Will they play by the rules?

Don't better believe it.

This, as we'd like to say in this program is Felger and Mass. Suck, suck, suck. On 985. I want to make that clear. The Sports Hub. Paul Perlow, Patriots, Football Weekly Patriots.com, where the sun is always shining, sunshine.com and our town for entire studios. Hi, Pip. Hasn't been shining too much this week, Michael. No, it's been a tough week down there.

Well, tough one for me, too.

If you recall last week, I was on the 19-0 still in play. Well, who wasn't? Other Nick Cattles, most everyone entertained that? Well, people that weren't on the 19-0 were more, you know, like Jim. It was more superstition kind of thing. It wasn't because they didn't think the team was very good. And everybody thought they were perfectly capable of winning every game. They just didn't want to admit it. So what's your lead Patriots take today? So where do you stand today with the Patriots? What's the most important thing with the team right now? You never want to overreact to a game.

I think defensively they have some legitimate issues.

We talked about them last week.

You would actually...

I think I was sort of annoying you with my over-the-top positivity last week,

and you said, well, what are some of the things that concern you?

And I said the lines, both sides.

And I thought you saw some of what I was talking about last week, especially defensively,

185 yards rushing.

You'd like to think they can put some of that to rest and not get beat.

I don't have any doubt that the big plays will be contained.

They're not going to let 75 and 78-yard touchdowns, 58-yard runs.

That's very atypical of Bill Belichick's defenses. But the lines I'm a little concerned about. I didn't like what I saw on defense. Alan Branch looked like he got pushed around a little bit. I thought the middle of that defense was vulnerable, and certainly the edges with High Tower playing full-time out there, and a guy like Jordan Richards full-time at linebacker. I thought they were a little light in the front seven, so that's a big concern. And then offensively, and you were less concerned about this, Mike, when we talked about it. The offensive line, yeah. The offensive line was not great in that game. And what I really thought was bad, a lot of people were looking at, well, you know, the two fourth downs, they couldn't convert. A third down, they couldn't convert. Bad. I mean, it was bad play. But what I really didn't like was when the whole game, the Chiefs basically rushed three or four guys. And the Patriots were pretty balanced, and pressure wasn't really a problem. And all of a sudden, the Chiefs got the lead in the fourth quarter. They still rushed three or four guys, and the Patriots could not keep them out of the backfield. And I know a lot of people pointed to Tom's comments about quitting and, you know, compete level and whatnot. The attitude and competitiveness, I think, with the two buzzwords. That's letting them off the hook, you know, like saying, well, they couldn't protect because they weren't trying. They quit.

I don't buy it.

I didn't like what I saw from the fourth quarter of the offensive line.

And really, I didn't think the line was great throughout the game. Why were you concerned about the line going into the year, though? Because I don't think they pass protect on a consistent basis. and I think when they get in situations like that, when it's a competitive game,

like the early part, you know, the Super Bowl was not great.

Pass protection. I know people look at it. Oh, they settled it down. They threw the ball 60-some odd times. There's only so many sacks you're going to get. So who are the liabilities there? Well, I mean, I think Cannon has been their best lineman. He was obviously not great the other night. He got beat badly a couple of times by a very good player. Houston, yeah? Yeah, Justin Houston. So I'm not going to lose any sleep over that. I still have concerns about the middle, though. I thought there were times that people were flashing in the middle by David Andrews, by Joe Tooney, by less by tune. I thought Tooney was pretty good in this game. Solder had a bad holding call on the goal line that negated the touchdown. They ended up scoring anyway. And again, where's the physicality, Mike? Where are you running behind on fourth and one? It should be left behind Solder, but don't they flip him? Well, they put him on the right side. I think Shaq Mason might be their best pure run blocker. Is that where they're running behind? I was a little disappointed with the overall performance of the offensive line, too. Does New Orleans concern you? As a team. As a team, no. As a spot, you know, down there, their own one, et cetera. Not really because I just don't think they're good enough, but their offense can

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