Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Victory: Drake Maye Leads Patriots To Chaotic Win, 33-27

Episode Date: September 14, 2025

The New England Patriots win their first game in Miami since 2019, but it certainly wasn’t easy. Drake Maye was really good, while Mike Vrabel still has plenty of questions about his defense. We had special teams TDs, missed extra points, and a whole lot more.Tune in for expert insights on how both teams can secure victory in this high-stakes Week 2 clash.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!5-Hour ENERGYEnough with boring, flavorless caffeine, it’s time to give your caffeine a flavor upgrade with 5-hour ENERGY®️ shots. Get the favorites you love or be bold and try something new in-store and online at https://www.5hourENERGY.com or Amazon today.    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 https://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%2FSquareTo learn more, go support your favorite neighborhood spot and see what Square has been up to in your neck of the woods. And then if you have extra time, check out https://square.com/go/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)

The bats, they go down to Miami and do something that they haven't done since 2019. Win a football game. Let's break it down. This is Lockdown Patriots. You are Locked on Patriots. Your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day.

What's happening in? I'm your host, Nick Cattels. and raised in New England covering the Patriots for the past 16 years. Also co-hosted the Greg Bedard Patriots podcast with Nick Cattels, a sports talk show host veteran. A rough day for the defense leaves us with more questions than answers, and we have to discuss the amount of yellow flying out of that field today down in Miami. But first, Drake May leads his team to victory, and you have to love what you saw from the second year quarterback.

We appreciate you joining the show, making us your first listen, and for being an everydayer the Lockdown Patriots podcast, a proud partner of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. The Patriots win 3327 down in Miami. Again, this is the first win for the Patriots down in Miami since 2019 when Antonio Brown was catching a touchdown from Tom Brady. It's been a long time. And this game was absolutely freaking bananas.

It was chaotic. I think we had everything in this game. We had missed extra points. We had a 53-yard field goal from the guy who missed two extra points. We had two special teams touchdowns. It was wild. It looked like the Patriots were about to give up the game-winning touchdown. And all of a sudden, we find out that A-chan steps out of bounds, get a second life, a second breath.

And what do you know, the Patriots end up winning the football game? Let's start with the offense. Let's start with Drake May. The Patriots put up 26 points offensively on the board. of course when you take away the special teams touchdown the offense put up 26 points on the board against this Miami defense now some of it yes has to do with the Miami defense Miami is not good defensively we saw it last week against the Indianapolis Colts Daniel Jones looked really good against that defense they lost one of their starting corners storm duck so we expected the Patriots to be able to move the football I don't know if we expected 20 26 points. And at the end of the day, 33, my prediction was 2320. Patriots winning by a field goal. They win 33, 27, so they win by six. This was a combination to me of two things. Miami's defense isn't very good. And I thought the Patriots played well offensively, and especially Drake May.

Drake May has responded with this win today. We can sit there. We can talk about, oh, is there too much on his plate? he's a little too jittery in the pocket what's going on with may he doesn't look comfortable is this offense too much for him to learn he went out there on the road today and put together a very good football game this was a very very good game from your starting quarterback i thought he was mostly excellent today he showed the poise you know we hadn't seen the poise from beginning to end of a game especially last week against the raiders after he threw that interception, everything kind of went haywire for him, and things fell apart for the offense, things fell apart for May. But today, from beginning to end, I thought you saw poise. You saw

a lot of poise from May. He seemed comfortable in the pocket. He was not rushing. He didn't look as jittery. He wasn't leaving the pocket early for no particular reason. So I thought you saw the poise. I thought he looked comfortable. I thought also that May made a number of really good decisions. Really good decisions. He didn't rush stuff. You know, if he didn't have his first read and the progression, he kept going, looking for answers. So I thought the poise was there. I thought the decision making was there. I thought he was mostly accurate. He didn't have a lot of bad throws. There was the one throw to digs, looked like they were not on the same page, looked like May was expecting Diggs to stop, to sit on that route, and Diggs kept going.

That's more of a, you know, a chemistry thing. And you have to imagine by week seven or eight, that type of play is not going to happen. And when May expects Diggs to sit, he's going to sit on his route. So that was more of a miscommunication than just a bad football from May. But I thought he was mostly accurate. And in the first half of this game, they just kept marching down. And May kept making plays. So I thought the accuracy was there to go along with the decision making, the poise.

The play of the game to me was the pass to Ramandre Stevenson for a number of different reasons that passed down the sideline on the wheel route. First of all, there's pressure. Morgan Moses gets beat pretty quickly on that play. May sees the pass rush and he doesn't freak out. He doesn't rush himself. He doesn't make a mistake. He calmly steps up in the pocket.

