Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Undeniable: Mike Vrabel Elevating Patriots | Coaching Masterclass

Episode Date: November 19, 2025

New England Patriots surge to 9-2 as Mike Vrabel emerges as the clear NFL Coach of the Year favorite. Can Vrabel’s bold roster overhaul and meticulous attention to detail propel the Patriots to domi...nance in the AFC? Nick Cattles breaks down how Vrabel’s leadership, savvy staff hires—including Josh McDaniels—and quick fixes on both offense and defense have transformed a team in transition into a powerhouse.Key talking points include the impact of Stefon Diggs, who’s exceeding all expectations post-ACL injury, and what his resurgence means for Drake Maye’s development and New England’s long-term receiver plans. Nick Cattles also highlights defensive challenges, from cornerback usage to pass rush concerns, and explores how the Patriots can address red zone woes as they prepare for clashes with contenders like the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens.Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOPatriots?sid=YouTubeLocked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL#patriots #newenglandpatriotsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!  PelotonLet yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com.PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLGametimeDownload 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) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Mike Vrable is the clear-cut coach of the year if the season ended today. We start today's episode by making that case. This is Lockdown Patriots. You are Locked-on Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcasts network, your team every day. What's happening? I'm your host, Nick Cattles, born and raised in New York. New England. I've been covering the Pats for 16 years, also the co-host of the Greg Bedard Patriots podcast with Nick Cattels and a sports radio veteran. Welcome to Lockdown Patriots, part of the lockdown podcast network. Now the number one sports podcast network, your team every day. In today's episode, we diagnose some of the Pats' defensive shortcomings that need to be addressed sooner rather than later. Also, it's time to discuss a Patriot exceeding all expectations, not named Drake May. But first, making the case for Mike Vrable, coach of the year.
Starting point is 00:01:04 Today's episode is brought to by a Fandul. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Mike Vrable through 11 weeks is unquestionably the coach of the year. There's no doubt in my mind. If the award was given out this week, it would be given out to Mike Vrable. Now, Benjamin Solac of ESPN wrote this week that Mike Vrable is the second best new hire from the most recent hiring cycle. Number two, not number one, number two.
Starting point is 00:01:43 Interesting. Now, Ben Solac believes that Ben Johnson, with the Chicago Bears, was the better hire in the offseason than Mike Vrable going to the Patriots. and I strongly, I find it fascinating, but I strongly disagree with Ben Solac's take for a number of reasons. Number one, let's just look at the turnover, the turnover of the roster. The Patriots had more than 40 dudes cut or waived by the roster cut down deadline. When you look back from 24 to 25, we're talking about a massive amount of turnover on the Both sides of the football, you can even sprinkle in some special teams. Different long snapper, different kicker, Charles Woods, one of the gunners.
Starting point is 00:02:36 I mean, this team, if you look back at the 2024 roster, this team was taken and it was flipped over. It was flipped over by Mike Vrable and Company. With that massive amount of turnover, Chicago did not go through that. Yes, they added some offensive linemen. They added some players, but we're not talking about a massive overhaul. DJ Moore, Roma Dunezay, D'Andre Swift, Caleb Williams, on and on and on. A lot of the guys that are on that Chicago team were on the Chicago team last year. The Patriots changed so much personnel and changed the leadership.
Starting point is 00:03:17 Gibral Peppers, gone. Dietrich Wise, gone. Jonathan Jones, gone. David Andrews, gone, Joe Cardona, gone, Jacoby Brissette, gone. I mean, we can go on and on and on. The massive amount of turnover means that the New England job was tougher than the Chicago job. Just starting off on that fundamental foundational level, the Patriots job was tougher than the Chicago Bears job because the Patriots roster was in much rougher shape than the Chicago Bears roster was.
Starting point is 00:03:52 And there's not much denying that. Why do you think there was so much turnover when Mike Vrable came in? Because he looked at the roster and said, eh, eh, not happening on my watch. And with that massive amount of turnover, the head coaching job by Mike Vrable is that much more impressive. And you can talk about other teams as well, not just Chicago. You can talk about the Indianapolis cults.
