Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Wednesday Wisdom and Clazz - Patriots, Bills and Bye Week Talk with Clare Cooper — 12/8/21

Episode Date: December 9, 2021

The New England Patriots continue to savor their 14-10 victory over the Buffalo Bills on Monday night. Joining host Mike D’Abate is Clare ‘ClazzyClare’ Cooper. The duo discuss their thoughts on the Pats victory over the Bills, the performance of both Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry, Adrian Phillips’ coverage of Bills’ tight end Dawson Knox, and Clare’s favorite ‘tight endage’ moments of 2021, thus far.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.StatHeroStatHero is the first of its kind Daily Fantasy Sports platform where it’s YOU vs. the HOUSE in head to head fantasy matchups - winner take all. Sign up for FREE - RIGHT NOW - at StatHero.com/LOCKEDON and use promo code LOCKEDON for a One Hundred Percent Deposit Match. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all of you, Foxborough faithful. You are now locked into the Locked On Patriots podcast. It is Wednesday, December 8th, 2021, and it's time for a visit from the Countess of Class to talk some tight endage and some bi-week New England Patriots football right here on your daily home for news notes and analysis infused with the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. And today's episode of Locked on Patriots is brought to you by On Location.

On Location is the official hospitality partner of the NFL, and it's the only place to score a once-in-a-lifetime Super Bowl ticket and experience package. Visit onlocationexp.com slash SB56 for more information or search Super Bowl on location. Greetings and salutations, Patriots Nation. Thank you so much for joining me here on this Wednesday episode of the pod, and thank you once again for making Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage and your first listen every day. My name is Mike DeBate, and in addition to covering your New England Patriots for Patriot Maven of Sports Illustrated,

I am your host of the Locked On Patriots podcast, which of course is a proud part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And folks, because it's your team every day, that means your questions, your comments, your feedback, they're And folks, because it's your team every day, that means your questions, your comments, your feedback, they're always welcomed, very much appreciated. So share that feedback. Send it to the internet by reaching out to me and following me on Twitter at MDABATENFL.

And while you're out there doing some Wednesday wandering through the Twitterverse, please be sure to follow the Locked On Patriots account on Twitter at LO underscore Patriots. Folks, you heard me correctly in the introduction. It is Wednesday, which means a visit from the Countess of Klaas herself, the Empress of Tight Endage, the Queen of TE, and the Baroness of Blockers, my good friend Claire, Klazzy Claire Cooper, writer for Pat's Propaganda and full press coverage, Patriot stops by the pod. And of course, if Claire's in the house, you know we're going to be talking some tight endage.

Not all Janu Smith and Hunter Henry. After all, in Monday's game, neither one of them exactly played a big role. Although, Janu did account for 50% of the catches on Mac Jones' thrown passes. Problem is, Mac Jones only threw three passes and completed two of them. John, who happened to have one of them, the longest reception of the night for 12 yards. Yeah, I know, folks, it still doesn't sound right, but bottom line, I still don't go for all of the negativity surrounding this. It's part of the game plan.

Get over it. Mac's going to be just fine when he comes back and the New England Patriots get back into action on Saturday, December 18th against the Indianapolis Colts. But here today on Locked On Patriots, Claire and I will discuss a little bit of John U. Smith and Hunter Henry, but we'll also talk about Claire's thoughts on the game, what impressed her the most about the Patriots' win over the Bills. We'll talk a little bit about Adrian Phillips and the stout coverage that he provided on Bill's tight end Dawson Knox, preventing him from being a factor in this game. Last but certainly not least, it is the bye week.

So because there will be no tight endage action this weekend for the New England Patriots, we'll talk a little bit about some of Claire's favorite tight end memories through the first part of the 2021 season. Folks, a lot to get to. Whenever Claire joins the show, it's always a lot of fun. The voice, the laugh, the giggle, we know it all. But it is the wit, the wisdom, and the counsel that brings her back here each and every week. And in just a moment, my good friend, the Countess of Clas herself, Claire Cooper of Pat's Propaganda and Full Press Coverage Patriots, will join me here on the hot seat when this Wednesday episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues.

Locked On listeners, Super Bowl 56 at SoFi Stadium is less than 100 days away and on location, the official hospitality partner of the NFL is the only place to score a once-in-a-lifetime Super Bowl ticket and experience package. Select your exact seats and choose from elite experiences featuring an exclusive pregame celebration with NFL legends, five-star L.A. hotels, and food by the great Wolfgang Puck. Visit onlocationexp.com slash SB56 for more information, or search Super Bowl on location.

That's on location exp.com slash SB 56 or search Super Bowl on location. Patriots fans near and far. We continue to savor the Patriots 14 to 10 victory over the Buffalo Bills in Week 13 of the 2021 NFL season. Monday night football, Pats getting the victory, moving to 9-4 on the season. And of course, they remain in the top spot in the AFC, in the AFC East. And right now, the sky seems to be the limit for the New England Patriots. Still a lot of football left, four games remaining on the schedule, and none of them are going to be easy.

But since it's the bye week, we're not only going to continue to savor this victory for a little bit longer, we're also going to take a look back at some of the great moments that have happened to the New England Patriots in the 2021 season thus far. Today's focus is going to be very tight and centric. And folks, you know who's going to be joining me here on the hot seat today. Our newest regular here on Locked On Patriots, and I for one could not be happier that she joins me here each and every week on Wednesday. We all know and love the giggle, the laugh, the accent.

It's part of her charm, but what brings her back here each and every week is the wit, the wisdom, and the spot-on analysis that she is able to provide, not just on the tight endage, folks, but all over the gridiron. You know her great work as a columnist and writer for patspropaganda.com. She is the third esteemed voice of One Patriot's Place with our good friend Murph and our good friend Steve Balistrieri, and of course, a special contributor and columnist for Full Press Coverage Patriots, a site that is very near and dear to my heart. Claire does great work for them, in addition to her own phenomenal podcast,

A Claire Perspective, which, once again, folks, smash that subscribe button. You will not be sorry. The listens she provides are phenomenal. You'll be entertained. You'll be informed. And really, what more can you ask for in a podcast?

