Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Showdown: Vrabel and Carroll Collide in Coaching Chess Match

Episode Date: September 3, 2025

Patriots and Raiders clash in Week 1 showdown. Can Drake Maye outshine Geno Smith in this battle of new-look offenses?Nick Cattles and Q. Myers break down the key matchups as Mike Vrabel's Patriots face Pete Carroll's Raiders. The hosts analyze offensive line challenges, defensive strategies against tight ends, and the impact of rookies like TreVeyon Henderson. With both teams sporting new head coaches and revamped rosters, this game could set the tone for their seasons.Tune in for expert predictions and insider insights on how the Patriots' defense plans to contain the Raiders' passing attack. Will New England's secondary step up without Christian Gonzalez?Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOPatriots?sid...Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL#patriots #newenglandpatriots Become the smartest NFL fan in the room! Binge all 8 episodes of our in-depth season preview HERE and dominate every football conversation this year.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!DoorDashWith DoorDash Streaks, you save every Saturday you order — stack it up all season and you could save up to $250. Order this Saturday. Keep the streak alive. Fuel your gameday — only with DoorDash. Terms apply. Promo period through 11/18.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnfl for 50% off your first year.UpsideDon’t let this offer drive on by, download the free Upside app now using my limited time promo code TOUCHDOWN for a limited time 25 cent per gallon bonus! Offers vary by user and location, Go to upside.com for terms and conditions.Click Here to download the app: https://getupside.onelink.me/zlLr?af_xp=custom&pid=barrington&c=barrington_lockedon25&deep_link_value=promo&deep_link_sub1=lockedon25&af_dp=upsideapp%3A%2F%2FYahoo FantasyPresented by YahooFantasy #YahooPartner. Draft now at https://yahoofantasy.com/lockedonnfl.PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

It's Pat's Raiders this Sunday, and it's my first Locked-on crossover show with someone I know well. Q Myers from Locked-on Raiders. So let's get right to it. You are Locked-on NFL crossover, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. And welcome in to the very first crossover edition of the 2025 season. you've got the Patriots, you've got the Raiders. What a storyline in itself.

You got my man Nick Cattles from Locked on Patriots. Q Myers here, Locked on Raiders. And Truth be told me and Nick go way back. So this is going to be a lot of fun breaking down Patriots and Raiders week one of the NFL season. And Nick off top, man, I'm just happy to see that football's back. We're not talking about, you know, scrimmage games. We're not talking about practice. We're not talking about preseason.

We're going to be talking about a game. And you're new to the network. This is your first crossover edition. How pumped up are you for this season? I'm incredibly excited. I'm incredibly excited to do the crossover to do lockdown Patriots to watch football that matters. And Q, you know, you've been out at the joint practices and camp for the Raiders. I got a little bit of a different situation personally.

So, you know, I haven't been able to see a ton of the ones work together, frankly. You know, you see some of it in preseason, but not enough anymore. So I really can't wait to watch this game on Sunday. And I'm happy. I'll tell you, when I join. in lockdown. I found out about these crossover episodes. And I was like, man, week one, I circled on the calendar. I said, Q and I, oh, let's go. I can't wait. Yeah, no, it's going to be a lot of fun. And to be, to be honest, man, these are the shows that are most people's favorites

is the crossover edition. So I'm excited that we get to kick things off with me and you. I've been previewing it all week on the Lockdown Raiders podcast show saying, hey, Nick's my guy. We go way back. We've done some radio together. So this is going to be a lot of fun coming up on crossover Thursday. And crossover Thursday is brought to you by Pride. PICs, download the prize picks app today and use a promo code locked on NFL. It's all one word to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineups. So let's just jump into it, Nick.

And since the Patriots are hosting the Raiders, I'll start with you, right? It's a new day and age. I feel like this game is very evenly matched up. If you go to Fanduil.com, one of our proud sponsors, the Patriots are two and a half point favorites, but you know how that is. You get three points at home. So I think Fandua agrees with me that is very evenly matched up. The Raiders have a new head coach.

The Patriots have a new head coach. So for you covering the Patriots, what would you say is the biggest storyline going into Sunday's game? Yeah, you know, there's so many different storylines that you could choose from. You could talk about Drake May's year two leap, possibly. You could talk about Vrable taking over the culture change. But really, for this week's game cue, the biggest story is Christian Gonzalez. And we're recording this a little bit earlier than practice on the Wednesday.