He manipulates the pocket with some good movement. He steps up and just lays it over the top to Stevenson on that bucket throw. That was a huge play. It was a fantastic play by Drake May because he kept his calm. And he delivered a very accurate football downfield to his running back. So that play was fantastic. And I also thought the touchdown to Kishan Booty. That is a great throw.

Just great touch on. that throw from May in a really good catch from Booty. I mean, the wide receivers were quiet in this game for the most part. May spread the ball around a lot. There was a lot to Stevenson. There was a couple of screens to Henderson, but he involved the tight ends. So it wasn't a big wide receiver day. But I thought that play by Booty was a really good play by Booty on that touchdown.

It was a really good throw from May. It was a really good catch by Booty, kept his body under control, survived, quote, quote, survive the ground with that catch. So May was mostly excellent. 19 of 23, only four incompletions, and one of them was that miscommunication with Diggs, 230 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, no turnovers. His passerating was 137.3. So no turnovers.

Took care of the football and scrambled when he needed to scramble, got some extra yards with his legs. We didn't see any designed runs for May during. the game, but he was able to hurt Miami's defense with his legs, especially in that first half. So I thought you got a mostly excellent performance from your quarterback. And the fact that this was on the road, the fact that it was in Miami, a tough place to play for New England, I think it's a really good step forward. And if there were any concerns about May coming out of that Raiders game, you feel much better about him with his performance today.

So he was really good. Remandre Stevenson was also. so good. This was a different Stevenson against Miami than we saw against the Raiders. And we can sit there. We could talk about Miami's defense not being great. And it's true. But there was a lot of extra juice to Stevenson's game today. I thought he had better contact balance. I thought he had yards after the contact. We didn't see that against the Raiders. I mean, he got touched against Vegas and he went down. I thought Ramandre Stevenson carried the football much better today, had much better finish to his runs. And he got. a couple of yards. Even you can look back at the fourth quarter before the 53 yard field goal

from Andy Baragallis. And you can go to that first down and 10 play, the very first play. Stevenson, he's hit at the line of scrimmage. But he got a couple of extra yards. And you saw that more from him in today's game than last weekend's game. He only had 11 carries. And most of them came in the first half. I thought, you know, in the second half, the Patriots went away from the run game again. But that was mostly because of penalties. You were looking at a lot of first and 15s, first and 20s. I thought Stevenson was good today. Again, the yards after the contact, he had five catches for 88 yards, including that one down the sideline that I just mentioned a few moments ago. So he was an impact player in the passing game today when you needed him to be.

So Stevenson had a good game. He had that juice. In the first half, the Patriots had more than 100 rushing yards. They ran the football down the Dolphins throat. Again, it slowed down as the game went on, but in the first half, they were dominant in the run game. And what was interesting to me was Drake May was under center a lot today. You go back to week one, he was in the shotgun for more than 82% of the snaps in that game. He was under sensor a lot today, 25, 26, 27 times, somewhere around there under center, which is a big number for May. Patriots were good on third down. They were seven for 12 on third down.

down usually when you're successful on third down you're going to have a successful day on offense and they did so seven for 12 on third down and i think their third down success was because of how good of a job may did on second down there were a lot of a lot of second and 12s and 13s and 15s in this game there were first and 20s in may took the profit on those plays he would take five six seven eight yards on that second down he would turn a you know a second and 12 into a third five, third and six, instead of trying to get it all back at one shot, he managed the game very well on the second down in longs and the first in longs, and he gave his team a chance because he took some of the checkdowns. He took some of the easy stuff underneath, and that

helped your third down offense because now you're looking at third and manageable instead of third and 13 because your quarterback wanted to get everything in one shot. So the second down in medium, the second down in long decisions, the first in long decisions by May were fantastic. You We got some well-timed screens from Josh McDaniels against Miami Blitzes. That worked out well. And I just thought overall, May was just, he was very, very steady. He was very steady today. No matter what the down and distance was, he kept his cool and he played good football.

All right, a very tough day for the defense. Again, we'll talk about what went wrong on that side of the ball. We'll break it down coming up next. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team. every day. This episode is brought you by prize picks, the daily fantasy app where making the right call can actually pay off. You and I make decisions every day, but on prize picks being right means cashing in with

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It's good to be right. It was a tough day for the defense again. It was a tough day for those guys on that side of the ball again. They had a tough day against the Raiders last week, and they had a tough day today. Not as many big plays, not as many explosives, but still, they gave up a bunch of yards in the air, and they had a tough time for most of this game. I will give them credit. The defense came up with some big time plays late in the game to walk away with the W.