Starting point is 00:04:18 Yes, they had a major change at quarterback. But a lot of that football team was there in 2024. You didn't have a new GM come in. You didn't have a new head coach come in. Indy is mostly indie with a few changes. The Los Angeles Rams, if you want to sit there and talk about Sean McVeigh may be being one of the favorites for coach of the year.
Starting point is 00:04:44 They did not have close to the amount of turnover that the Patriots had, not nearly. as many different cats on these rosters. Let's also point out that Mike Vrable was a responsible for that turnover. And I don't mean because he wanted guys gone. Yes, in part that was indeed true. But Mike Vrable, as we know, he has final say. Of course, the crafts aren't going to come out and say it.
Starting point is 00:05:13 Mike Vrable's not going to come out and say it. We talked about a lot of this when I was doing my own podcast, everything, Pats independently before joining locked on, Mike Vrable has the final call, so he was responsible for these changes. So not only did you have a ton of turnover, Mike Vrable was responsible for that turnover and handpicking most of the guys that replaced other dudes, and you're nine and two with said turnover. It's outrageous.
Starting point is 00:05:44 Ben Solac, again, let's go to his column. on Mike Vrable's acquisitions of Drake May's 308 targets, 49.4% have gone to Mike Vrable acquisitions, as have 1,303 of May's 2,836 yards, which is 45.9%. Hello, Matt Collins. Hello, Stefan Diggs. The entire defensive unit has been reimagined. There have been 3,909 defensive snaps from, acquisitions made this offseason, almost 4,000 snaps, and each player has met or exceeded
Starting point is 00:06:23 expectations. Another thing that I look at is Josh McDaniels. Mike Vrable brings in Josh McDaniels. He allows him to be the head coach of the offense. Josh McDaniels has been one of the best offensive coordinators in football this season, and Josh McDaniels, no doubt, has helped the development of Drake May tremendously. the offensive staff that Mike Vrable helped pick, along with Josh McDaniels, the Thomas Browns, the Todd Downings, the Tony Duses of the world, the Doug Marones with the offensive line and Jason, Jason Hotailing to join Robert Coogler. That offensive staff went from chaos to stability.
Starting point is 00:07:06 And Mike Vrable has allowed that staff to do what they do. It's not getting in the way. And Mike Vrable is the king of details. Think about the first and goal play against Tampa. I don't know if many, if any, coaches would have pulled that one out of the back pocket. Some people didn't like it, but it shows that the head coach is thinking. And strategically, he's going to try to do everything he can with every fiber of his being to allow his team to compete. and win football games.
Starting point is 00:07:43 How about the Kishon Booty? Was he out of bounds? Did he go out of bounds? Did he stay in bounds? That challenge against the New Orleans Saints? Because Mike Vrable and John Stretch Stryker challenged that call on the field. The Patriots win the challenge
Starting point is 00:07:59 and they can end the game. They can seal it with a few knees. And how about the situational football, what we see play out? Back to Ben Solac. New England has 57 points. Within two minutes of the end of the half this season, second to only the Buccaneers,
Starting point is 00:08:15 if you're wondering why they pulled that first and gold trick. I can guarantee you that Mike Vrable was well aware that within two minutes of the end of the half, Tampa Bay has scored the most points in the league. So he did not want to give Tampa's offense a chance at the end of that half to score more points. The Patriots have given up only 34 points in those situations, which is 10th best.
Starting point is 00:08:39 So they're scoring points and they're limiting points when you talk about the end of the half. The Patriots are also 13 for 16 on fourth down, 81.3% conversion rate, which leads the league. I mean, to this point, you can also argue, and I don't even think it's much of an argument, frankly. It's pretty much fact that emotionally and physically this team has been prepared for every challenge it's faced, whether it's Sunday night football in Buffalo, Tampa Bay on Sunday with Jim Nance and Tony Romo. the quick turnaround to Thursday night football, and there haven't been letdowns to this point. They've beaten who they should be, and most of the time they have beaten those teams handily.
