistent. and he has really good relationships with his players and his coaches. He treats them like human beings. And he connects on a human level. It's not all great, of course.

Starting point is 00:05:02 He also gets after him. He criticizes them. He's a tough coach. He's not an easy coach. But he's able to kind of get to the ground level with these guys. And he just built a belief. And you look back at week five, the win against the Buffalo Bills, I feel like, was really the moment where they said, hey, we could actually be a good football team this year.

Starting point is 00:05:22 because up until that point, it wasn't like you were awesome, right? You lost to Vegas in a game that wasn't good. And then, you know, you look at Miami. You won a game in Miami, which was nice, but Miami had its own issues going on. You needed some breaks in that game. Pittsburgh, you turn the ball over five times and you give the game to the Steelers. And then you had Carolina. And at that time, Carolina was seen as, you know, are they really a serious program at the time?

Starting point is 00:05:50 That win looks better in hindsight with what Carolina. lot is done. It was really that Buffalo win on the road, Sunday night football. And it was also, I mean, let's not get it twisted. Mike Grable's important. But as we know, James, in the NFL, you need a quarterback to win games. And Drake May's level, him getting to the level that he has gotten to this early has been a surprise, a pleasant one. But I'd say, you know, that's really the main reason this team has won football games because the quarterback's literally been one of the top five or six in the game. Yeah. And I've had a lot of fun watching Drake May. It be, it'll be interesting to see how he matches up against the Bucks this week.

Starting point is 00:06:27 But you mentioned Kishon Booty. I had some speculation on an episode earlier this week about Christian Gonzalez. The Patriots are not coming into this fully healthy. And as it has been all season long, the top story for the Buccaneers is the injury problem. So Bucky Irving, Chris Godwin, and Hassan Reddick all this practice on Wednesday. Things don't sound overly optimistic when it comes to their status for Sunday's game. Todd Bowles was asked about Bucky and Godwin. He said they're both running, but Bucky specifically still has not taken any contact with that injured shoulder.

Starting point is 00:07:01 He also spoke about how there's going to be a little bit of a ramp up period before they return to the field. So it looks like they'll probably have to wait at least one more week before either of those two guys return to the offense. Of course, you have starting right tackle. Luke Gedicki, the 21 day window has opened for him to return for his reserve. I don't expect him on Sunday as well, but looking ahead, that's obviously big positive news for the box. Now, I've talked a lot about Bucky and what his return could mean for the offense. And if that isn't going to be this week, unfortunately, that could spell trouble for the Bucks. Rashad is averaging just 3.7 yards per carry.

Starting point is 00:07:40 And he does have four touchdowns, but over the last two games, 73 yards on 23 carries, going against one of the best rug defenses in the NFL. Looks like things are going to be on the arm of Baker Mayfield, as well as the protection of the offensive line. Baker struggled the last couple of games due to injury and protection issues. The Bucks will likely be rolling with the same weapons that they've had for the last game and a half with Mike Evans out. So that's to say it'll be Rashad and Sean Tucker in the backfield and then a Mecca Abuka and a bunch of other guys at receiver. Yeah, I mean, I love the Mecca Abuka coming out of Ohio State. He was one of if not my favorite receivers in the draft.

Starting point is 00:08:19 I thought it was a home run pick. Absolutely love the guy. I mean, there's just so much that he can do, but I know he's dealing with the hammy, and that seemed to hamper him last weekend, or two weeks ago against the Saints. I watched that game on the All-22 this week. And, you know, look, Baker wasn't great.

Starting point is 00:08:36 I pretty much saw him as kind of like a neutral. If you look at the plus plays and the minus plays, he pretty much was even. But a lot of that was not his fault to me. You know, a lot of it was, as you mentioned, the protection issues were rather obvious. I thought Graham Barton was horrendous in that game. And you look at the receivers, they just weren't consistently getting open.