So we're not sure if Gonzalez is going to be out there on the field, but he's missed practice now since late July. He went down with a hamstring. The reports at that point were that the Patriots weren't. too concerned about Gonzalez missing much time. They thought he'd be available for week one. It looks like that is going to be unlikely. He's their best player on this roster. And the trickle-down effect is significant.

I'll tell you, defensively at cornerback, you know, Alex Austin in the mix, DJ James in the mix. But Christian Gonzalez, if he's not out there on Sunday, that impacts the defense immediately week one. Yeah, that's one of the big storylines that I'm paying attention to as well. I know how good Christian Gonzalez is. I know that it felt like the Patriots probably stole him. when they were able to draft him because he got passed up so many times.

But he is dealing with the injury bug. As you mentioned, the hamstring issue, it sounds like, you know, there's a good chance that he doesn't play. But you know, Nick, the funny thing, I'm glad you brought that up. I actually heard some Patriot reporters saying, eh, you know what, it's okay. You don't need Gonzo week one. The Raiders don't really have anyone. And I didn't take it personal, but I'm thinking this is a team that won four games last

year. Like, the Raiders won four games. Like, could you imagine if I said, hey, you know what? The Raiders don't need Brock Bowers this week. It's only the Patriots. It's like I can't imagine being in that kind of a world. So I feel like that for both of these teams, it needs to be all hands on deck. You got to have your best guys out there, don't you?

Yeah, when looking at this defense, I've been saying this for months now, this defense has the capability and the talent to possibly touch the top 10 in the NFL. If everything goes right and they stay healthy, and there's that second part cue, if they stay healthy. Right. And right off the bat, you know, you've got Gonzalez who might miss week one, maybe longer than that. Who knows it's been pretty cryptic the way they've spoken. about him the last couple of weeks.

And then, you know, you look at it, Carlton Davis is as good of a number two as you can get on the outside, but Carlton Davis has missed a ton of time through his NFL career. So, you know, this defense, to me, the anchors, the anchors are truly those outside corners because if you can have Davis and Gonzalez playing man-to-man coverage, that allows you to do so much defensively. If you take Gonzalez out of the equation, then the domino effect is just huge on the other corners and how you're going to deploy those guys. And, you know, I'm sure we'll get into it a little bit later. But of course, you mentioned Brock Bowers. And the million dollar question is, would they

have played if Gonzalez was going to play on Sunday? Would Gonzalez get that assignment? If so, then obviously that is a huge change. Yeah, there's no doubt. So that's obviously one big storyline to pay attention to one storyline that I'm focusing in on really for both teams is the fact that they both have brand new head coaches that have been very successful in the league. Like the good thing about covering the Raiders and following what now Pete Carroll is doing is a lot of times I can go into these games and these crossovers and say, yeah, the Raiders have the advantage as the head coach here. Even though Pete Carroll's got many more games under his belt than Mike Vrable does as the head coach, I feel like this is very evenly matched from the head

coaching position. Rable is no punk, right? He's got plenty of skins on the wall. He's had plenty of success. I think we were all shocked when he was out in Tennessee. But now he landed in New England. He's a different kind of a coach. He's very, you know, tough-minded. Pete is with the Raiders. He's a different kind of a coach. It's always compete, compete, compete. He likes the players to have fun, but he's tough on them as well. So I think this is going to be one of these storylines that we talk about,

and we'll probably talk about on Monday after the game is all set and matched. Like, okay, who actually did really well in the offseason when they brought in their new head coach? You know, the Patriots and the Raiders? And it won't be all determined in one game, but you'll get a little bit of a sample size. And not to mention, oh, by the way, the offensive coordinator for the Patriots is also a former Raider head coach. and Josh McDaniels. And then you've got Chip Kelly, who's a former NFL head coach

as the O.C. for the Raiders. So again, going back to it being evenly matched up, I mean, you've got the, you got the minds right there. You've got some really sharp football minds at head coach and O.C. for both teams. Yeah, and let's not forget, Chip Kelly from New Hampshire.

A lot of links to the Patriots. When Billichick was in New England, Kelly spent some time speaking with Belichick, Belichick spent some time speaking with Kelly. There were some rumors cue that Chip Kelly might be an option for the Patriots OC until it became pretty obvious that Mike Vrable had Josh McDaniels on the list from the very beginning, and that was his guy. And there's just so many interesting coaching elements to this game.

You can also talk about Patrick Graham, who has some experience in New England, and he and McDaniels know each other very well. How is that going to play out on the field? Is this defense more Patrick Graham? Is it more Pete Carroll? I guess we'll see because McDaniels, I'll tell you. in the past has had some really good success against Pete Carroll defenses.