She is the Countess of Klaas herself, the Queen of T.E., the Countess of Klaas herself, the Queen of TE, the Baroness of Blockers, and leaving one out. But in any case, you know who's joining me today. Claire, Klazzy Claire Cooper joins me from West Midlands in the UK across the pond. Claire, thank you for joining me. Welcome back to Locked On Patriots. Oh, you're so welcome. And you missed out. The funny thing is you missed out the one that you invented, which was the Empress of Tight Endage.

The Empress of Tight Endage. You gave it away. But yes, it's fun to be back in my chair. I now have dragged my own chair into the Locked On Patriots room of guests. So I now have my own little Wednesday spot. So I'm very excited. I am loving this thank you everybody that had anything to do with this i'm loving it wednesday for me thank you so much

absolutely well the person that had the most to do with it is you you know you're seriously i mean you know our listeners clamor for it they love listening to you we love having one here you know that uh and uh as long as people want it, we're going to give the people what they want, and what they wanted was more Claire on Wednesday, and you can't argue with that. No one can argue with that. It is, like I said, the wisdom, the giggle.

We all love that, but it's the spot-on analysis and your ability to extract information and be able to explain it in a measure that really is, I think, unique in this business. And I mean that in a good way is what keeps you coming back here on Lockdown Patriots each and every week. That earns you the regular spot here. And bottom line, I'm very grateful to you for taking the time out and joining me each and every week. And Claire, it's been an era of good feelings since you've joined us here.

I like to think that after your regular appearances, the New England Patriots started winning. If you look at the calendar, folks, that win streak started coinciding with Claire joining me here on the airwaves more regularly. Coincidence? I don't know. But you never know. You really never know. All kidding aside, the Patriots were, I believe they were impressive in this victory over the Buffalo bills on Monday. I know you're going to get a lot of colleagues in the media, a lot of our colleagues in the media that are going to disagree with that.

And they're going to poke holes. And if they're going to tell you that Mac threw the ball three times, that means bill has no confidence in him heading into, um, the wintry parts of the season here in New England that he's not able to throw through the wind, through the snow, through elements. Steve and I talked about that yesterday. Steve Balistrieri and I at batsfans.com discussed that a little bit. And we kind of debunked that. But there is still a lot of people that will tell you, well, the Patriots, you know, they got timely stops and there were a couple of broken plays. Things could have gone here and there. Good performance, but not a dominant performance. When you look at performances in those types of a lens, when you think that every performance on the field should be dominant and it's just not going to happen each and every time. But the Patriots, I think, one with smart coaching, timely plays and execution that only this team seems to be able to do.

And when you boil it right down, it's because they're just more well prepared than any other team Claire when you look at Monday night's game what were your takeaways what were your uh impressions and what impressed you most about the Patriots victory on Monday well I can see why kind of as you said the sort of the media the opinion out there is kind of semi-negative because you know it wasn't a sparkly game it was you know it was low scoring stuff like game it was you know it was low scoring stuff like that it was and yeah we didn't see a lot of Mac he didn't air it out but a lot of that is to do with as Paul mentioned the weather and stuff like this so I can appreciate why people would be sort of down on the game in that respect to me it was like they beat the Bills and really

long and short of it as the Patriots fan that I am that's what held it for me is they beat the Bills and really long and short of it as as the Patriots fan that I am that's what held it for me is they beat the Bills in the Bills house and that's what was important but I can see why there's a bit of a kind of a Debbie Downer on the game there wasn't you know there wasn't much it was all it was all run game and things like this but that ultimately means it was you know there were significant coaching advantages as you said that they got and it flustered the Bills coaching staff I mean McDermott was like he was wicked on the side you know on the sidelines and stuff like this so yeah I can see why it's not a game that you you know it's not going to go down in history as the most exciting game it was I thought it was kind of nerve wracking because going forward,

going into it, it was concerning the, you know, the Bills are a good team. I want to say that they were, but I'm pretty sure that they're going to bounce back from it. So, but you know, that game really didn't kind of show them at their peak. They had one of the top defences in the NFL, that sort of thing. So, you know, it's kind of unfortunate for them in that respect. But yeah, I'm of the opinion of I wouldn't say it was a great game. I didn't have it going up there as a great game.

But that's more because of the nerves as a fan watching it than anything else, really. And there was no tight end touchdown. So, you know me, I like me to have a tight end touchdown. I mean, there's a few things, to be honest. As most of the listeners and you, as you've said, the Patriots are now top of the AFC. Seven wins on the road. Seven, sorry, seven wins in a row.

All of the road games won so far. And I found out Belichick is in his 11th season or with his 11th season with a seven game win streak there's all sorts of statistics and stuff that back up this game being you know great in that respect but you know me I'm not all about the numbers so the great thing about the game was that the Patriots told the Bills they were going to run the ball they stood there and told them we're going to run the ball on you. And they did. And they did it successfully.