Starting point is 00:08:57 You would look at a play, and even when Baker had time, guys weren't necessarily open for him. So you mentioned the run game. And that's the one thing about the Patriots defense that has been up and down, and they've shown some vulnerability. And they could be without Christian Ellis, who is one of their top two or three linebackers. that position has not necessarily been great.

Starting point is 00:09:17 So we'll see it if he actually plays. That could be a hit for them. But, you know, the one thing about the defense that they have done, week in, week out, no matter who they're playing, is stop the run. They've been dominant. And thanks to Milton Williams, Christian Barmore, Harold Landry, those three guys in the defensive line have been really good against the run. So I do think, you know, if you're a Bucks fan and you're going into Sunday,

Starting point is 00:09:39 I would be stunned if the Bucks could consistently run the football against this defense, because that's, that's really been their calling card consistently from week one up until right now. Yeah, and it hasn't been slouches that they've been shutting down. They have shut down every running back that they've come across, Bejohn, James Cook. They've really done an absolutely phenomenal job. All right, key matchups that are going to go a long way in deciding who wins this game. That is coming up next on a crossover Thursday episode of Locked on Patriots and Locked on Bucks. know the saying look good feel good the problem is the most dress clothes only check one of those boxes

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Starting point is 00:12:19 Price picks, it's good to be right. Thank you again for making Locked on Patriots and Locked on Bucks, your first listen to review every single day. All right, Nick, there's going to be some key matchups in this one for both sides of the football. I want to get the first one that you have for the Patriots. Where are you looking for the Patriots to try to get an advantage on the road against this rested and hopefully a little bit healthier buccaneers team? Well, you know, James, if you want Drake May to play good football on Sunday

Starting point is 00:12:53 if you're the Patriots and you obviously do, you need Drake May to be protected. And I think Will Campbell, who's been, I think, above average this year at left tackle. I know Dame Bruegler from the Athletic just came out with his all rookie team so far halfway through and Will Campbell is on that team. I think he's been good, at times he's been really good, but this is a tough matchup. Will Campbell, Yaya Diabi, you know, when you look at the run in, the past defense that he plays, and, you know, you can't, if you're Will Campbell, you can't consistently lose a matchup. It's obvious, but you just can't consistently lose that matchup because if you lose that matchup,

Starting point is 00:13:30 it opens up a lot of other areas that could get a little bit leaky. And by the way, Garrett Bradbury, the center for the Patriots, who's actually, been way better than I thought he would be. He struggled in Minnesota last year, especially in past protection. He has exceeded expectations. He did not practice on Wednesday. We'll see if that is kind of a management thing because Mike Brables said over the last week or two that he's going to start managing some of the veterans as the year gets deeper. Patriots don't have their byweek until week 14. So maybe that's more rest than anything else. But you've got Will Campbell at left tackle. If he starts getting leaky, Jared Wilson, the other

Starting point is 00:14:08 rookie offensive lineman at left guard. He's had some issues against, you know, big pass rushers and strong guys in the middle of defensive lines. And then you don't know what's going on with Bradbury. So you need Will Campbell to be good on Sunday. Yeah. And I love that you started with the offensive line and the protection there because that's exactly where I'm starting for the box.

Starting point is 00:14:29 And it's not exactly a player for player matchup. Mine is Todd Bowles versus break May. And Bowles has this defense flying around. especially the last couple of weeks. And you mentioned it, you know, even though Drake May has been among the best quarterbacks in the league so far this year, he's also among the most sacked.