So that's something to keep in mind for this game. But yeah, I mean, I think, you know, to me, I don't know how it is out there in Vegas, but to me looking at the Pete Carroll hire, there's more urgency behind that. Yes. I mean, he's not. Yes.

Well, he looks young. He acts young. He's dropping macho man elbows on players during whatever he's doing, right? But he is in his, you know, early to mid-70s. So when you hire somebody like that, the statement is by Tom Brady and company, you know, while Davis is along for the ride, apparently. You know, when you make a hire like that, it's, hey, man, you know, we got, we got two or

three years here. Ch-ch-chop, you know, let's, let's get it going. And so I just feel there's more inherent pressure on the Raiders to get going faster than the Patriots. And we'll see if we can see that on Sunday. Yeah, no, there's no doubt. If Pete Carroll has let it be known, he said, hey, look, man, I'm not here for a three-year ramp up period or try to build, build, build.

I'm trying to win right now. And everywhere I've been, I've won, you know, 10 games for, you know, whatever, averaging 10 wins a season for the last 20 years or whatever the case may be. He just threw it out there. But he's trying to win. And the moves that the Raiders have made have shown that they're trying to win. They go out there and acquire Gino Smith. They didn't decide that they wanted to invest in a quarterback in the draft.

So obviously, Gino Smith is a win now mode, right? They go and get Ashton Genti to boost up their running game. And, oh, by the way, the Patriots go out and get Trayvion on Henderson. And I know he's not technically listed as the number one running back on the depth chart right now. He's their number one running back, right? I mean, he's the guy who's explosive. He's the guy that the first time he touched the ball in the NFL in a preseason game takes it 100 yards to the house on a kickoff return. Like, there's so many storylines that match up in this. And you mentioned Tom Brady. Oh, yeah, there's that one too. There's a statue of Brady out

there in Foxborough. And yet he's minority owner of the Raiders. Like, Nick, I can't make this stuff up. No, no, man. I don't know if you've seen the Brady statue, by the way, but really tiny head for some reason really really tiny but it's 12 foot tall right but you're right i mean this for for i know it might sound like uh q and i are you know being professional wrestling promoters here and really you know pumping the tires of this football game but it's true yeah there are literally a ton of different stories and layers to this game for a week one matchup that i think both fan bases should be excited me we haven't even talked about the patriots offensive line and you know probably two rookies starting on the left side,

the blind side of Drake May and how much of a challenge that's going to be. There's just so many different things we could discuss. And that's why Nick is a professional, ladies and gentlemen. That's what we call a tease and a segue all at the same time. That's how you know that my man's done plenty of radio, the same as I have. Because coming up in segment number two,

we're going to get into the matchups. So we'll be talking about the Patriots offensive line. We'll talk about the Raiders offensive line. We'll talk about the coaches. We'll talk about the biggest matches that will matchups that will impact this game coming up on Sunday. That's segment number two of today's Locked-on Patriots and Locked on Raiders

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your order. Stack it up all season. You can save it up to $250, including $100 in DoorDash credits. Order this Saturday. Keep the streak alive. Fuel your game day only with DoorDash. Terms to apply. Promal period ends November 18th. All right, here we go. Segment number two, it's time to deep dive into the matchups of this game. Alongside Nick Cattels, I'm Q Myers. He's locked on Patriots. I'm Locked on Raiders. And Nick, we'll start with you. What is the biggest matchup that you're looking forward to in this game coming up on Sunday. All right. Let's start offensively Q for the Patriots. And this is going to be low hanging fruit, but I'm going to snag it right off the tree and

take care of it. Max Crosby. I mean, if you're just, if you are a Patriot offensive player, the one dude that you have to make sure doesn't obliterate this football game as Max Crosby. Last year, Alex Van Pelt had a serious issue among many addressing the top defensive players on the opposition, and especially pass rushers. He didn't help the tackles much, which made absolutely no sense,

given the level of play on the outside of the offensive line for the paths. So you've got to look at Max Crosby, and that means Morgan Moses, because we know that Crosby will line up mostly on the right side. Maybe the Raiders play some games and match Crosby up on Will Campbell, the rookie left tackle from LSU, but Morgan Moses,

34 years old, coming off of off-season surgery, got off to a slow start, was better as camp went on they managed his snaps they managed his workload throughout camp i would imagine it's going to be out there as much as he can but if crosbie makes moses his life miserable well now you might have a situation where the the downhill domino effect is is legitimate when you got will campbell and jared wilson two rookies that i think will start at left tackle and left guard campbell's a definite at left tackle jared wilson likely going to start at left guard. And so to me, it's what can you do? If you're Josh McDaniels, does that mean you leave