Starting point is 00:09:20 I mean, if you want to talk about details in coaching, making the difference, go check out Greg Bedard's article recently at Boston Sports Journal about how Mike Vrable helped Jared Wilson with his stance. Greg Bedard wrote while watching the film Week 9, he noticed something a bit odd about Jared Wilson. While his fellow linemates were in three-point stances,
Starting point is 00:09:45 Wilson was in a two-point stance. So no hands on the ground. The other offensive linemen on the Patriots, one hand on the ground. Play after play, Greg Bedard writes, it was the same thing. Didn't matter if it was run or pass. Jared Wilson was simply squatting with his hands on his thighs.
Starting point is 00:10:02 And Jared Wilson told Greg Bedard that it was Mike Vrabble, not Doug Morone, not Jason hoteling, not Robert Coogler. It was Mike Vrable who suggested the change. Vrable said some of it had to do with Jared Wilson's newness at guard after being a college center. Jared Wilson is much more natural center. Didn't show up there at guard, probably because his hand is on the ground as opposed to three or four inches higher on top of the football at center. Jared Wilson's hips can get locked and he gets off balance quickly on some of his initial movement. moves. Mike Vrable did spend last season working with the Browns offensive lineman, as
Starting point is 00:10:42 Greg Bedard wrote, but Mike Vrable said it didn't come from there. It mostly came from experience going against offensive linemen during his career. I mean, we're talking about somebody who has his hands in everything. Offense, defense, special teams helps out when needed. Has this team emotionally and physically ready at every single stop? Massive amount of turnover on the roster that he has handled. and they're sitting there at 9 and 2. There is no other coach in the NFL that has done a better job than Mike Vrable. There's just not.
Starting point is 00:11:15 Hands down right now, after 11 weeks, he is the NFL coach of the year. Speaking of Mike Vrable, one of Mike Vrable's acquisitions has not only exceeded expectations, but possibly has changed the team's math, both in the short and long term. Find out who next. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown podcast. podcast network, your team every day. Today's show was brought to you by friends over there at Peloton. Look, folks, it's time to break through the busiest time of the year with a brand
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Starting point is 00:12:53 And thank you for making lockdown the number one sports podcast network, your team every day. And don't forget, if you're checking us out on YouTube to like, hit that thumbs up button. Don't forget to like. Don't forget to throw a comment in. Mike Vrable, coach of the year, I say absolutely, hands down. He's the guy right now through 11 weeks. And don't forget to subscribe.
Starting point is 00:13:13 Don't forget to subscribe. Next goal, 8,000 subscribers here for lockdown Patriots. And I'm very confident we are going to get there sooner rather than later. Stefan Diggs has been a revelation on and off the field. His production on the field, his leadership on the field and off the field. We're taught about what he says in the locker room, how he works with guys, and Evan Lazard this week pointed out at Patriots.com that Stefan Diggs is on pace for 92 catches in 1,018 yards. 92 catches in over 1,000 yards. If I told you in June that Stefan Diggs
Starting point is 00:13:54 was going to be on pace for more than 90 catches in over 1,000 yards through 11 weeks of this season, what would you have said? Would you have said, what? You're kidding me. You're nuts. Stop smoking the hopium, Cattles. What are we doing here? You're out of your mind. There's no way. He's 31 years old.
Starting point is 00:14:14 He just had an ACL injury and surgery. The Patriots will be fortunate if this guy is even on the field by the time you get to October or November. Oh, he's been on the field. He's been on the field and he has been producing. He's going to be 32 years old in a couple of weeks. And he's on pace for more than 90 catch. is in a thousand yards. He is exceeding all expectations. If you had higher expectations for Stefan Diggs, I think you were being unreasonable. We're talking about an injury where
Starting point is 00:14:46 Brandon Ayyuk, for the 49ers, he hasn't even returned to San Francisco yet. He's still trying to work his way back. Now, of course, different injuries affect different people. We all get it. I only bring up Brennan Ayyuk. I'm not questioning his TikTok. I'm just just using it as an example of expectations. Brennan Ayuk is not back yet. Stefan Diggs is on pace for more than 90 catches. If you told me Stefan Diggs was going to have 60 catches this year, I would have said I'll take it.