Starting point is 00:14:47 He said that some of those are on him. He's second to Cam Ward this season, having been sacked 34 times. So the Bucks as a team are in the top 10 with 25 sacks in just eight games. So a little over three per game. And you add that to that, there are 12 takeaways, including seven interceptions,

Starting point is 00:15:08 has been making life really difficult on opposing quarterback. So Bowles can dial up some pressure early on in this game and get after May on that first second drive. The Bucks have notoriously started off slowly this year, so they really have to come out and establish kind of a little bit of dominance here on the early Patriots drives. It could wind up being a really, really long day for that offense. But with all that said,

Starting point is 00:15:33 Bowles has to find a way to get that pressure without blitzing. I started diving into some of the numbers on Drake May this year. And Bulls has gotten creative in that aspect, but May has been really good against the Blitz. He's been sacked less. He has fewer turnovers when he isn't blitz compared to when he is. And he also, when Blitz has a higher completion percentage and a better passer rating than when it's just against the natural pass rush.

Starting point is 00:15:58 So it's going to be on guys like Vita Vaya, like Elijah Roberts. And then, of course, the edge presence of Yaya Diabi, who's been on a heater in Anthony Nell. who is coming off of the NFC defensive player of the week back in week eight for his performance against the Saints. It'll be on those guys to create some chaos against that offensive line. But ultimately, it's going to fall on Todd Bowles to find the right combination and timing, which he's really done a great job of over the course of the last month. Yeah, Drake May has been very good against the Blitz.

Starting point is 00:16:30 And he saw a lot of it last week against Atlanta, who also loves to Blitz. Rahim Morris, love sending heat at the quarterback. back. When when Drake May makes decisions from the pocket against the Blitz, for the most part, he's been really good. The issue, and the one thing again, and it goes into the sack stat is that at times he bails early. I don't know if he doesn't trust his past protection. I don't know if it's, you know, just he, his natural go-to is kind of tuck and run or try to extend plays. So the Patriots have really tried to pound it into his head. When you start breaking away from the pocket, make sure you remain a passer.

Starting point is 00:17:10 And he's done that at times this year. Other times the eyes drop. He runs. He misses open receivers. He runs into sacks. So that has been an issue with him. And I think it's been the biggest issue, relatively speaking. Again, he has played like a top five quarterback. There's only so much that you can nitpick. But that's been an issue. Anthony Nelson jumped out at me. I mean, I was watching again, I was watching that Saints game. And I wasn't even aware that he won the defensive player of the week. I keep the plus minuses, you know, as I go through the game. And I had Anthony Nelson with, you know, six plus plays and not a single negative play against New Orleans.

Starting point is 00:17:45 I thought he was terrific. I thought Diabi was outstanding. Diabi was the only guy that actually graded a little bit higher than Nelson against the Saints. So I think with those two edge guys, I've also noticed that, at least from what I saw against the Saints, when you go back to week eight, it seems to me that Todd Bowles loves dropping Anthony. Anthony Nelson into coverage and playing some games with blitzes from the corners and the safeties and linebackers. So, you know, Anthony Nelson seems to have that versatility. So he was impressive to me. I look at, you know, another matchup that's interesting and it's going to be,

Starting point is 00:18:19 you know, more trench talk, but Harold Landry against, you know, Charlie Heck. And what can you, you know, what can you get in that matchup if you're the Patriots? Because I thought, and maybe I'm wrong, maybe I didn't see it correctly. I thought Tristan Wirth's had a rough week against Chase Young, the Saints, surprisingly. Outside looking in, I go to a game thinking, you know, as I sit down and watch the game, I'm thinking Tristan Worf's going to be just an absolute stud because that's what he's been. But he had some issues against Chase. But I don't know if you go in, if you're the Patriots James on Sunday thinking Caleb on Chase on, who's been really good, by the way, I don't know if you want to bank on Chase on winning that matchup against Worf's too often. So that means Harold

Starting point is 00:18:59 Landry is going to have to, you know, be good. And I thought Charlie Heck, you know, the offensive line, heck was decent, you know, against the Saints. I didn't think he was great, but I thought he was decent. So can Harold Landry win that matchup consistently? And then maybe you get Chase on to beat Worf's once or twice. And I think you take that as a win if you're the Patriots. Yeah, I will say that was probably Worf's worst game. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:19:24 Like it was really bad. And you have to think he's not 100% yet. And the biweek probably helped him. And it probably motivated him knowing how badly Chase Young was able to beat him over and over. But that Landry versus Heck matchup is incredibly terrifying. Heck has been way more down than up this year. Now, he has improved since he took over in week two when Luke Gedicki left that Texans game with the injury. That was an absolute nightmare.