Will Campbell on an island on the left side because you've got to help Morgan Moses on the right side? That could really change the approach of what the Patriots want to do offensively because the margin for error is slim. We're talking about a team that won four games back-to-back seasons. They don't have a ton of talent just yet. So they've got to make sure that they can't give easy ones up to the defense and the opposition. So what does McDaniels? Daniels do, how does he handle Max Crosby? I would have to venture to guess you. You'll see a lot of running back in tight end help chipping Crosby and hoping they can take care of him and then hope that Will Campbell on the other side can deal with the other pass rushers, you know, the Wilson's and

the Coonses of the world. Right. Well, that's a really good place to start when it comes to the match us because the Patrick Graham defense is based on getting pressure to the quarterback, right? And it all is going to start with Max Crosby. We know he is the guy. that gets it done for the silver and black. They've got Adam Butler at the defensive tackle position. No Christian Wilkins. He was a big free agent get last year. But we know how that shakes out.

He's no longer with the team. But you're right. Coons, Tyree Wilson, all these guys on the defensive line are going to have a lot of work that they have to do to get that pressure on the quarterback. If they do get that pressure on the quarterback, it'll make everyone behind them better. And that's what the Raiders are banking on, is that they're able to do that and get home. One of my big concerns is when they do get home, if they do get home, can they contain Drake May and keep him in the pocket?

That's the big thing because what we've seen in preseason, I know it's preseason, you can't take a lot from that, is that contain wasn't always there. And when Cotain breaks down, as you know, that's when guys that have a little wiggle to them can get out of there and pick up first downs or make big plays. And Drake May has wiggle. He's able to do that.

There's no doubt about that. So that's one of my big concerns. If they are able to get home and be effective that way, be able to get home with their front floor without having to blitz too much, can they keep contained? And can they keep Drake May in the pocket, maybe force him into a mistake or just, you know, get a pressure, a hurry, a sack, make them lose some yardage, whatever the case may be. It's funny, the offensive line for the Patriots, you know, there could be potentially, what, four new starters on that, that offensive line, depending on who gets all, you know, thrown out there. The Raiders don't have that same scenario, but it's funny where the players on the offensive line are in different positions.

Like Colton Miller is the left tackle. He's been the longtime left tackle. He's good. DJ Glaze is in his second year at right tackle. so he's good. But the interior, right? Everyone thought Jackson Powers Johnson was going to be the center. He's the right guard.

Everyone thought Jordan Meredith was going to be the left guard. He's the center. Folks didn't know what Dylan Parham was going to be. He's the left guard. You know what I mean? So it's like they may have the same pieces. They know each other, but it's not necessarily in the positions that they thought it was going to be. And so we all know that Mike Vrable is a very physical-minded coach.

So he's going to want to win the trenches. The Raiders are going to want to win the trenches as well. So I think that offensively and defensively, We'll learn a lot by the trenches, especially even early on in the game. Yeah, you know, sneaky matchup here, I think is on the interior. Garrett Bradbury was God-awful, atrocious, horrific in Minnesota last year, past protection-wise. He has been up and down queue all camp long.

I don't know if he's going to last the season as the team's starting center. And I just looked at the interior defensive line of the Raiders. They might be able to do some damage because you got that rookie on the left side and Jared Wilson, who is also showing a little bit of weakness in past protection. think he'll get better as time goes along. He's still young and especially young to the position. But Bradbury, you know, you got Adam Butler who wreaked some havoc, old friend of the Patriots, wreaked some havoc last year, pass rush win rate, one of the best interior defensive lineman when it comes to rushing the passer. So I look at that as an issue right down the

gut. And you mentioned Drake May's ability to escape and create and he can. The Patriots have tried to work really hard on Drake to make sure he remains a thrower when he leaves the pocket. because a lot of times the first thing he would do is just escape and just run for it. Like the chicken with his head cut off. They want to make sure he keeps his eyes down field. And there's a little balance there, Q. You mentioned pressure him into some mistakes. And we saw that in the first preseason game against Washington where, you know,

the commanders get pressure instead of throwing the football away. He tries to make a play. He fumbles. Washington recovers. So there is that little bit of risk, reward quotient when you talk about May trying to create and extend plays. a lot of times, you know, that's when he can fall into some of those mistakes. So he's got to make sure he takes care of the football.