And they did it, as I mentioned, in the Bills' house. So they ran all over the Bills in their own house. And that was it. And I mean, I hate the Bills. There's no offence to any Bills fans that might be listening. It is nothing personal. It's business. AFC East business. offense to any bills fans that might be listening it is nothing personal it's business afc east business the bills are or maybe were a very strong dominant team their defense as i mentioned the top of the nfl and i admitted as i mentioned i was a little bit worried over the game but the patriots did what i asked them to do kind of they crushed the bills the offensive line particularly my beloved o-line crushed the bills

and i am absolutely loving it so as for the game itself being great not great it just depends on how you want to look at it and what you want to use to judge if the game is great or not if you think the game's any great because there was a lot of Matt Jones then no not necessarily if you think the game is great because the defense really shows up then yeah phenomenal it really depends on which perspective you want to take as I mentioned mine is just they beat the Bills they completely beat the Bills and they built the they beat the Bills at home so it was another on the road win and that's it they're crystal bills and that's all i really take away from it is they did perform really well

in a lot of areas and they wouldn't what else do you need to look at really it's true it really is and again i think a lot of times what you look at especially either from a casual fan or from someone that's, you know, tuning into this game, looking for a balanced attack. I understand if you're a fan of Mac Jones, or if you're looking to watch to see what this rookie can do, especially on a national stage, it's an unorthodox strategy to have your quarterback only throw the ball three times and not utilize some of the passing weapons that he has, because for all of the people that want to say the Patriots have no one to throw to, I don't see that as much anymore. But Claire, we've heard it.

We've heard that wide receiver core is trash. We see the trash bucket and all that ridiculous stuff that goes on on social media. They do have two very capable tight ends, which we're going to talk about in just a moment. But the receiving core has started to round into form as well. Jacoby Myers has been solid. Nelson Aguilar has been you know good in spots Kendrick Bourne has really been one of the bright spots in this offense this year but bottom line when you win a game like that it's one in the trenches and Steve and I talked about this a little bit yesterday

and I think you articulated it very well uh also offensive line in my opinion deserves the game ball their ability to push back their ability to stand up protect the run I want to give a lot of credit to your guy Jakob Johnson I want to give a lot of credit to Nikhil Harry even though I know it's fashionable for him to continue to be the whipping boy when it comes to that that was a bad muff that was no question about it. And, you know, Nikhil deserves to be taken, you know, to task for that. There's no, you know, problem, you know, criticizing him for that one. But if he didn't spring and make that block for Damian Harris, a 64-yard touchdown run,

Patriots don't get that touchdown at that time. And who knows, maybe they don't put the ball into the end zone there. So everything happens for a reason. There's ebbs and flows within the game and to me i think yeah people are looking at this offensively and making criticism for the patriots but no one is criticizing the defense and the defense to me is what won them this game they held the bills to 3.2 yards per rush on 19 running back carries. They had a success rate of 14%. That took Buffalo's running game and say what you will about Buffalo's game.

Devin Singletary and Zach Moss and even Matt Vreda can prove that they can run the ball effectively. If given the opportunity to do so, the Patriots took that completely away. That's surprising because normally when you play the bills, you want to take away the tight end. You want to take away the slot receiver. You want to take away the outside threats, Gabriel Davis and Stefan Biggs without question. But the Patriots almost looked at the Bills and said, all right, we know what your strength is, but you're not prepared for

this win the way we're going to be. We're going to dare you, Josh Allen, to throw the ball into the wind. And for everyone that says that the Patriots didn't trust Mac throwing down the field, when you're only completing a very small percentage of your passes and Josh Allen, who has a rocket for an arm, was having difficulty cutting through that wind, save for that one brilliant completion between he and Stefan Diggs, which probably was the offensive play of the game. I mean, you have to give credit where credit is due. It was a phenomenal throw and a catch by the receiver quarterback there. But when you're daring Josh Allen to do it and it's difficult for him to do it and throw into the wind

and you hold him to 15 of 30 on 145 yards, you know that defensive game plan is sound. So Patriots take away once again what the Bills do best and they have success for it. And again, I think it comes down to them being just more prepared than the Bills were. You heard Bill Belichick after the game, you know, come out and say, that's why we practice in this family show. You know, this stuff. You know, everybody knows what he said, but it's the truth. They do that. Bill's practiced indoors this week. Patriots outside giving it everything that they've got in all weather conditions and preparing their players for anything and everything that they might see in Buffalo.

And it worked to their advantage. So once again, the Patriots crushed the Bill's hopes and dreams. And that's what the Patriots are here for, to crush the Bills' hopes and dreams. Let's get ahead of ourselves here, Countess. There is another game on the 26th of December, and that Buffalo Bills team is resilient, although I don't know after the comments made by Sean McDermott post-game. Who knows if there's dissension in the ranks up in Buffalo right now.

It seemed to be that team really, really took this loss hard. You saw a lot of unglued players and coaching staff for Buffalo there. But if they collect themselves, that talent on both sides of the ball still makes them, I think, one of the Patriots' chief competitors in this conference right now because of what they can do on both sides. So I'm not willing to write the epitaph to the Buffalo Bills just yet, but boy, I'll tell you,

it would be interesting if the Patriots were able to beat them in week 13 and in week 14, old buddy, Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers do a solid for their old coach and defeat the Buffalo Bills and put the Patriots yet even higher in the pecking order for the AFC East title. Claire, it's inevitable. When you come on, I believe we're contractually obligated to do this, not just by you, but also by my employers. We're going to talk tight endage, and everybody knew

we were going to. Not an impressive day for the tight ends, not an impressive day for any receiver for the New England Patriots. When you throw the ball three times, you can't expect anything out of the ordinary. But the New England Patriots did get some contributions from their tight ends on Monday night, even though the stat sheet doesn't really bear it out. I still thought Hunter Henry did a very good job of blocking in this game. You saw him in situational, you know, downs. And in a lot of ways, I think that really helped solidify the Patriots offensive line. He didn't get a whole lot of snaps because you saw a way new lineup at tight end.

