 the breakdown is presented by John's sewer and drain cleaning the name to know when the drains don't flow welcome into the breakdown Patriots fans you are recovering from a regular season finale we've got you covered here on the finale of the breakdown I'm Phil Perry that's Ted Johnson Ted worst record since 1992 I had this team as a nine or ten win team before the season believe it or not I did not see this coming did you I didn't see this coming honestly Phillip really I thought the offense would be a little a lot better than what it was considering Bill O'Brien was coming in here I thought the buy-in would be better than it was considering how the season ended last year to see where they are at this point with you know Bill Belichick's job in question going forward I never thought it would get to this point and here we are well if you're looking for one reason why the Patriots won just four games this season turnovers huge story this year after going 14 straight years without turning it over more than 22 times the Patriots turn back the clock to a different era of football committing at least 23 turnovers in each of the last three years their 29 giveaways this season their most ever under Bill Belichick it's time now for board games brought to you by John sewer and drain cleaning the name to know when the drains don't flow turnovers turnovers turnovers Ted it's been the story of the 2023 season for the Patriots we're gonna break one of them down here you've got tip drill written at the top of the board sounds like something you might have done in Patriots practices past buddy many many times I have Phil all right so tip drills is something we do in practice where you know guys tip the ball up and then the secondary guy comes in and makes the interception and this is what's been happening to Bailey's happy in the Patriots offense a lot of tip balls and interceptions Bailey's throwing on these short to intermediate passes because defensive backs are getting their hands in there tip of the ball up and guys are making plays and so that's why we have tip drill right here so this is a second and nine situation late in the in the fourth quarter just over two minutes to go all right in the Patriots are trying to get back on track it's a down and distance of second and nine that's kind of your get back on track down in distance where you you're trying to get a chunk play here to get a third in manageable kind of third down okay so what are the tip for the jets that it's going to be a pass clearly is when a team comes out and empty like the Patriots did you come out and empty really the only run threat is maybe a quarterback draw not really real threat and so feels like it's going to be a pass besides just the down and distance also coming out empty so this is what the the Patriots run okay on this side the three man side they just run a couple of out routes here with a clearing route by Zeke Elliott and on this side we have two slant routes from the two two man side right here okay this is the Mario Douglas he was the intended receiver if Bailey's happy had the confidence in the time and his offensive line and was you know maybe just a little bit more advanced than the offense he maybe would have surveyed the field a little bit longer instead just locking in on the left side like he did and found key Shambudi who was open on this play but nonetheless he went to the left side on this play and in this coverage the jets were playing Tampa two Tampa two is where the middle linebacker he goes to the middle of field the two safeties of the half field safeties on this and everyone's playing hook hook hook the flat hook the flat and then and then playing soft on the outside here's what you have for Bailey zappy if you're gonna throw this ball into a coverage it's got eight guys dropping so the jets only rushed three guys right here they rush these three linemen and they drop this deal I mean so there's eight guys flooding the zone on only three rushers and so if you're gonna try and squeeze the ball into a coverage it has eight guys dropping there the timing and precision has to be there and these two haven't worked well long enough together to get that timing down and the field conditions were so bad nonetheless they tried it anyway he throws the ball this defensive back right here really was never fooled on this it's really hard to cut on those conditions he was right on the guys inside hip right here he tips the ball as a ball gets to him tips it to Tony Adams the safety who's squatting these safeties did not open up like you typically do in cover two because the conditions are so bad and the footing so bad they knew that they just stay condensed and something maybe good will happen and it certainly did Bailey zappy has to do a better job of getting the ball out on time and more accurately and really the defense of the wide receiver has to get his head around quicker than he did those things didn't happen they're ugly get their hands in there tip the ball and this is a theme that's been reoccurring for the Patriots offense the last few weeks these short to intermediate routes teams are squatting on him tipping the ball and getting interceptions Bailey zappy strong nine interceptions to his six touchdowns this year Phil predictable offense Ted when you don't have a lot of threats to beat the defense deep you're in conditions like they were in on Sunday you got to throw short the Jets were expecting it Bailey zappy the lowest rated quarterback in football Ted on throws zero to nine yards beyond the line of