Well, on the Raiders defensive side of things, there's a lot of new, right? I mean, I talked about the defensive line and how they have to get the pressure and it makes it easier for everyone behind them. Well, everyone behind them is new. The linebackers are veterans, right? You've got to Landon Roberts, old friend of the Patriots, right? He's there. Jermaine Pratt is there.

You've got Devin White there, Jamal Adams. Those guys are all veterans, but this is the first time that they've ever played together. And then you've got a secondary that is one, it's very thick. Very thin, right? You've got Eric Stokes, who was a former first-round pick of the Green Bay Packers, trying to, you know, re-jump his, you know, get his career going again. He's a starting corner. You got Cayu Blue Kelly who took over the spot for Darien Porter,

who was a third-round pick out of Iowa State. So you've got this guy that's coming in. He's a little banged up. He had a hamstring issue, but it seems like he's healthy enough to play coming up on Sunday. So that's something to pay attention to. But there's not much behind those guys, right? You've got a guy in Darnay Holmes at the nickel corner. I thought there was a chance.

that he was going to get cut before the season started. So that tells you where they are there. Jeremy Chen, who's been in the league a while, he plays a safety spot, but he's going to come up and play the big nickel at times. But I say that to tell you that if Drake May is able to break contain and he does keep his eyes down the field and is able to throw the ball, there could be confusion in that rate or secondary because this is the first time that they've had an opportunity

to really truly play together for an extended amount of time. And communication is key. It's something I've been asking Pete Carroll about just about every time we talk, hey man, how's the communication between the safeties and the linebackers, the corners with each other? Like, are they leaving the middle of the field wide open? And the thing about this that concerns me in this game,

Josh McDaniels knows that the middle of the field is going to be open in a Patrick Graham defense. He hired him with the Raiders. He's been here ever since Josh was here. So he knows, if anyone knows Patrick Graham's defense, is Josh McDaniels and where the weak spots are at. So I feel like he's going to try to exploit that.

And Pete Carroll and Patrick Graham are going to have to come up with a scheme to eliminate the knowledge that Josh McDaniels already has. I mean, I think if you're the Raiders, what you're looking at, Q is tight ends down the seam off play action. McDaniels loves that. I think you look at the running backs. You mentioned Trayvion-Henderson, Explosive Camp. I think they're going to want to try to get their running backs, including Romandre Stevenson, Antonio Gibson.

All three guys can receive out of the backfield. And all three guys have lined up at the line of scrimmage. Gibson and Henderson much more versatile than Stevenson, but Stevenson's done some of that. So I would imagine McDaniel's going to try to attack those lines. Backers, which I know, big question mark as far as coverage goes for you guys. I think he's going to try to attack those safeties as well as you mentioned. And, you know, you mentioned new for the Raiders defense. There's a lot of new with the Patriots defense.

These organizations went through a lot of turnover because they brought a new guy in to lead the organization, right? So when you look at the Patriots defense, they've got a bunch of new pieces. Milton Williams, Harold Landry, old friend of yours, K. Levan Chase on is going to start on the other edge. And you just look at the secondary, Jalen Hawkins and, Craig Woodson, two starting new safeties, Dugger, buried on the bench, Jabryl Pepper, surprisingly released late last week. And even linebacker, old friend Robert Spillane is, you know,

at the second level. So they've got so many different guys and so many different positions and situations where communication is going to be huge. And that's why I wonder, Q, how will they defend Brock Bowers? How will they deal with him? Are they going to go with a committee? Are they going to try to stick Carlton Davis with him one on one and just try to match him up?

the defense has not matched up their corners often, which is interesting. So if Gonzalez is out, how do they deal with it? Will they double Brock Bowers and trust Alex Austin or Carlton Davis to go one-on-one against Jacobi Myers? So the linebackers and the Patriots defense, you know, from Spillane, who took a big step back in that category last year for the Raiders and his coverage, they've had some issues with linebackers covering. They've had issues with safety's cut.

They've had issues. Let's just put it this way. They've had issues against tight ends in the preseason. I mean, they got ripped up at joint practice by T.J. Hawkinson. So how do they defend Bowers is just a gigantic question for me coming up on Sunday. You know, and that can open up the door for even a guy like Big Mike, Michael Mayer, right? A guy that was the second round pick as a tight end from the rate of a few years ago. And he hasn't really got his career going.

I'm a Notre Dame fan. What's going wrong with Michael Meyer out there in Vegas? I expected big things. We did too. we all expected some big things from him, and I think that this will be the year, and I know that a lot of times, you know, everyone says that, oh, this year is the year, but I'll tell you, man, Chip Kelly obviously likes him. What I've seen from him in practice, he looks like he's fresh.