A lot. Patriots were going very heavy with that jumbo package in the in the the offensive line. John Smith was a little bit of an anomaly. He did get 39 snaps on Monday night, mostly deployed as a blocker, but he did have the distinction of hauling in the one and only completed pass. So only one of the two completed passes by Mack Jones. That was a 12-yard gain. Claire, when you look at the tight end uh you know stat sheet and you look at their performance on the field what was going through your mind as you were

watching this game and now that you've had maybe a day to kind of digest it a little bit uh how would you rate the performance of the tight ends in this one well first of all you say stat sheet and I'm kind of you know me I'm not huge into the numbers I do sometimes quote the numbers but it isn't always the numbers don't give you the full picture you can't always look at the numbers and and get what went on and in all fairness yeah as you said three throws you're not going to get much out the tight ends anyway from it from a game that only puts that down but you've got to look at what the guys do on the field as well because you don't really get significant stats coming through for blocking and

stuff like that. So as you mentioned before, I know he's not a tight end. So I'm just kind of curbing that comment for a second, but in regards to Jakob Johnson, he's been phenomenal this year, but it's not really a numbers game for him. It's a,

what he's doing in front of your eyes sort of thing. And so he's, you know, the epitome of the guy that's kind of not really going to show up on your sheet, but he's doing in front of your eyes sort of thing and so he's you know the epitome of the guy that's kind of not really going to show up on your sheet but he's doing the the team such a good service kind of thing so I mean Hunter and Johnny played well considering the kind of you know the type of game that was played there as you said Mac only threw three times so Johnny had himself an epic catch as you mentioned and although okay it

was it was a single play sort of thing yes and he's only one player against the whole of the game but it showed off his athletic ability I think I've been a little bit down kind of ish on Johnny at the moment and when I say that I don't mean like on him but I just mean concern over him kind of clicking in the team and being able to be the best version of himself, if you like, because of his injuries. And I've kind of been concerned that that's really affected the significance, the amount that they would utilise him. But I think it just needs to be a little bit of patience sprinkling in. And I say that more on me than like anyone else because he is slowly developing we are slowly seeing what this guy can do and he and he is a very good player and I think

it's just we haven't been fortunate enough to be able to see a sort of enough of him to kind of give him a great rating that he probably deserves and a lot of it falls down to as I've mentioned on previous shows before just the time and the consistency of having him in the team in regards to having that shoulder injury sort of so hopefully the bye might even benefit him the time the time off and then he can come back and hopefully we actually get to see a lot more out of him for the last four games of the season that would be very interesting although I know that we've got him on and Patriots have got him on quite you know a

four-year deal so you know that's you know hopefully Tuchwood he's not going anywhere so maybe next year he's going to be more of the year that we see from him but I you know I always keep a sharp eye as you like to say on the tight ends anyway so but the next four games I think might be key if he gets a good rest and you know he's doing okay with that shoulder injury it would be interesting to see particularly kind of against such good teams as the Colts and the and the Bills at home as I said if they're still that good you never know we might have completely broken them and that'd be funny but anyway um and enough about that um yeah I'd be interested to see if he's utilised and how he's utilised.

But the key, I think, is going to be if that shoulder injury lets him really. I mean, Hunter, as you said, was great in blocking, sealing the edge and such. I mean, I hate that he's only being used as a blocker, but he's really effective. And it was the type of play that was needed. And I mean, I'm fully on board with that. You use the guy how you're best going to utilise him to win the game. he's really effective and it was the type of play that was needed. And I mean, I'm fully on board with that. You use the guy, how you best going to utilize him to win the game. And,

you know, that's fair enough. I just love seeing him with the ball, with the odds after the catch in the end zone where he's strong and seeing that big guy grab the ball and, you know, doing his jump spike kind of thing. So yeah, a little,

a little feminine side there. Yeah. That's, you know, that's, that's kind of what I want the most sort of thing but I appreciate that he was utilized the best way that was necessary in that game and that was you know being a key blocker and as you mentioned sort of a makeshift tight end sort of thing although I know that he would have been sort of eligible um Mike on when

you he played as an amazing blocking tight end I don't really see him running routes kind of thing I'm not really sure if he's really a jet sweep kind of guy that kind of thing but um you know you never know he might be a bit more nimble on his feet than we you know than we realized but yeah he he as you know a pseudo tight end he did he did kind of he did really good with the blocking and it just solidified the offensive line generally you know generally speaking sort of things there yeah I mean there wasn't much there for us to see in regards to the tight ends but I would still give them a good rating simply because I'm the empress of tight ended you know the baroness of blockers what can

I say it's very very difficult for me to give them a bad grade anyway even when they haven't played the best although I do tend to quite be realistic I've you know said about Jono and stuff like this so they did the jobs that they were given I think and they did them well which these guys you know they're great NFL players so they're going to anyway so yeah I think you know tight ends they've got to at least have kind of like an A for all their blocking. I would say that is an agreement. In my opinion, I'm not going to disagree with the countess on tight ends. You think I'm crazy, folks? I was going to say, you know, it's quite a dangerous situation to put yourself in.

Exactly. Don't forget, you've got a weekly spot here now. So, you know, it's not like I can just say, yeah, that's right. And, yeah, you know what? I don't think I'm going to that dm today not kidding uh bottom line i do agree with you first of all i think michael wainer would be the first to agree with you but he's not a big jet suite guy we're not gonna see mike take the jet suite watch next week bill belichick will listen to lockdown patriots and he'll go oh you gotta get done yeah yeah exactly i would love to see it and you know what mike is much more agile much more of an athlete than his size would indicate. I've seen him maneuver around and maneuver around pretty well in the practice field. So who knows, folks? You know, I mean, you never can say never with the New England Patriots would only attempt three passes against the Buffalo Bills, even with the difficulties that we knew they were going to face in the weather. I would have called you irrational and probably being, you know, very, very clean when it comes to that.

Exactly. But bottom line that, you know, you never can tell. With regard to Hunter Henry, you know, be rest assured. He's coming back in that form. This was game plan, folks. This was not Hunter being in the doghouse. Someone sent me a message yesterday with the snap counts. When I wrote about the snap counts for Sports Illustrated yesterday, people were like, well, what's with Henry? You're only getting 15 snaps.