scrimmage just 60.5 Bailey zappy's first few games as a starter were a Cinderella story he's kind of turned into a pumpkin yeah after throwing six touchdowns and just two picks in his first four games as the path starter zappy's last two games were different story no touchdowns five picks so does he think that he had earned himself a chance to remain a starting quarterback in the NFL Bailey I mean yeah of course you know the confidence myself to know that I think I can go out there and lead a team of win games of course I want to be here I mean I've always earned the plan in the phone of course I want to be a patriot so whatever is decided this offseason I'll be ready for training camp and I'll come to compete and do everything I can help this team with and hopefully that's a starter and you know hopefully we can win. Ted is Bailey zappy a part of the Patriots quarterback room next year I love the confidence my man that's my Texan buddy right there Phil I'm a little bit worried about him being part of the future in this quarterback room just because if they go out and draft a guy high in the first round like we all anticipate the Patriots doing doing I just don't know if his personality type is the best to have in that quarterback room because he clearly thinks he's a starter and that could be combustible with a young kid who's clearly the heir apparent and so I just I'm not sure how that's gonna work with him on a roster. And I also get back to something that we don't often talk about with Bailey's app he's just his size Ted you know we're talking about another short interception there he had five interceptions this year throwing zero to nine yards beyond the line of scrimmage I wonder if his height just makes it difficult for him to see the field and it's okay if you're a scrambling quarterback if you're a great athlete you can be a little undersized and get by Kyler Murray for instance that's not zappy's game so I wonder if they view him long term if somebody like Bill O'Brien who might be back next year if they view him as a long term backup option it's probably probably not but does he have a role on a team somewhere yes he's probably one of the top 70 or 80 quarterbacks in the NFL but to be a starter and to pin on him I'm not so sure about that in a big part of it is because of the size he doesn't see I don't think the defenders that are there you know on the inside the hip of these wide receivers and I just think those linemen I think cover up and so he doesn't have clear path and vision to these receivers in the short to intermediate areas I think you're starting fresh maybe Bailey's app Zappy's back is a two or three but you're probably going with a young guy Mac Jones probably gonna end up somewhere else be fascinating to see what the Patriots do at the quarterback position moving forward hey be sure to download the NBC Sports Boston app it has the latest news analysis and commentary from all of our insiders you can scan the QR code on the screen right now or go to the app store or Google Play up next Patriots run defense had been one of the best in the league until Breece Hall came to town what went wrong for New England when the breakdown returns like I said it is man we know we didn't do what we had to do this year I don't mean we didn't work hard I don't mean we didn't come in weekend and we got expecting and plan to win just an execute the ball down roll out way so that I said off the top of the show I was surprised by the team's overall record I was also surprised by the outcome yesterday you're in the snow you're against the Jets and Trevor Simeon that's a bad Jets team I'm just so used to them beating up on the Jets especially at home especially beating up on a bad team in the snow that's usually where the Patriots thrive and yet we saw the result yesterday that we saw Phil the Patriots are 12 and 0 and snow games at home they've beaten the Jets 15 straight times Bill Belichick potentially last game of his career here and that was the effort that you saw I was very disappointed I thought it would go a lot differently than it did I thought the Patriots were gonna win handedly that was not the case at all no surprise here the the grades on the report card not good not good not fridge worthy exactly my report card of course is presented by the Massachusetts School of Law we already talked about Bailey Zappy not much of a surprise he received an F hard to get anything better than that when you don't exceed a hundred yards passing he's joined by his offensive line with a failing grade seven sacks brutal day once again the Patriots offense leaving it in the hands of their defense to try to win the game the defense just wasn't good enough for more let's go back to the drawing board we're back out here for more games brought to you by John sewer and drain cleaning the name to know when the drains don't flow a lot issues for this Patriots defense Ted against the run on Sunday you've got living on the edge written at the top of the board makes me feel like we're gonna be focusing on one of these pass rushers on the outside who might have to play against the run yeah absolutely so this is we're gonna focus on on the edges here okay the the dead to the good job of getting you free yards on the outside and the Patriots outside linebackers didn't do a good enough job of setting the edge turning the ball back inside where their help is okay so if you're a Patriots defensive player Phil and you're looking at this formation on the offense what side looks like it's the running strength to you