He looks like he's ready to go. He, you know, he told me that he likes this offense a lot. So I would not be shocked at all to see the 12 personnel that we were promised a lot of last year and we didn't see much of. I think we're going to see a lot of that this year. And they even have a third tight end in, and Ian Thomas, who I don't think is going to get on the field a whole lot, but he's a threat as well. really good blocker and he's a guy that can be a pass catcher. So they've got a three-headed monster

in that tight-in room, obviously led by Brock Bowers, but don't be shocked, especially if the weakness of the Patriots defense right now is covering the tight ends. Don't be shocked if you see Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer a heavy dose of both those guys. Yeah, I mean, if you're watching and obviously the Raiders coaching staff has watched plenty of the Patriots film to get ready for this game, it's, it's tight ends. And it's also giving up some big plays in the screen game. So Ashton Genti, some of the guys, you know, maybe you can play some games with some tight end screens in the back field. Maybe Chip Kelly gets a little bit creative because the Patriots have had a heck of a time trying to defend screens and tight ends. So that could lead to some big plays for Vegas on Sunday.

Yeah, no, that sounds good to me. The Raiders have been a void of being a screen team for the longest. It drives me crazy. It drives Raider Nation crazy. But I do feel like Chip Kelly and his creativity will have an opportunity to do that. So those are some of the matchups that we're looking at. for this Sunday's game, you got the Patriots, you got the Raiders. I mean, the storylines just don't end.

I mean, going all the way back to, well, that rule that we won't talk about because, yeah, it's not really a thing. He's Nick Cattles. I'm Q Myers. We're going to talk about what must happen. We're going to give you the keys to the victory. What Nick believes the Patriots have to do to win and what I think the Raiders have to do to get that dub and come away, 1 and0.

We'll do that coming up on today's edition of the first crossover edition that we got locked on Patriots and Locked on Raiders. Before we get to that, though, I do want to tell you about a couple of a couple more sponsors that we have here, including Mazda. Mazda crafts cars for those who choose to do more than simply move. They follow what moves them every time they drive. And that's what makes Mazda stand out. They go beyond safety, style, and performance to deliver a driving experience that feels alive

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That's Fandle.com to place your first $5 bet. Here we go. Nick, I hope you're ready for this, man. So far, so good. Everything's been fun. Crossover edition. It's great to catch up with you talking little Raiders and Patriots, but now is the money time, right? Now it's the winning time.

So I'm going to start off with you. What does it take for the Patriots? What are they going to need to do on Sunday to get a win and go 1 and 0 on the young season? Offensively, they've got to protect Drake May. You know, they've got to make sure that he's not running around in that pocket and making mistakes. So protect Drake May because if he has some time, I do think Josh McDaniels will find the weaknesses of this Raiders defense. He will attack those seams. He will attack those linebackers and safeties with the running backs.

I do think the Patriots are going to try to establish the run an awful lot this year, kind of their tone, their mentality. But if you give Drake May some time, that gives the receiver some time to separate and just less turnover worthy mistakes if he gets to sit back there and pick things apart. So offensively protect Drake May and make sure that you limit his mistakes. Defensively, Q, I just look at this Raiders team. And last year, man, oh man, they could not run the football. No.

And they obviously addressed that with Gentie, who is an explosive player. So one of the questions I have about this Patriots defense is their interior defensive line and their ability to stop the run. Milton Williams is smaller. Mike Rable, Terrell Williams, likes smaller interior defensive linemen because they like being ultra aggressive and focus on the pass rush. But Milton Williams played less than 50% of the snaps last year in Philly because they weren't sure he could consistently stop the run. I think that's still a question. Christian Marmore could be an all-out stud, but he dealt out he dealt with blood clots last year. They have really Q managed him, the workload. I mean, he has not practiced very often,

you know, two times, three times in a row. He had one joint practice against Minnesota instead of both. So how much does Christian Barmore play? Kyrie's Tonga has been a little bit of a revelation, you know, one of those just random one year free agency pick up. He's been really good in camp, but the run game, they've got to be able to limit Gentie because I just feel if, if Ashton Gentie gets going, then everything else kind of gets going. Gino can attack certain matchups. I do think the secondary should be okay against Bowers and Myers. I think those guys will make some plays, but I do think they'll be able to do enough to not,