I was like, well, did you watch the game? It wasn't necessarily, you know, yeah, he wasn't going to be deployed there watch the game don't look at the numbers don't always look at them you need to it's it needs to be a married situation if you're going to judge a game you need to watch and and yeah quite yeah have the numbers i'm not knocking it at all but you can't you can't just look at a stat sheet and know how a guy is. You cannot judge somebody from numbers like that. Not at all. Because as I mentioned, the blocking doesn't come into it.

And Hunter had a great game blocking. So, you know, if he wasn't there blocking, the guys wouldn't get through and things like this. You know, the run game would have nothing on it. So those things don't show up. So as you said yeah don't don't always look at the numbers or at least if you enjoy looking at the numbers at least look at the game too before you kind of make your you know make your assessment absolutely everything in context and i completely agree with you on hunter and as for what you said about john and

i think there is uh you know some level of anticipation for him to have that breakout performance. And we've talked about this now for the last couple of weeks. And I don't necessarily know if the Patriots are going to be pushing for that. We've heard Josh McDaniel say several times that this is a foundational year for Jonu, getting him acclimated into the new system that is the New England Patriots offense. But look, 25 catches, 259 yards, one touchdown. A lot of people are looking at that and saying that's not exactly living up to $31.25 million guaranteed four-year, $50 million contract in free agency this year.

So I know that there is still some anticipation for him to break out. I can tell you from what I've seen from him on the practice fields, what I've seen from him in training camp, and what we continue to see, the little snippets of practice that we are allowed to watch. You know, Jono continues to move well. I know the shoulder has been hampering him. It is a complex system to be able to learn, but this guy can thrive in that type of environment once it clicks, and it does seem to be getting better each and every week. So still a lot of faith in John O'Smith. I know there's a work ethic and just a desire to be the best player that he can be.

That, to me, tells me that he's ready to break out and he is going to be a good player here for a number of years to come. For the duration of his contract, at the very least, I think the Patriots will be happy with with that signing even if there are some that are a little restless in that area right now you don't always need a breakout game though so exactly you really really don't necessarily he could slowly slowly just you know get to his level and then then and then you see it kind of thing there doesn't always necessarily need to be although it's obviously fun to watch there doesn't always necessarily need to be that one you know phenomenal explosion when you add all the little bits up together that we've had so far this season from him although the numbers aren't like as you mentioned what you kind of want for his money sort of thing if you look at them as sprinkles of of in their own little pocket how

good they are then you know we're getting there with it so I I don't think I think waiting for a big explosion of him might be doing him a bit of a disservice I don't I kind of personally in my own opinion don't necessarily think maybe that's kind of on the horizon and that's not a slant on him I just don't kind of think that's how it's going to work out I just think we're going to see the best bits of him in bits throughout the season in all fairness but as I said that's just just my opinion and I just hope that maybe the next four games we get to see that bit more to sort of satisfy the appetites of everyone that's kind of saying how expensive he is for what we've seen so far. Absolutely. And again, folks, continue to keep watch on the tight endage of the New England Patriots.

And Claire is definitely the great person that will be able to help you keep an eye on those tight ends throughout the rest of the season. And speaking of the rest of the season, we're going to get Claire's thoughts on the earlier part of the season. And we're going to dip into her area of expertise and that is tight endage but not before taking a last look at tight endage performance in monday's

game against buffalo it wasn't just the offensive tight ends that claire had her eye on it was also defending against a prolific bills tight end someone i wrote about earlier last week tight end dawson knox of the Buffalo Bills. How did the Patriots contain this player? Claire and I will discuss that and more when this Wednesday episode with the Countess of Glass of Locked On Patriots continues. Locked On listeners, this holiday season, grab the protein bar that tastes like a candy bar or even better than a candy bar.

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coverage. Patriots joins me here today on the pod. And Claire, in the previous segment, we talked a little bit about the Patriots win and the impressive nature of it, despite it not being the most aesthetically pleasing game in the world to watch. And we also talked a little Patriots tight endage. We talked about John Smith. We talked about Hunter Henry. Michael Wayne, who is going to be in that group now because he keeps lining up at tight ends. We talked a little bit about Jakob Johnson. Devin Asiasi, well, not so much.

He's kind of languishing there in the area of inactives. But who knows? Maybe we'll get a chance to talk about him a little bit more that's been sparing but unfortunately it's just the way the ball bounces with the new england patriots and football but the patriots knew that it wasn't just going to be enough to game plan for their own tight ends they had the game plan to shut down a prolific tight end in their own right someone who is tied with hunter henry for the most touchdown catches in their own right. Someone who is tied with Hunter Henry for the most touchdown catches in the league right now. And that is among tight ends. And that is tight end Dawson Knox of the Buffalo Bills. When Kyle Duggar went down with COVID and unfortunately still in

on the COVID reserve list, we're waiting on information from Kyle. Judging by Bill Belichick's comments to the media yesterday, it seems like they're planning on him being back in action and ready to go for the December 18th game against the Colts. Saturday night game should be a fun one there in Indianapolis. But bottom line, the New England Patriots right now know that in order to be able to shut down tight ends like that, they need that three safety set. And unfortunately, you take one of the more prolific members of that safety set out of the equation, and it throws a wrench into those plans. But the Patriots were still able to contain Dawson Knox with great coverage by my guy Adrian Phillips. And I wrote about Phillips being the perfect guy to be able to defend Knox.

And he essentially checked all the boxes, minus that one missed tackle on the Singletary run that almost set up some points for the Buffalo Bills, significant points. He came back and came up with two big pass breakups on passes that were intended for Knox. He could have gone for big yardage and could have gone for scores. So, Claire, when you look at what.