what side of the field I would guess this side because the tight end is on the right side you'd be correct Phil good job my man all right very good I'm rubbing off on you I love it all right so it's it's the tight end side is usually the set strength side for teams you see two wide receivers over here it just looks like here's all the bodies over here it looks like this is the run string but what teams love to do the Colts used to do this with Pey Manning and Edwin James they like to try and run to the open side to the side that doesn't have the tight end because there's less people to that side and if you can just get one block on this play then you have a shot of getting a big a big run here and so this is what happened so this was a minimal gain it was about a 12-yard gain but this set up the first field goal for the for the Jets and it goes to show you maybe some of the problems you have with this particular player Josh Uche who is a gifted pass rusher but really really has had issues since he's been here in New England stopping the run and setting the edge so what you have right here is you have a basically a stretch play so these all these linemen are going to be hard flat going to the left right here and they it just it's a they just do the RPO handoff right here the quarterback to Breece Hall right here who was a beast oh my gosh this guy's a beast so it's all this stretch zone run play to the open side okay all these guys are coming up here shooting the gaps all these inside gaps were filled nothing's going on over here it's all over here because if the numbers favor the Jets on this side if they can get one block and that one block is Mackay Bekton big ol 77 his job is to reach and hook the outside linebacker to get the room space needed for Breece Hall you have the wide receiver clearing out Jonathan Jones they're in cover one so it's man-to-man so John Jones turns his back and starts running so there's all this space out here Mackay Bekton does a great job of reaching out here and sealing Josh Uche so that Breece Hall has a clear run and laying to hit he gets a 12-yard game sets up the the field goal but this play even though it was just a 12-yard game kind of exemplifies maybe the issues with this one player do you bring him back you're not bring him back he's a good pass rusher he's not a great pass rusher but his run defense skills have kind of lacked I haven't seen them gotten better over the years that he's been here and this one play was kind of indicative of the problems the Patriots defense had all game stopping the run watch out this breeze Hall is a bowling ball but your knives he's a hell of a player Phil special special athlete at the running back position for the Jets and Josh Uche special athlete himself 11 and a half sacks last year but just three this year and some obvious issues against the run game now how much of a beast was Breece Hall exactly a whopping 37 carries for 178 yards by far the most the Patriots given up to any back this season Raheem Moster back in week two was the only other rusher this season to gain more than 80 yards on the ground against the Patriots and this brings us to our Ted Neek Ted Neek of course presented by Shaw's which is perfecting the art of fresh and Ted I know you wanted to get down and dirty on the nitty gritty of something you loved to do and still love to do to me occasionally here on set and that is tackling because there were a few moments in this game where Breece Hall was able to pick up chunk gains because he forced a missed tackle how did he do it and what could the Patriots have done to better execute in those situations. Yeah just you know Breece Hall get ready Patriots fans because this guy is a hell of a player for the Jets and he really showed me a lot in this game and what he was doing I mean you see the Patriots defenders they get close to him I mean there's bodies around him he does a phenomenal job of getting separation and exploding out of his cuts and then also using his forearm and dare I say he kind of reminds me of my former teammate and Hall of Famer Curtis Martin okay. He was so good at when he would you know start throttling down and then cut and in turn his separation and explosiveness was so much better than any other running backs that you would think you would have him because you'd be right there and then he's gone so Breece Hall has similar qualities and so this is what he did a lot throughout the game is you would see a Patriots defender and I'll just I'm gonna show you his stiff arm first so a Patriots defender would come up to want Bentley the defensive backs they come up and here's the thing they think they're gonna come in there and make a big lick boom you see Breece Hall just put that stiff arm out there you hit the shoulder you'd see him sometimes no no it boom and that's just that stiff arm right there is enough to get the defender off balance and then he could go right by he would get under the chin all right and it's very hard to make a tackle when your head's getting jacked backwards so in the shoulder under the chin okay go easy all right all right and then what the Patriots defenders needed to do better fill is they needed to figure out you know what we're not gonna get him down by trying to run through him when they get close what I would tell my defenders leave the leave your feet go off the jump diving board leave your feet and go low and get him that way as opposed to trying to take him up high because he's so good at getting using a stiff arm and getting separation the Patriots