Starting point is 00:19:52 But back-to-back weeks, this offensive line has just been abused by both the Lions and the New Orleans Saints. So hopefully they are getting back on track. But, yeah, Bucks fans, you need to circle Landry in this one because that could be a game-changing player on the Patriots defense. Real quick, the other one that I'm looking at is going to be a Mecca Abuka against the Patriot secondary. We already kind of mentioned it. All signs seem to point towards Christian Gonzalez playing in this one. And I'm kind of assuming that that's going to be the primary matchup as far as who's going to be on Abuka in this game. But Drake London is coming off quite a game against this Patriots secondary.

Starting point is 00:20:28 you have nine receptions, 118 yards, the hat trick, and Abuka is going to be truly healthy for the first time in three weeks. So the targets for Baker have not been great the last couple of games, but these two have an incredible connection. They're looking to get back on track this week. And the Patriot secondary as a whole, allowing the sixth highest reception percentage in the NFL this season, allowing the eighth most yards after catch. So regardless of whether or not Gonzalez plays, you can throw on this secondary.

Starting point is 00:20:58 And when you have a guy like Tess Johnson, the seventh round rookie, getting more work and getting more involved in the offense and the ability to get tons of yards after the catch as well as stretch the defense, Abuka is going to see some one-on-one opportunities. There have not been many times that he has been stopped by corners in those situations. And I think Bucks fans are chomping at the bit just a little bit to see if a Bucca lines up against Carlton Davis at all on Sunday. old friend Carlton Davis

Starting point is 00:21:29 you know when you look at the situation in the defensive backfield for the Patriots it's an interesting one because it feels like they're still trying to figure out what they want to be you know do they want to lean in on man coverage or as Mike Rable calls it cat coverage you get that cat I get that cat you know do they want to lean in on that and last week they played some man

Starting point is 00:21:49 and they actually did have Christian Gonzalez you know kind of shadow break London from time to time, but the three touchdowns by Drake London, none of them were on Gonzalez. And there was one big play against Gonzalez, and it was really just an unbelievable catch by Drake London. He high pointed it. Gonzalez had good coverage. Gonzalez did illegally contact him during the route, so you have to include that. But Gonzalez also had, you know, some really good reps against Drake London. So it feels like Christian Gonzalez, after missing the first three weeks of the season with a hamstring is kind of getting into shape the last couple weeks and looks

Starting point is 00:22:27 more like Christian Gonzalez than he did prior to that. The biggest mismatch really to me, Marcus Jones has been terrific this year, but what teams are doing is they're taking advantage of his size. And especially when you get into the low red zone area, you know, when you look at last week's game, Atlanta did it. The first touchdown for Drake London, it was, you know, Christian Gonzalez passing off Drake London to Marcus Jones and the Falcons knew they were going to do that and you just throw it up and Drake London Mossed. He just, he Randy Mossed Marcus Jones went over the top of him and came down with it. The second touchdown was for Drake London. That was a motion deal and they ran a rub route and Marcus Jones kind of got lost for a split second. That was enough time. Again, kind of just floated it over his head. And then the third touchdown for Drake London was just an unbelievable catch against Carlton Davis. Davis had good coverage. but it was a one-handed diving towards the sidelines catch where, you know, he held on to it, got both feet in, and then went to the ground and survived the catch, as they call it. So I do think some of that was Drake London just being terrific, but there have been issues with giving up the occasional big plays. The safety play, Craig Woodson, he's playing like 99% of the snaps.