Phillips and the Patriots were able to do, what impressed you most about how they were able to contain someone like Dawson Knox? And do you see this as a blueprint for what they might do when Kyle comes back into the fold and they continue to try to defend some pretty good tight ends down the stretch well firstly Adrian Phillips I know is someone that you've championed on this show and quite rightly it's good that you have an affection for a player the way that us regular fans do as well I mean I championed him on my in my Pats propaganda game recap and actually also on the recent episode of One Page It's Place if any of the listeners want to go and check those out yep shameless shameless

plug there um but seriously um we talked about Knox on last week's show and from that I was a little concerned because it you know he is a really good tight end but Adrian Phillips was like nah girl I got this don't you don't you worry about it his man coverage of Knox was really impressive as you said he shut a lot down I mean Knox is a bit of a go-to guy for Allen in that kind of respect not the only one obviously but one of and Phillips was just not letting that happen he was uh you know one of the more productive touchdown tight ends but Phillips was having none of it mid-second quarter he was all in there knocking the ball away as you said so you asked me about um previously off air if I had to grade this guy

and I you know I give him an A Phillips performance on knocks was totally A I would have said an A plus but I'm a bit of a hard ass and towards the end of the fourth quarter Phillips had a great run at the running back singletary but he lost him and they got precious yardage so you know that kind of I marked him down a little bit there so he did awesome and definitely I know that he's your guy anyway so I'm totally giving Phillips an A for his performance now in regards to like blueprint and going forward there's always the concern that the bills will kind of cotton on to what the Patriots did and they'll you know turn it and use it against them so there's always that consideration that Knox will now train away and you know be able to get out of reach of Phillips significantly like you said Duggan should be back

hopefully fingers crossed which would whatever so they might be able to utilize him instead of Phillips and I know Phillips went off with an injury so does that worry i don't have any information does that worry that maybe they'll end up having to switch him for duggar anyway if if he's out but i think we're sort of still waiting to hear back in general media kind of thing in regards to phillips being out or not but with the buy hopefully that just gives them all this extra time to kind of recover everybody to rest that kind of thing so I think in regards to that going forward against the bills looking ahead they'll you want to say that they'll do the same thing against them because it was so successful but it flustered the bill so much

that is it a case of that they'll see it coming and be able to work against it however they pretty much told the Bills that they were going to run the ball on them and they couldn't do anything about it so them knowing what the Patriots are going to do it might not matter it might be that the Patriots are just that good against them that it's not really going to impact that so one of those really um I'm interested to me it's like as Bill always says we're on to the next one kind of thing so we're on to Indy and this game is some is one that really is interesting for me because the Colts have been more successful than sort of maybe or particularly I anticipated I don't know anybody else kind of thing so they're turning into a reasonably good team sort of thing so I don't know I don't have

in front of me actually what their record is at the moment um what their standings at so but I know that they've been doing pretty well so yeah I think that um that's going to be an interesting one if you're looking sort of in the future but um yeah Adrian Phillips definitely he gets an A I would agree with you and I uh am grinning ear to ear uh in agreeing with you um no look I mean I know that I'm I'm ripped a lot for uh for being the uh the the resident Adrian Phillips stan here uh hey I was was little Miss Izzo over here. You can't complain. You cannot complain about any ribbing that you get

because firstly, the whole- Well, I'm not ribbed for, I'm not ribbed. Yeah, I'm not ribbed for liking Adrian. I think he's got a lot of fans in this area. Believe me, I'm certainly not alone, but I am for constantly, you know, you know, touting him and giving him, you know, all the accolades that I do simply because it's been a situation where I've had the chance to cover him both in Los Angeles, San Diego, really to start and then coming here to New England.

And he's just always a player that I've admired. I really admired his perseverance. And he wasn't quite the superstar that he's become here in new england in los angeles he was really known more for his special teams prowess than anything else and adrian is a phenomenal special teams player uh but he had some difficulty he was released and brought back i mean there's there's a good backstory on adrian phillips folks that um i will be working on a little bit in the bi-week to kind of tell his story a little bit more. So keep a sharp eye on that for Sports Illustrated. But at the same time, coming here into this system, he just has settled in so well to that star role in the Patriots defense.

He can be used as the hybrid box safety. He's capable of playing outside. He can even get into, you know, the linebacker situation, even a line on the defensive line. So this is a kid that can do it all, and he's done it well. But Adrian is at his best when playing in the box, and you saw that on Monday, just against a guy like Dawson Knox who really needs someone to stick with him, be able to make plays, get your hands in, knock the ball loose. Adrian is so good at being able to do that.

That makes him the ideal defensive back to cover a tight end or a running back because he's a strong tackler he's got great speed and he's very effective when playing close to the line of scrimmage and that's something that Dawson is able to utilize to his advantage when he's not covered properly and he does it as well as anyone in the league when you put a guy like Adrian Phillips on him, all of a sudden it changes things. And even in the previous meetings, when these two teams met last year and Phillips held, you know, Dawson to zero catches, provided solid coverage in the red zone. Those two pass breakups were huge when it came to that. So I agree with you on your assessment. I do think that Adrian deserves an A for his efforts. We're certainly hoping that his knee injury continues to get better

and go in the right direction. Very encouraging message that he sent out after the game by Twitter. It seems to indicate that he'll be moving in the right direction, but we still wait for official word. Patriots won't be issuing another injury report until next week, but at the same time, we continue to hope to hear a little bit and at least know that Adrian is moving in the right direction. And by the way, the Indianapolis Colts right now sit at second place in the AFC South seven

and six. But I think overachieving and I don't think indicative of being just one game over 500. This is a very dangerous team. The Patriots are going to have their hands full coming up into the volume. We'll talk a little bit more about the Colts, Claire, next week, because I don't want to take away from the fact that the New England Patriots are on their well-deserved bye week. They deserve this time off. And we like to talk about prognostications.