Starting point is 00:15:20 Given the age and the injury, I will take that. But what's the impact? We can sit here and we can talk about, you know, the numbers. And those are fine. Those are great to talk about. But then you think about the true impact, short term, long term, how Stefan Diggs has impacted this team and how it might impact the plans of the Patriots moving forward at the wide receiver position. You know, short term, let's just look at what's happening right now. Drake May's success on third and fourth down can be directly linked to the Stefan Diggs signing.
Starting point is 00:15:57 How many times has Stefan Diggs come up with a big third down catch? How many times has he come up with the big fourth down catch? Drake May is almost always looking for Stefan Diggs first and foremost on a big play that he absolutely has to have. In Stefan Diggs, we hoped, we hoped in the best world of all worlds, Stefan Diggs would be a true go-to element and he actually has been. He's not, you know, I wouldn't say he's, you know, a top five receiver or anything. Some metrics will tell you he has been a top 10 receiver in full.
Starting point is 00:16:30 football this year. That's how effective he has been. But there's no denying that he has been a go-to element of this offense. He has been, you know, I said a binkie talking about Kishon Booty during yesterday's podcast. He has been a binkie for Drake May. He brings that level of comfort. Every quarterback needs a couple of binkies. How about the yards after the catch? How many chunk plays Defon Diggs has been responsible for? And because Stefan Diggs is doing what he's doing, you can be more than patient with Kyle Williams. I mean, imagine if Stefan Diggs was not producing at this level. And then Kishan Bouti goes out, all of the pressure in the world would have been thrown upon Kyle Williams. And people would want him to
Starting point is 00:17:15 make immediate, immediate differences in these games week in and week out. But because of Stefan Diggs and his ability to get back from the injury and produce on the field, that allows you to be more patient with Kyle Williams. You don't have to feel. feel like you've got to rush them out there. That's just the short term. How about the long term? The mentoring from Stefan Diggs to the other wide receivers on this team, the young guys on this team, Pop Douglas has a question about a route, has a question about a defensive back.
Starting point is 00:17:48 He can go right to Stefan Diggs. Don't overlook Mack Hollins as well, who has absolutely helped the room in big ways, too. But we're talking about Stefan Diggs today. being that mentor for wide receivers on the team being a mentor being a help to the defensive backs Christian Gonzalez has spoken to the media about how he and Stefan Diggs has watched film together and they've had these conversations of you know what would you do in this situation how do you think I covered that route is that the way to cover this route those those moments are worth their weight in gold and I do wonder if you're the Patriots you're sitting there
Starting point is 00:18:27 you're looking at Stefan Diggs, you're going to ask yourself the question, is this guy going to be your bona fide number two for 2026? Now, maybe some would say, oh, number one, Nick, number one, 32 years old. I think it's more fair to question whether or not Stefan Diggs can give you this productivity in 2026 as your number two guy. Now, of course, the catches might go down. But if you look at how everybody else slides in, if, if Stefan Diggs can give you. can be a formidable number two and you know nothing that we've seen this year tells us that he can't be that kind of guy next year then you get into the contract because the patriots do have a contractual out after this season they can wave goodbye to stephan diggs i know it was
Starting point is 00:19:13 reported it was a three years 69 million dollar deal when he signed it but in reality it was a one year deal let's see how this goes so the patriots they have some protection they have a contractual out after this season. Stefan Diggs right now, if he stays, he's set to be a $26.5 million cap hit in which begs the question, do the Patriots open the door to a renegotiation, to some kind of short-term extension to lower that cap hit? I think they absolutely entertain it with the way this season has gone. And how Stefan Diggs has walked in and really seamless.
Starting point is 00:19:55 fit. Now, the question is, will Stefan Diggs be okay with, quote, unquote, aging gracefully? Now, he was willing to kind of subjugate himself for Nico Collins in Houston, which I think is a good sign. And if you went out there and you got an A.J. Brown or, you know, some alpha receiver going off what happened in Houston, it does feel like Stefan Diggs would be at least old. open to the idea of sliding in to be the number two guy, understanding that he's, you know, at that point, 32 going on 33. I also wonder about the Mike Vrable and Todd Downing relationships and, and what role they could play with Stefan Diggs.