Starting point is 00:23:43 He's a rookie. He's given up some plays. So, yeah, it'll be interesting to see how they even approach a Mecca Abuka. All right, well, we are going to talk about what each of these teams need to do to get a win on Sunday. That is coming up next here on crossover Thursday. NFL season is back and honestly, there's nothing better than being in the stadium surrounded by fans cheering on your favorite team. But let's be honest, getting tickets can be a hassle between queues, log in screens and prices jumping at checkout. It is frustrating. That's why I use game time. The app that gives the advantage back to the fans.

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Starting point is 00:25:25 Download the Price Picks app today. Use code locked on NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Nick, what do the Patriots need to do in order to get this road win and extend their win streak to seven? All right, so I'll quickly run through my three keys for the Patriots.

Starting point is 00:25:46 Number one, I think you need some production. You mentioned earlier. You need some production from Trayvion Henderson in this run game. Also, Terrell Jennings, I would not be surprised if Terrell Jennings, you know, gets even more opportunity this weekend against Tampa. He runs hard. He's kind of just a tunnel vision runner. He's not going to bounce things out, but he's going to run hard straight forward and get you some extra yards off it. But if you can get production from your run game with Trayon Henderson and Terrell Jennings with Ramandre Stevenson, who I think is likely going to be out, He didn't practice last week, missed the game.

Starting point is 00:26:18 He did not practice on Wednesday. He has a toe injury. We don't know if it's turf toe. We have no idea what it is. But if you can do that, then I feel like Tampa can't necessarily pin their ears back consistently, right? They can't go bananas and go after Drake May if you can have some first and second down success. The other thing I would say, and this is kind of low hanging fruit, it's just limit your mistakes. You're on the road.

Starting point is 00:26:42 Tampa, you know, I think is one of the two best teams you faced this year. The only other one is Buffalo and Buffalo mentioned that earlier. So that means, you know, make sure you're not getting a lot of flags thrown on you on Sunday. So you don't give extra possessions or extra downs to Tampa. Don't make those kinds of mistakes and turnovers. Again, it's kind of low hanging fruit. But, you know, the Patriots, they've had seven turnovers between the Pittsburgh game and the Atlanta game. That's why they lost the Pittsburgh.

Starting point is 00:27:10 And when you look at the Atlanta game, that's why Atlanta hung around. I mean, the Patriots were about to go up by who knows how much right before halftime. And then you get the fumble from May and then the, you know, the return all the way inside like the five-yard line, Atlanta scores a touchdown instead of being down by, you know, three touchdowns possibly at halftime. Now they're down by one touchdown. And then Drake comes out and throws an interception, you know, early in the second half as well. So you got to limit those turnovers. And the third thing I would say is, you know, you want to see if. if you can erase Abuca.

Starting point is 00:27:46 I know you mentioned him. We talked about him a little bit, but I do think if you can limit Abuca, I don't think Tampa has a ton at their disposal in this passing game right now. So if you can slow him down, you know, if you give up one shot to somebody else, okay, you can survive that. But you have to go into Sunday saying to yourself, A Mecca, Abuka can't kill us. He can't, as you said, he can't Drake London us.

Starting point is 00:28:10 Because if he Drake London's us, this game could be, you know, this could be really difficult for us to, win. And I think it's going to be difficult for them to win to begin with. So they've got to do their best job against a Bucca and remain disciplined against him. Yeah. And if they eliminate a Bucca, there's going to be a whole lot of other players that Patriots fans have probably never heard of that are going to be catching the ball. You have Tess Johnson, Cam Johnson, Ryan Miller. I think the other guy would have to be Kate Otton, right? He is, he's going to get more involved in the passing game.

Starting point is 00:28:42 But yeah, if they, if they are able to limit and contain a Bucca, that's going to go a really, really long way in their ability to get a win on the road. All right, for the bucks, I'm going to do one on offense, one on defense on offense. You have to give Baker time. I'm saying that for the second crossover episode in a row, but he has been under relentless pressure the last two games and it shows. Not only that, but that pressure continues to build throughout the game. You combine that with his injury, and he just hasn't looked the same as he did the first month and a half of the season.

Starting point is 00:29:16 Vrable knows how to bring the heat. This offensive line has got to be ready. We've talked about their struggles against the Saints last week, Tristan and Charlie Heck and the matchups that they have. The Patriots are top 10 in interceptions this year in the NFL when pressuring the quarterback. They've racked up 20 sacks to go along with seven interceptions. Tristan Worf's has to return to form. The whole line struggled against the lions. These guys have got to get it together to give Baker the time to throw

Starting point is 00:29:46 and start opening up some run lanes to at least show the threat that they're willing to run the ball against one of the better run defense. Defensively for the bucks, it's about how quickly you can make the offense of the Patriots one-dimensional. That's when Bowles is going to be able to draw up a lot of different looks and cause some confusion and frustration for Drake May. We saw him do it to Spencer Rattler and Tyler Shuck in their last game. Drake May's way better than those guys.

Starting point is 00:30:12 But Bowles also did it to Jared Gough the week before. So he has a way of finding the right looks to throw off even seasoned veterans. You bring that pressure, you bring those disguises. You're going to create opportunities for a defense that has been loaded with ballhawks the last couple of games. Two takeaways against the Lions. Four against the Saints. One resulted in a touchdown. Two more should have been touchdowns that were wrongfully blown dead.

Starting point is 00:30:36 but that's what this team has been feeding off of. I expect that to continue this week. Yeah, I mean, it'll be an interesting game. I don't give my prediction on the crossover, but I will say, you know, until I give that final prediction on Friday's episode, I have to look at it and say, well, you lean Tampa. I mean, I think that's the only fair way to look at this is you lean Tampa.

Starting point is 00:30:59 This game will be in Tampa. Again, one of the best teams, one of the top two teams, the Patriots have faced. It's Baker Mayfield is somebody who I absolutely love watching play. He is just everybody knows competitive gene through the roof. And you just, he's, you always feel like he's just never going to die on the football field. Like he's going to find a way. There could be seven minutes left.

Starting point is 00:31:23 And you still got to make sure you drive the steak through his heart. So, and this defense is a tremendous, tremendous challenge, especially that front and Todd Bowles and his defense of mind. So I will lean Tampa right now. Will I stay that way Friday's episode? I'm just not sure. You're going to have to check it out, James. Yeah, and I'm with you. I won't give my prediction until my Friday episode either.

Starting point is 00:31:45 But the Bucks, two and a half point favorites over under a 48.5. I don't know. This could go a lot of different ways. I think it's going to be one of the better games of the week. I also lean Tampa. I think coming off of the buy, even though Todd Bowles is not historically good coming off of the buy, I think that got these guys healthy enough. to return back to the way that they look

Starting point is 00:32:05 the first six weeks of the season. Again, we'll see how things shake out the rest of the week. But, you know, I don't know. We could end up seeing a repeat of the Bucks Seahawks where it's just the Drake May Baker-Mayfield show. And it's an absolute duel of two high-scoring teams and two quarterbacks that were basically able to do whatever they wanted with the football.

Starting point is 00:32:28 It's going to be a really good one. But that's going to do it for this crossover Thursday episode. Please make sure you're checking out the Friday episodes of Locked on Patriots and Locked on Bucks as we give our final predictions. You can follow on Twitter at J. Arco underscore Bucks at Nick C. Radio. Make sure you're subscribed to both Locked on Patriots and Locked on Bucks on YouTube

Starting point is 00:32:47 or wherever you get your podcast. Hope you all have an absolutely outstanding day. Stay safe, stay healthy. And we'll catch you next time right here on Locked on Patriots and Locked on Bucks, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

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