you know, just crater. But they've got to make sure they can stop Genti on the early downs because if that gets rolling and the Raiders are working with third and short all day, this Patriots defense will give up points. Yeah, well, I think those are really great keys right there that makes a lot of sense. again, I feel like this is a very evenly matched game, and you're looking at a lot of similarities. I think both teams want to establish to run. Both teams want to be able to use play action pass. They want to look at their tight ends. They want to be able to, you know,

find the open zones in the middle of the field and be able to, you know, capitalize there. But, you know, for the Raiders offensively, they obviously have to establish the run game. I mean, you're right. They were dead last in every rushing category in 2024, right? They had, what, 1,300-something yards rushing, five other teams in the National Football League, five other players, I should say, in the National Football League, had better than what the Raiders did as a team last year. So that obviously can't happen. That's why you go get Ashton Genti.

You've got Samir White that looks good, and you also bring in Rahim Moster. Chip Kelly's offenses are always based off the running, right? There's always an element of the run game in a Chip Kelly offense, whether he starts off with the runs or he ends the game with the running attack. And that's really what I want to focus in on when it comes to the offense. We know Ashton Genti is going to get a boatload of carries, but Nick, my thing is, when is he getting these carries? Is he getting them early in the game,

or is he getting them in the second half, late in the third quarter, early in the fourth quarter? If he's getting them in the second half, the Raiders feel good about where they're at in the game, right? They're not playing catch up. They're not trying to throw the ball about the yard and trying to play hurry up and catch up. If he's only getting them in the first half

and you don't see Ashton Jetty in the second half, things have gone wrong, right? So you've got to be able to, I mean, seriously, it's just that simple. like the carries, they're not all equal to each other. Early carries, early in the game, that's one thing. But if you're carrying the ball in the fourth quarter, you're either trying to assault the game away

or you're really close and you feel good that you can still stick to your game plan. And that's all you have to ask for. In a game where, you know, the home team is a two and a half point favorite, that's a pick-em. That's a pick-up game, right? So that's why the paying attention to and monitoring when Gentie gets the bulk of his carries

is going to be a huge thing offensively. and if they are able to establish the run, like I think they'll obviously have to try to do, then Gino Smith will have an opportunity to do the play action pass. And he has no problem. I can tell you from being in practice every day, no problem taking some deep shots. They're going to take some shots down the field. They haven't done that in a handful of years. It's gone away from the Raiders identity, but it's going to be back this year.

Whether it's Dante Thornton Jr. that they're trying to take a chunk shot to the rookie, if they're trying to hit Trey Tucker deep, if they're trying to get, you know, somebody down the seam, whatever the case. may be they're going to try to pick up some chunk yards with gino smith and he's very accurate throwing the deep ball so those are going to be some keys established to run obviously the offensive line's got to do their job because if the o line doesn't do their job it doesn't matter about the bells and whistles the bells and whistles aren't going to matter at all so that's obviously something to pay attention to offensively and defensively that defensive line's going to have to do their job because

the secondaries is this is all like the first day of school they're they're all going to learn right I mean this is going to be one of those where it's like well this is the first time we've ever done this So it's a learning experience. The defensive line is going to have to carry the load. And it's funny. Yeah, they got to learn today, right? I mean, the offensive line there, I mean, it's so funny, man, because, again, the Patriots are trying to establish a new offensive line.

The Raiders are trying to do the same thing. I hate to, you know, sound like I'm repeating myself, but, man, this is such, it's almost like this Spider-Ban meme, right, where you're pointing at you and you're pointing back, and it's all the same. It feels like this is very similar. We talked about storylines. We didn't even talk about Gentile. versus Trayvion Henderson.

Could you imagine if Trayvion goes off and has a huge game and Jentee doesn't? And be like, look, and the Raiders drafted Genti number six overall. They could have waited and got a guy like Trayon Henderson. Why would you? That's why you don't take a running back so early. Or if Jentee goes off and has a phenomenal game, it's like, oh, that's why you go and get a guy that early. You know what I mean?

Like, that's a storyline that's built in as well in this game. It's something to pay attention to. Yeah, I mean, I think Jentie will get a lot more touches than Henderson this year. That's just my feel. I think, I think Henderson, they'll try to limit him. I would imagine between 10 and 15 touches a game just because he's shown in his past, especially last year at Ohio State with Christian Jenkins, that, you know, he's, he's somebody who's better, he's more when there's less.

You don't want to overuse him because he tends to get a little bit battered. But, yeah, I mean, he's at a special camp, and I think he could have an immediate impact for this offense. And you talk about Gino Smith going deep in testing guys. Why not? I mean, Jalen Hawkins' safety for the Patriots is more of a downhill in the box type of guy. You know, he's assignment, sure, but he's, he's not the best in the world in coverage. And then Craig Woodson is a rookie out of cow.

So why not test the rookie every once in a while? No doubt, no doubt. And, you know, talking about testing guys and secondaries and all that. Look, Stefan Diggs, older Y receiver coming off a torn ACL. The Raiders just signed a Mari Cooper, older Y receiver coming back into the mix with the silver and black, right? I mean, how are those guys going to perform? What is their role going to be? How good is Stefan Diggs going to be?

You know, I know Mike Rable said he's going to be. out there, but at what capacity he's going to be out there. And Amari Cooper, he says he's in shape, but Nick, you know there's shape and there's football shape. So what's he, what's his, what's his role going to be, right? I mean, Jacoby Myers, another friend of the Patriots, right? Somebody that the Patriots are very familiar with, again, so many players that are interchangeable with the Raiders and the Patriots in this matchup.

So there's going to be a lot of folks that are looking at each other, like, hey, I remember you. Hey, I remember you. Yeah, I remember you too. So, all right. So we'll do this. We'll break it down like this. Patriots are two and a half point.

favorites in this game, according to Fanduil.com. How are you feeling like this one ends up? What happens on Sunday? Did the Patriots get a dub and start 1-0? What happens? I think it's going to be a close game. I think both offenses will have opportunities to make plays and score points. I've got the Patriots by a field goal.

And look, this is, it's week one. Right. Yeah. Right. Exactly. I'm going to go with the paths by a field goal because they're home. Right. And, you know, I think their defense is is a little bit better or, or,

at least better than the Raiders defense. So I think they'll make, you know, they'll make a couple of more plays. But I do think this could be an entertaining, fun, close game for week one. It's so funny. When you said you had the Patriots by a field goal, I was like, oh, and it's because I had the Raiders by a field goal. So I'm right, I'm right there with you. And, and again, you're right. It's week one.

So we don't have a real sample size. We can't really build off anything that we saw in preseason because we know we didn't see anything in preseason. So I agree with you. I think that the past defense is a little bit further ahead. then the Raiders defense is just because there's so many questions in the secondary and so many guys that are just starting to work with each other. If they gel immediately, okay, cool.

Now it's another conversation. But if they don't, they're a little slow out of the gates, I can see Josh McDaniels having a couple things up his sleeve and dialing it up for the Patriots. But yeah, I got the Raiders getting a victory, a small victory, 2320 in New England. Pete Carroll gets his first dub, and I think that it's very important for this team to get a dub. And I'm sure it's important for the Patriots. but the Raiders need to start trying to establish a winning culture, something that they haven't had in a long time,

something that Pete Carroll's been, you know, preaching, preaching, preaching. So I think for the Raiders to be able to go on the road and pick up a victory, that'll do a lot for that locker room to say, see, yeah, this is the right guy, and he's headed in the right direction. It's not just a lot of stuff that we hear and talk about during practice, but it's actually something that will translate the game day.

So I think this game is very monumental for the Raiders to get a dub. So I'm going to say that they're going to go 2320. You don't have to give me a score, but you said Patriots by three. So I feel like we're basically where we started, right? Right there, even. I'll give you a score, 2724. Oh, okay. Okay.

There you go. There you go. Nick says 2724 Patriots. I say 2320 Raiders. Obviously, both of us think the teams, respectively, are going to start the season. One and O, something will shake out. Well, Nick, fantastic stuff, man. Really good.

It's great to catch up with you. Welcome to the locked-on family. So glad that you're a part of it. that the Patriot fans, they're going to be super happy with your coverage and all your shows. And I've been rocking with Nick for a long time. So I know what you're capable of bringing to the table. So, man, it's been so much fun. Thanks so much. And enjoy the game. Definitely on Sunday. Yeah, Q, you're the man. You're the man. And I'm disappointed because we only get to do this once because we're not in the same division. So right out of the gates, week one,

hopefully people enjoyed it. So that does it for a fun crossover edition of Lockdown Patriots. Thank you for making us your first listen and for being an everydayer. Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C. Radio. And don't forget to throw a comment in on the YouTube channel, hit that like button and subscribe. Thank you for making Lockdown Patriots your first listen today. For your second listen, check out the Lockdown NFL season previews on Lockdown NFL.

Find the link in the description to the Lockdown NFL playlist on YouTube, part of the Lockdown podcast network, your team every day. See you tomorrow.