Starting point is 00:20:41 Stefan Diggs has said he loves playing for Mike Vrable. And Todd Downing is, you know, somebody who has a past with Stefan Diggs and they seemingly get along. And if you're Stefan Diggs, do you? you want to go to your fifth team of your NFL career? And not only would it be his fifth team, it would be his fourth in four years. He went from Buffalo to Houston, so two teams, two years, Houston to the Patriots, three teams in three years. And if he left this offseason to go somewhere else, that would be four different teams in four years. Does he really want that or does he want
Starting point is 00:21:19 to settle? Does he just want to kind of say, no, I want to remain here in New England and finish my career here. I'm done with the moving around. I've got Cardi B. I believe she's like stationed in New York, located in New York, I believe. So, you know, maybe he just wants to kind of chill in New England. But his season, his 2025 season through 11 weeks has absolutely helped this team short term. I think it's helped this team long term. And it brings some interesting questions this offseason to how they're going to handle Stefan Diggs contractually. is his future. All right, not everything is perfect in Foxborough. We've got some defensive issues that need to be ironed out. We'll explain next. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown
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Starting point is 00:22:48 especially when your team's making that late push. And right now, Fandul is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. Again, Fandul, giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So head to Fandul.com to sign up and play your game with Fandul, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. You're watching on YouTube. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe, help a podcast out, help a brother out, locked on Patriots, glad you could be with us today, glad you're with us every day. So through 11 weeks, it's very different. to envision this season going any better.
Starting point is 00:23:26 I think every single one of us would have taken nine and two and enjoyed the product. I mean, it's been a product that you can have fun watching. You can truly enjoy watch this team playing football and being coached. It's fantastic. You know, Drake May's big time leap has been awesome. I thought he could make a leap. I thought the leap would happen gradually through the year. I did not think he was going to get to the level he got to as quick as he did.
Starting point is 00:24:00 But there are some things that we have to keep in mind. This is not a perfect football team. They don't have to be perfect to make a run. But objectively looking at things, we have to also acknowledge and appreciate some of the things that they can do better. And there are some defensive things that this team still needs to figure out. And a reminder, they're going to have to figure out some of these things over the next four games without Milton Williams. And hopefully no longer than that.
Starting point is 00:24:34 The first thing is, will the Patriots become a cat coverage defense? Mike Vrable, you know, before the season kicked off, was asked about Christian Gonzalez and Carlton Davis and defensively, what could they do? and he said, I'm paraphrasing, you know, it'd be great if we could, you know, show cat coverage. You take that cat, I'll take that cat, which is just, you know, man coverage. You allow your two corners to shadow who they're going to shadow and let them roll. But that hasn't always been the case, and a lot of times it hasn't been. And Evan Lazar wrote about it at Patriots.com about the Patryots past defense against the Jets. Evan Lazzar wrote Patriots elected to play sides with their cornerbacks.
Starting point is 00:25:15 So you're on the right side, I'm on the left side, and that's where we stay, no matter what happens. And they did that against the Jets, as Evan Lizarre pointed out, because the Jets didn't have a true number one receiver without Garrett Wilson, which makes sense. However, that opened the door for the Jets. Jets' offensive coordinator Tanner Eggstrand got a beat on the fact that New England wasn't shadowing receivers in man coverage, Evan Lizarr writes. So we began using three by one formations, three receivers to one side, one receiver to the other. side. And so the Jets were using three by one formations where tight end Mason Taylor was the loan receiver lined up to the short side of the field, which left Christian Gonzalez covering Mason Taylor and man coverage, which is far from ideal.
Starting point is 00:26:01 On the other side, that left Craig Woodson and Jalen Hawkins, your safeties and man-to-man on wide receivers, which isn't great. That's how you give up a big play to John Mechie or two. so that's one problem is they're not necessarily playing cat coverage they're playing sides from time to time and it hasn't always worked and when you look at top receivers against the patriots recently they've done damage chris elave drake london ameka abuca a d mitchell actually gave christian gonzalez fits on thursday night and christian gonzalez is fortunate that Justin Fields is the quarterback, and A.D. Mitchell also did not, you know, hold up his end of the
Starting point is 00:26:44 bargain either. So they've struggled against the team's top receivers. So man coverage should theoretically be a strong suit for this defense with Carlton Davis and Christian Gonzalez. It's the idea of why you went out and got Carlton Davis such a strong number two cornerback. And I'd like to see the Patriots take advantage of that or more advantage of it. We've also seen some problems with motion, bunch formations. I mean, bunch formations, especially in the low red zone area, where a huge problem against the Falcons, a big reason why Drake London did what he did against the Patriots defense.
Starting point is 00:27:24 So they've got to figure out some of that defensive back secondary stuff. And hopefully they can continue to improve. The other part of it, and we've talked about this, some is the pass rush. Harold Landry is slowing down. Kalevon Chason, you know, I looked this up before hosting this episode. Calebon Chason snaps when you look at it. His career high in snaps is 568 defensive snaps. That happened in 2020.
Starting point is 00:27:55 That was his first year in the NFL. His rookie season, he had 568 snaps. This year, he already has 405. Kalevon Chason is on pace to surpass his career high in snaps, pretty much by the point you get to your bye week. And you still got four more games left, and two of them against pretty difficult, pretty difficult opponents. So Harold Landry is slowing down.
Starting point is 00:28:25 Caleb-on-Chayson is on pace to blow by his career snaps for a high in any season he's played at the NFL level. And so with Harold Landry slowing, Caleb-on-Chase on, much gas is left in that tank. And then you're going to start looking at your other edge players. Elijah Ponder, you hope that he comes along, but Anthony Jennings is not a pass rush guy. We talked about Brayden Swinson in yesterday's episode. And some will say, and I've seen some say, well, the Patriots are 11th Nick and pressure
Starting point is 00:28:56 rate. Yes, but add the context. They are 11th in pressure rate, but they're 19th in time the pressure. So they're not consistently getting to the quarterback quickly. And just look at the eye test. The eye test tells you that this pass rush kind of comes in waves. It's not a consistent pass rush from the first snap to the final snap. And there have been long stretches of games when they're just not getting any pressure.
Starting point is 00:29:22 And it's really difficult to survive when that's happening. And Greg Medard wrote that the inability at Boston Sports Journal, the inability to get consistent pressure is starting to show up on third down. The bucks, 38 and a half percent. and the Jets, 57.1% were decently successful despite not having great offenses. The Bucks only had one receiver and one tight end to worry about. The Patriots had not allowed a conversion rate better than that since week five against the bills.
Starting point is 00:29:51 The Browns and the Falcons were less than 20% when it came to third down conversions. So, you know, you start looking at this and the trend is the pass rush is getting weaker. Your third down defense has gotten a little bit weaker. and now you're going to have no Milton Williams as you get ready for Buffalo and Baltimore. And I think that will tell us a lot. That back-to-back stretch against those two teams without Milton Williams, that's going to be a lot. But you get the buy week right before you hit the Bills game,
Starting point is 00:30:21 but you start looking at some of these trends. And two more things I would say, the Patriots have only created 12 takeaways. They've had one takeaway the last three games. They have to. They absolutely have to start creating some terms. and over's. And we all know about the red zone defense. It's been an issue. 31st in the NFL at 72 percent. They've given up a 72 percent touchdown percentage in the red
Starting point is 00:30:48 zone, which is just abominable. It's actually been even worse the last three weeks at 75 percent. So we're all happy they're not in two. I am thrilled. You are thrilled. This team should absolutely get into the playoffs. They might even get the one seed, but that doesn't mean they don't need to improve in areas, and we just gave you some of those areas on the defensive side of the football. All right, that wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Thank you for making us your first listen and for being in every day. 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
Starting point is 00:31:20 subscribe. And for your second listen, get a double dose of the Lockdown NFL podcast with Tyler the Madman Roland and Tony Wiggins. Find Lockdown NFL on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Have a great day. And we will see you tomorrow for the crossels. over.

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