We like to talk about what's moving forward. But you can't really move forward unless you have a good understanding of what's already happened. And that's what I wanted to discuss today to bring it all home for our audience. You are the Empress of tight endage, forever the Empress of tight endage. And we bow at the majesty of the knowledge of the Countess of Class. See, see, see folks, whenever I do this, that's the response we're looking for here on Long Island Patriots. We love it. You know why she's here? That's it. No, I'm kidding.

I'm kidding. You're here to bring the wisdom and counsel, and I'm going to pull upon your wisdom and counsel. We know you're an expert on tight endage. Why fight it? In terms of this season, we talked a lot, Claire, about heading into this season, the 12-22 man personnel, the prolific nature of Hunter Henry, of John O'Smith, Devin Asiasi helping out. We even talked about Dalton Keene. Remember him, folks?

Yeah. He's on season-ending injured reserve, but he's still very much potentially in the future plans for the New England Patriots. But it's been an up-and-down year for the tight ends. We've had some great moments, and there have been some head scratching moments as well. As you look back at the first part of the 2021 season, and even though it's not really a half, it feels like it when you head into the bye week.

What has been your favorite tight endage moment or moments in 2021 thus far? OK, I am a little bit biased and I apologize everybody but you you knew it was going to be like this if you're asking me that question because I am a huge Hunter Henry fan so it's got to be it's got to be on him completely and I mean significantly with Hunter we've seen a lot more from him than we have Smith for various reasons as we've touched upon many times I'm not going to go into but we've he's been in the role significantly that he was for the Chargers as well so his integration may may have been a little bit easier who knows but he's integrated so well in the Patriots and he's that go-to guy for Mac that he so exciting to see. And not to compare them in a way to Brady and Gronk, but just the similarity of that sort of relationship between two players,

between a quarterback and his tight end, for me is very exciting because obviously being a tight end enthusiast, it's exciting. I think it's exciting for the rest of the fans because it's lovely to have that sort of thing from the quarterback who is new kind of thing and the tight end that was new sort of thing. So it's nice that they've got this bond, this relationship that we can build on and something to look forward to as Patriots fans going forward. As you know, as they create the next dynasty and this, that and the other, that we've got this brilliant quarterback to tight end relationship. But my favourite moments are all really going to be Hunter.

And I, you know, I do express my apologies over this indulgence. But he had, it was five, it was six, a row of six touchdowns in five games. And he exceeded the streak or it was, yeah, he exceeded the longest receiving touchdown streak by a Patriots tight end since Gronk in 2013 sorry and he did that during the Jets game back at the end of October so it's difficult for me to pick one so I actually quickly went through all of his touchdowns because all of them are fantastic so I just wanted to quickly share them all with you really because his first one was at the books game um and it was a great throw from Mac he gets into the end zone it was his first Patriots touchdown so that in itself was probably the most exciting because it was the first time that I really got to celebrate

tight-ended success tight-ended touchdown whatever you want and it was great because it was a it was a good throw from Mac and he kind of had to semi-fight to get into the end zone so he had a little bit of work to do as well so and then we got that fantastic Hunter Henry jumping up spike kind of celebration that's amazing with all the you know the rest of the team coming down so that might be my favorite but I just wanted to touch upon the rest because the touchdown in the Texans game, it was a clutch pass on third down from Mack. So, you know, something else that was a success from a third down that's always kind of a concern.

The Cowboys game, although it was a loss, there was the driving catch that was a 20-yard pass from Mack. The Jets game, that was the game that was the fourth straight game with a receiving touchdown, which was the longest streak by Patriots tight end since Gronk in 2013 so and that was kind of a juggle and catch in the end zone so it was kind of a held your breath for a single moment while he kind of maintained ball security sort of thing and then the Browns game and he had two touchdowns so that was a you know that was extra exciting that to celebrate tight ended twice um and both were quite effortless in in the end zone sort of thing so it was literally kind of a throw from Matt to a cat

to Hunter Henry in the end zone so all of those you know like top five sort of things five slash six I suppose if you wanted two was the same but um yeah I think out of all of them my favorite is although they lost the game and it was against Brady and things like this, the books game wasn't a game that I really particularly enjoyed. I did enjoy the touchdown with it being his first ever touchdown and the celebration that came from it and that kind of thing. So it set off the sort of the winning streak for him, if you like, with the touchdowns. And that was exciting. And the fact that he managed to kind of break, not for him, if you like, with the touchdowns. And that was exciting. And the fact that he managed to kind of break, not a record, if you like,

but a streak that had been set by Gronk. It's like, I'm here. I'm a really good tight end. And, you know, you can love me as much as you want sort of thing because I'm going to be this tight end for you sort of thing. So, yeah, all of that for me has been really exciting so far. I just hope that this little kind of fast that we've had as he hasn't had a touchdown in a few games ends when they hit the Colts game and and he's there in the end zone sort of thing because it's such an exciting

and the other thing that makes it really exciting for me is the interaction that I get with fans as I mentioned on the Thanksgiving episode how thankful I was for all the Patriots interaction that I get with fans. As I mentioned on the Thanksgiving episode, how thankful I was for all the Patriots fans that I get to interact with and the ones that tweet at me when it's a tight ending, touchdown and stuff like this. It's amazing. It's helped me get through

kind of the last sort of 18 months, as I mentioned on then. So I'm not going to kind of go all into it again, but it adds that extra element of just excitement and stuff so and I think that's something else that makes it one of my most favorite moments is because I get to enjoy it in that way as well not only as a fan enjoying sort of my team and enjoying my favorite player that kind of thing I get to enjoy it with Patriots fans around the world as well and you

know adding that dimension to something just makes it kind of like so much more you know so much better so much more exciting so really that's a big long list of you know what is your favorites kind of thing but just you know bottom line it's just a hunter henry touchdown if if you show me a hunter henry touchdown and i will show you a big smile and i can feel the smile we all can feel the smile all the way from west midlands in the uk as you describe tight endage memories i noticed the trade of ryan iso wasn't on the list i'm a little surprised by that i'm kidding i'm kidding i'm kidding how can you do that to me how could you bring up such a psychic memory notice the silence that's the kind of the response

that i was looking for on that i had to i had no choice i had to do that so cool do you hear this right so you hear the cruelty that i'm getting here after all this quite empty to live so mean so mean we didn't know he had it in you mike so mean i you know just one of those things i couldn't it was a it was too dynamite of a drop in for me not to drop but no all kidding aside, Countess, we always, always appreciate your wisdom and counsel, and we always appreciate your insight on tight-ended that you've given to me. I happen to also enjoy the game against the Jets to me.