defenders didn't do that Breece Hall had big explosive runs this guy is gonna be a handful for this defense to deal with the next five six years Patriots fans hated seeing Curtis Martin with the Jets Ted oh I think they're gonna enjoy watching Breece Hall with the Jets over the course of the next few years all right Tuesday six o'clock tune in for quick slants Tommy Kern sharing his takes as always on the Patriots now that their season is done it's presented by your local New England Honda dealer still to come who's in who's out Ted Johnson throws on his general manager hat for a little Monday night spotlight when the breakdown returns time for Monday night spotlight which is presented by touch view interactive display panels available at the Oakers company here's a look at the most notable Patriots free agents Hunter Henry Trent Brown Kendrick born Michael Wenu Josh Uche and Kyle Dugger among the most notable names on this list so general manager Ted Johnson among those names who are the priorities for you I would say the two guys on offense go sign Mike on Wenu he's been excellent for you ever since you drafted him and then also Kendrick born I love his attitude and his his skill set and then on the other side you know what keep Kyle Dugger I think that guy is a beast he's a little bit of a liability sometimes in the past coverage but he just a hell of a tackler and I think a good leader on this team and then also Anthony Jennings I think he's earned a second contract with the Patriots with the way he's played this year sort of an under the radar free agent but he's another one of those 2020 draft picks that the Patriots picked up and had a career year this year so good for him on that front I would add one more name to that list I'd add Hunter Henry I think Hunter Henry this year as a captain he really embraced that role plus the tight end position really difficult one to fill with a rookie so maybe a draft one for the future there but you might want the placeholder and hunter Henry who still is a borderline top 10 tight end in this league bring him back help establish whatever's happening moving forward in terms of the culture here because I think he was a good fit in that regard now in terms of maybe outside additions Ted we know the Patriots have holes to fill but where are you going first positionally I would say needs one two and three all start with a left tackle please please please get me a left tackle all right you're not going quarterback though well yes okay all right see now we're drawing it out all right yes quarterback should be number one I guess but you know we need a left tackle to block for the quarterback because you know the offensive line I think maybe ruined our young quarterbacks but yes I'm sorry quarterback of course and then left tackle that's those would be the first two positions I'd go at and then clearly you need to upgrade the receiver depth on this on this team and then if hunter Henry doesn't resign we need to tie it in as well a lot of needs a lot of needs and listen the left tackle spot you're not wrong for trying to prioritize it it's really difficult to try to find good ones who are also available in free agency because typically if you've got one you hold on to them and you never let go we may have a little I know this this is a very smooth operation that we have here but it sounds to me like we have a blooper reel here which I haven't seen we're going to throw that to the people right now have some fun with this all right here we go ready yes okay three two one we got to make up for the lack of energy that they are bringing to the table it's a lot of responsibility on us but I think we can do it yeah smelling salts the reactions are so yeah it's like ah stings the nostrils um of the uh the radar it can be uh sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry you you were old one that's my one that's uh it felt like I was in this like zone thing and I was just talking and oh you were great man I was you black out a little bit that was awesome makes a tremendous interest god you stink that's just too much words too much words too many words deep down the middle of the philly just shut up phil alex austin rookie too much talking already just need a word counter we should do the mccana hay thing before every now all right here we go rolling rolling rolling rolling rolling what just one of them days sorry hello one two three four five you have ah push it push it written at the top of the board explain why more philly zappy here zappy holidays I don't know that was bad that was pitchy that was pitchy that was pitchy zappy holidays zappy holidays there we go let's break it down though it's good for the blooper reel all right it's time now nice where'd he go both in the midst yeah that's good all right all right took one on the chin there right took one on the chin but we're gonna we're not gonna uh oh boy oh I love it okay now I'm not a little wobbly I'm wobbly you got a rookie mistake on one end a veteran making a critical mistake another critical mistake by mac jones there in the second half I'm Ron burgundy that was that was horrible let's go whoa good job phil good job buddy how do we make it through any program here Ted thank you for for bearing with me in the ridiculousness my man you keep it loose you keep it light we have a lot of fun doing this show we do thanks to you thanks to jeff garcia our floor director jibbop producer steve hamlin ryan preventor kevin douche arm adam harp ryan o'neill kevin miller we love you and thanks for watching all season