Now, yes, they were just about to give up the game to A. Chan when he stepped out of bounds. But you can look at, you know, the Mapu interception. For example, huge play led to the Patriots field goal to go up by six. Harold Landry's sack before Marte Mapu and his interception. Harold Landry gets in on third down and gets a sack. And then, of course, the final play of the game for Miami's offense, your big ticket, your big ticket item in the offseason and free agency, Milton Williams, he closes the game down with the sack.

So you did have some big plays in the fourth quarter, but this defense has to be better. If this defense doesn't get better, this team's in trouble. So we've got to look at some of the things defensively that weren't there for the Patriots for some reason. They got almost no pressure in the first half. I don't think they touched to a Tung of Ioloa in the first half. They didn't get close to them.

And that was surprising to me because we talked about going into this game, the offensive line of the dolphins. They were going through all those injuries. They had a new right side of the offensive line. And you thought against a couple of backups, the Patriots pass rush would be able to do some damage. You thought that Landry would be getting in the backfield consistently Well, that wasn't the case.

The Patriots had like no pressure in that first half. And Tunga Vialoa was in a rhythm. Tua was in a rhythm. Things were easy for him. He was super comfortable in the pocket because he wasn't getting rattled. He wasn't getting chased. He wasn't getting touched. So no pressure in that first half.

And Tua was able to, you know, the final two drives in that first half get touchdowns. And he just ripped you apart for most of this game. He really did. And it was because he was in that rhythm. And we talked about it going in. We talked about it previewing this game. If you want to get to Tua, you've got to get Tua. That's how you make him shaky.

You get pressure on him. You hit him. He's not a super athlete as you saw when the Patriots did get some pressure. So that's how you try to combat this Miami offense that is so fast and pretty precise, always leaning on the timing of plays. That's how you get to Miami is you've got to hit Tua. And they did not do that. The Patriots defense did not do that in the first half.

And it's a tough situation for the defense because you want to get pressure, but you're not going to blitz nearly as much as it did last week against the Raiders. Because if you blitz, now you're asking your corners to cover Tyree Kill and Jalen Waddle, you're asking those guys to cover man and go one-on-one. And it's, you don't have Christian Gonzalez. You might have, you might have been able to play the Dolphins offense differently today if you had Christian Gonzalez because you could probably send more pressure. But you don't want to send extra pass rushers because that's going to leave you vulnerable on the back end. So you're kind of stuck.

You're stuck because you're not getting pressure with your four man rush today. And you don't want to send extra guys to try to get that pressure. You don't want to go too overboard, try to create pressure because that's going to leave you susceptible if you don't get home. So that was the tough. That was the tough part for the Patriots and their pass rush today. Because if you get too aggressive against this team, that's going to backfire. I will say that their pass rush was better in the second half. I think they ended up with four or five sacks today.

In the second half, their pass rush was better. And I thought their defensive line played better in the second half. And we talked about it a little bit earlier. You know, the big plays in the fourth quarter, Landry with the big sack. you had Williams with the big game ending sack. So you did start to get some pressure in the second half. And, you know, it wasn't always looking the same for Tua. So it did get a little bit better as the game went on.

What got much better as the game went on was the Pat's run defense. In the first half, they were getting gashed. They got gashed by the run. And the dolphins were averaging like nine yards of carry. I mean, they were absolutely. dominant on the ground in the first half. In the second half, that changed. And the Patriots defense was good against the run.

They made some adjustments. They also changed some personnel. Anthony Jennings played more in the second half. I don't think that's a coincidence. We know that Jennings, if there's one thing Jennings can do, it's stop the run. It's play the run on the edge. And so I don't think it's rocket science,

but it was a nice adjustment by Mike Grable and the coaching staff and Zach Corr, who called the defensive plays today, nice adjustment to get Anthony Jennings out there in the second half. And I thought Jennings helped her run defense, especially early in that second half. And the yards weren't as easy to come by for the dolphins on the ground in the second half. So you made some of those adjustments. You also put Marte Mapu out there on third down especially,

which was another adjustment that Mike Vrable and the coaching staff made at halftime. Obviously Mapu comes up with a huge pick. But then he also got exposed one-on-one against A-chan, which led to the almost game-winning touchdown. Thankfully, A-chan stepped out of bounds. So the staff did make some adjustments at halftime, but the defensive line played better in the second half against the run. And again, they got more pressure in the second half. And you did a good job on third down. Now, of course, you've got to do better on first and second down, but Miami was four of ten on third down.

So the Pats did a pretty good job on third down defense today. We talked about the Patriots who were seven for 12 on third down. Miami was not nearly as effective on third down going four for 10. So the Patriots did do a pretty good job on third down. I have no idea how Tyree Kill made that play downfield. Alex Austin was completely lost. He did not track the football. That was a brutal play.

I have no, I watched it over five times and I just, I have no idea how Alex Austin played that ball or failed to play that ball. And Craig Woodson also looked like he had a chance to get over there and he was kind of slow on the draw. So, you know, but you got some issues. You got issues defensively. And linebacker continues to be an issue. Linebacker was an issue last week against the Raiders.

Linebacker was an issue again today against the Dolphins. The linebackers are not good in coverage. Robert Spillane continues to get beat. Christian Ellis gets beat. and that's why I think you saw more Marte Mapu in the second half and you might see more Mapu going forward because he's a guy that might be able to cover some players for you at linebacker because Ellis and Spillane have both been bad in coverage and you're just asking to get croaked if you've got one of

those guys against a speedy running back like Achan you're just you're just waiting to get beat down so maybe we see more Mapu maybe we see some Kyle Dugger at linebacker Of course, Dugger's not great in coverage either, but he's better than Spalane and Ellis. So maybe you see a little bit of Dugger at linebacker from time to time. And it certainly looks like the Patriots, they're going to make some adjustments and get their better cover backer out there in Mapu, especially when it's third down. If it's third down, I think you'll see Mapu. If you're talking third and medium, third and long, I think you put Mapu out there.

And that was some of what we saw. And it's not just the coverage stuff. you know the linebackers were also missed tackles another issue right missing tackles left and right map who one on one against a chan on that play in the fourth quarter uh spilane had that tackle where he just he he tried to drive the shoulder into the dude but didn't wrap up that was awful so linebackers a problem it's a problem in coverage and it's been a problem when it comes to tackling and your four man pass rush has not been consistent so there are a number of things defensively that the patriots need to button up. They need to be better on that side of the ball. There's no doubt.

And they need to be better in special teams. They got the touchdown from Antonio Gibson today, but they've got to be better on special teams as well, giving up the punt return when you had, you know, Brennan Schooler and Charles Woods not be able to take Washington down. That was less than ideal. Now, thankfully, Gibson comes right back and gets it back for you with his kickoff return touchdown. But, you know, there are some issues here. There are some issues. All right. Don't forget to like. Throw that thumb up if you're watching us on YouTube right now. If you're watching live, give us that thumbs up. It helps us with the algorithm. If you're watching on demand, you can still give us that thumbs up. Throw a comment in.

What are your thoughts? Patriots with their first win in Miami since 2019. I want you to throw some comments down in there. Let me see what you're thinking about this game. Don't forget to like. Don't forget to comment. And don't forget to subscribe. We are now over 6,000 subscribers. Let's keep pushing. I have a competition with these other lockdown podcasts, Patriots fans. We need to show out, show up, subscribe. So like, comment, and subscribe. All right, one of the most surprising aspects of this season so far and in many other takeaways that I have from this game coming up next as we continue with today's episode of Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

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Nice to see the coach still has some of his legs left, apparently, as he was running down the sidelines along with Antonio Gibson during that kickoff return touchdown. But the first Mike Vrable win as the Patriots new head coach, you finally win a game in Miami, first time since 20, 19 chaotic game absolutely insane bananas nuts whichever adjective you want to use this game was crazy you had two special teams touchdowns within 12 seconds like your head spinning i might have i might have tweeted at nixie radio a curse word or two after that Antonio gibson touchdown just a crazy game some other takeaways some other takeaways that i have the patriots have to clean up the operations Now, I expected a Mike Rable coach team to, as he always talks about, the details, the details, the detail, way too many penalties. There were way too many penalties against the Raiders last week.

And then the Patriots had even more penalties today, 12 penalties for 75 yards. And they would have had more penalties if all of them were accepted. There was one or two of them at least that were declined. 12 penalties is undisciplined football. You had two false starts on Morgan Moses. You had another false start on Will Campbell, so they've got to clean up the penalties. Trayvion Henderson had not one, not two,

but three holding calls made against him. One was declined, but three holds on your rookie running back. Can't have it. Pass protection is supposed to be one of the things that he does best, and he wasn't great in that today. So the penalties, you know, this is not the type of clean operation I anticipated. You got to clean that stuff up.

I'm sure that's going to be like number one or at least, you know, one of the top two or three items that Vrable is going to hammer this week with the guys back at the facility after they celebrate the win. But you have to continue to operate at a higher level because this team, you don't have the margin for error. You can't have 12 penalties. You just can't. You were able to survive it today because Miami also had like 10 or 11 penalties. They were just as bad. But you got to clean that up. Here's a good thing about the game today.

The Patriots finished drives. So you got into the red zone four times. You scored three times. You got three touchdowns out of those four red zone trips. The only time that Miami stopped the Patriots in the red zone was when the pass from May to Hunter Henry was deflected at the line. of scrimmage. And honestly, if that ball doesn't get deflected at the line of scrimmage, I think that's a touchdown throw to Hunter Henry. Henry's got the defender boxed out. He was open. May's throwing it to him. I think that would have ended up being a touchdown. But the past

gets deflected at the line. It doesn't get to Henry. It kind of ends up floating low because it's all wobbly. But three touchdowns out of four red zone trips, that's a good day. That's a very good day for your offense. And I thought to go back to Drake May, I thought he was in full command. He was in full command, especially in the red zone. He did not look shaky. He did not look jittery. He looked like he was in full command. And I thought he played well, especially in the red zone. So you had command from your quarterback. And that's the way you finish drives. And hopefully the Patriots can continue to finish drives as they play better defenses than Miami. But that was nice to see. Another thought. Some coaching decisions that were interesting to me.

Going for it on fourth down in the first half. Love it. Love it. You're on the plus side. You're in plus territory. Fourth down. And because you go for it, because you make that decision and go for it on fourth down, thank God we finally have a head coach who goes for it on fourth down that we get to watch on Sundays, thankfully. But you go for it on fourth down in that drive in the first half after you get that fourth down convert. it was the digs and you end up getting a touchdown on that drive so i i love the decision by mike rable i also thought going forward on fourth and two late in the fourth quarter instead of going for the 48 yard field goal i agreed with that decision as well of course morgan moses got one of his false starts so then it goes back to like you know fourth and eight or whatever it was so then you kick the field goal and just try to get the points up on the board so miami can't tie you

would a field goal. So I agreed with Vrabel's initial decision as well to go for it on that fourth and two. But Moses, you know, fall start jumps, not good enough. Josh McDaniels, I thought he had a pretty good day. I thought he called a few screens that worked out tremendously against this Dolphins defense, but I did not understand why they threw the football on the second down on their final drive there. I did not agree with it. obviously McDaniels thought it was going to be a safe pass. It was a play action. They were looking,

Drake Mayer was looking towards Mack Hollins. I don't know why they threw the football there. They threw the football there. I thought it was a mistake. I thought it was a bad play call. Again, they were able to survive it. But I thought McDaniels had a good day,

especially in the red area. The challenge, I thought the Patriots got hosed on that challenge. I thought it was the correct decision by Vrable to challenge that catch by Jalen Waddle. I thought it was clearly, clearly not in control of. of Waddles when he was down on the ground. I have no idea how that challenge didn't go the successful way,

the successful route for the Patriots. I have no idea. I thought that was a terrible call by the officials. So I agreed with the challenge, and I thought they should have won the challenge. I thought the past protection was mostly solid. You know, in my first watch,

I'll watch the game again tomorrow morning, but I thought the past protection was all and all pretty solid again, especially from Will Campbell, who I think had two, pretty good games to start his NFL career, especially when it comes to past protection. Now, he had another false start, got to clean it up, but I thought the past protection was pretty good. So you're one-on-one, you get the win down in Miami, but you still have a lot that you need to button up, and teams are supposed to get better as the year goes on.

So I would imagine that they will button up some of these things. But to get a win down in Miami after that second half against the Raiders, that's a step in the right direction. Now you get ready for Pittsburgh. you come back home and you got Pittsburgh at Gillette. All right, that wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Thank you for making us your first listen for being an everydayer, of course.

You can reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C Radio. Don't forget to throw a comment in on the YouTube channel. Don't forget to hit that like button. Don't forget to subscribe and help us out. And thank you for making Lockdown Patriots, something that you enjoy and you check out. The NFL season, by the way, of course, is here. So you could always watch Lockdown.

NFL, the Lockdown NFL podcast with Tyler Rowland and Tony Wiggins. You can find Lockdown NFL on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. I'll watch the game over again tomorrow morning. Have a great rest of your Sunday. It's a victory Sunday, which is nice. And we will be back tomorrow with more thoughts on this game. Appreciate every single one of you and talk to you soon. Thank you.