Anytime you can inflict any type of demoralizing damage to gangrene, I'm always for it. And Hunter Henry has been everything to me as advertised. And he continues to develop that synergy with Mac Jones. These two are going to be a great combination for many years to come, folks. And again, don't give up on John O'Smith because there is a lot of light there. It's lurking below the surface, but it does not surprise me that your favorite tight-ended memories of 2021 so far would include Hunter Henry. I think anybody would probably agree, but who are we to disagree with the empress of tight-ended herself?

Claire, it's always a blast when you come on, even despite my little jab there, and I apologize for that. We do enjoy having you on here each and every week, and that will continue, folks, even through the bye week and all the way through the playoffs. Who thought we'd be covering playoff games, Claire? But we're going to. It looks like, unless a catastrophic thing happens, the Patriots look to be headed in that direction,

and we'll continue to have you covered here on Locked on Patriots. In the meantime, please let everyone, all of our listeners, new listeners know where they can find you, follow you, interact with you and what we can look forward to from the great voice, the great pen of Claire Cooper in the coming days and weeks. Well, thank you, Mike. So and listeners, if you want to send any like mean remarks over to Mike for his mean remark about his own. Am I joking? Because I know that nobody will because nobody cares there's only me that cares about is that um but no seriously um if you want to find me I'm at which is at clazyclare which is c-l-a-z-y-c-l-a-r-e I write as Mike mentioned for patspropaganda.com each and every week you'll get my game recap and I do kind of random things here and there for them as well and also obviously my colleague Tom Shaw Mellors with his um his ups and downs and his previews so please go over and check that out

I also write occasionally for for Prescott Ridge Patriots and that is where as Mike mentioned my eclair perspective the podcast is produced and held so you can find that everywhere that you download your podcast basically so I do urge you to go and have a listen and see if you enjoy and kind of rate and subscribe and all that kind of stuff that they ask you to do in regards to podcasts and as Mike also mentioned one Patriots place each and every week with the great Steve Balistrieri and Thomas Murphy you'll find me as the voice number three over there every week as mentioned so if you want to find me, you can find me. There's pretty much a few places here, there and everywhere. So there's another episode of Eclair Perspective is due out soon.

My last one was last week, and that was with the fantastic Ricky Hollywood, Erica Tamposi of Around the NFL. So, you know, that's coming at you probably within every two weeks. And One Patriot's Place is a weekly thing. And as you mentioned at the very beginning of the show, you'll find me here in my own little seat in Lockdown Patriots over Wednesday. So please don't miss out on that one. Absolutely. And we encourage you not to miss out on that one. Don't miss out on that one. If you're subscribing and liking the Locked On Patriots podcast, you know that

the golden melodious tones of my friend and colleague here will join me every single Wednesday. But again, folks, I cannot recommend the work that Claire does highly enough. Pat's propaganda, the work that she's doing is so phenomenal over there. Full Press Patriots, obviously a site that's near and dear to my heart, always will

be. She continues to do phenomenal work and crushes it for that site. A Claire Perspective is an amazing podcast, folks. I tell you, smash that subscribe button because you will not be disappointed. Claire delivers not just on great guests, but great insight, awesome interaction. It's entertaining. It's informative. It's everything you want a podcast to be.

So please go ahead and subscribe to that. Listen to it, of course, after you listen to Locked On Patriots, but Claire will tell you the other side. But, you know, we're here to help each other out. In the meantime, Countess, please stay safe, stay well, enjoy the bye week, and we'll talk to you right here next week on Locked On Patriots. Thank you so much for joining me today. Oh, thank you so much, Mike. And thank you, everyone, as ever, for listening and for getting me to be kind of a regular. I really appreciate it. So I'm glad that you much, Mike. And thank you, everyone, as ever, for listening and for getting me to be kind of a regular. I really appreciate it.

So I'm glad that you're enjoying it. And I hope that you continue to. We do. And we will continue to have you back here. Talk to you next week, my friend. Thanks. Just like that, Pats fans, we are more than halfway through your work week. And thank you once again for making Locked On Patriots your first listen every day.

And coming up on Thursday on the pod, I know you're all used to Crossover Thursday and probably wondering, well, there's no crossover this week because there's no game. It's the bye week. There will still be a crossover. It's a traditional crossover. And tune in tomorrow to find out who my

special guest will be. A very Patriots-centric episode with one of the better Patriots minds in the Locked On Podcast Network. Not name yours, truly. So we will definitely have some fun tomorrow. Make sure to stay locked in to Locked On Patriots. And continue to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. Now, seeing that your daily Locked On Patriots fix has been satisfied, make your second listen, the Locked On Patriots fix has been satisfied, make your second

listen to the Locked On Bets podcast, your daily one-stop shop for all your gambling needs. Locked On Bets, hosted by your boy Q, with expert analysis and insight from Lee Sterling. It's free and available on all platforms. Once again, my name is Mike DeBate. I thank my good friend Claire, Klazzy Claire Cooper, for joining me from West Midlands in the UK. Thank her for her time, her insight, and her appearance on today's pod. But most of all, I thank you so much for listening and again for continuing to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage.

Until tomorrow, Foxborough faithful, stay safe, stay well, be the change that you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone.