Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - 2018 Revisited: Week 16 v Bills (Win) - Locked On Patriots June 13, 2019

Episode Date: June 13, 2019

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That t-shirt game, it's another 10-win season for this football team. The quarterback's not going to be happy about it, but he's dealing with something here, folks. He is dealing with something with the leg. At times he looks right, at times he doesn't. It's when the feet aren't under him. And if you're... that thing's tender, and that mean prevents you from stepping and hanging in there. It just... mentally it wears on you as a player and as a thrower. Let's face it.

He did not have a lot of protection today against this Bills defense. Brian Hoyer in victory formation taking the snap and then the knee. And meanwhile in Philadelphia, the Texans have just scored with 2.04 to go. A touchdown pass seemingly for the Texans in the back of the end zone. It's a good thing Philly went for two in the second quarter instead of kicking an extra point. The Patriots take

the final knee in the final 30 seconds. Hoyer lined up in victory formation. And the Patriots with Tom Brady as their starting quarterback and Bill Belichick as their head coach, are bound for the playoffs once again. 16 times in the last 18 years,

10 in a row as the AFC East Division champions. And they had to grind their way to a win today. They charged their way to the title today behind Sonny Michel and an offense that ran for 273 yards. And Sonny is our master. Hey there, everybody, and welcome on into the latest installment of 2018 Revisited,

the offseason series here at Locked On Patriots where we are going week by week through New England's season all the way up to a sixth Super Bowl title earned with a victory over the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl 53. We have reached here week 16, a victory over the Buffalo Bills, and we did not know it at the time, but this would be the start of a five-game winning streak that would lead to that Super Bowl title. I'm Mark Schofield, as always, in the big chair with you. And before we dive into this Week 16 victory that, as we'll see, still left some lingering questions about just how good this team was,

I want to give you your usual cavalcade of reminders. Please do follow me on the Twitter machine at Mark Schofield, M-A-R-K-S-C-H-O-F-I-E-L-D. Also, please follow along with the work at places like InsideThePylon.com, Pro Football Weekly, where I will be part of the Bears Preview Magazine. I'll have an article on Mitchell Trubisky, the Trubisket as it were, that will be hidden stores amazon barnes and noble places like that later this summer also matt waldman's rookie scouting portfolio and yes that holy trinity of sb nation websites big blue view bleeding green nation where i am the co-host of the venerable qb scotia and of course pat's pulpit where my off-season series how it happened isened, is rolling on. Now, also, do not forget our great friends and sponsors and partners. We've got Hotels.com,

Untuckit, Grip6 Belts, and of course, Playbook Products. Now, week 16 of the 2018 NFL season, the Patriots limp it into a two-game homestand to close out the regular season after dropping two straight games against the Miami Dolphins and the Pittsburgh Steelers, as we heard over the last two episodes. But thankfully for the Patriots, those final two games were against the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets, teams with rookie quarterbacks, teams that seemed to be a couple of years away from perhaps figuring things out. And for the Patriots, it was a hat and t-shirt game. You win a game, you get a hat, you get a t-shirt. The Patriots could clinch the AFC East division title with a win or a tie or a Dolphins loss or tie. Now, they were entering this week of the season the number three team

overall in the AFC, so they would need some help, particularly either Kansas City and or Houston to drop some games. They would get that help as the Eagles would come from behind and beat the Houston Texans, which would put them into a driver's seat for that second overall seed. But they would first need to take care of business themselves. And they would do that over the Buffalo Bills by the final score of 24-12. Now, this game got off to, as we would see throughout the playoffs, a slow but steady start for the Patriots' offense. Both teams traded three and outs on their opening possessions. The Bills would go three and out yet again on their second possession of the game.

And then the Patriots would matriculate the ball down the field. Sonny Michel left guard for five. Corral Patterson, right end for 12. Michel left tackle for 19. Michel up the middle for 12. Michel right guard for three, setting up a second and goal from the Buffalo, four yard line. For whatever reason, last time these two played, they held their own.

And this would be a big stop if they can hold them to three right here. 49! Second and goal from the three and a half 18 once again the rookie Sonny Michel to the goal line touchdown I can tell you right now, Sean McDermott's not going to be happy with that. They just got out physical at the point of attack during that entire drive.

Give credit to the offensive line. Give credit to Rob Gronkowski was on that side, put together a heck of a block to collapse thing, and it's just a matter of pushing a pile Michelle's plunge for four yards gave the Patriots an early lead in this contest and it would sort of set the tone for this game this would be a game that the Patriots would win with the running game now they got on the board again this time in the second quarter and yes again this time on the ground only it would be james white scampered into the end zone so here's a third and two now and brady will give it to james white right we'll get the first down and more

15 10 5 diving for the pylon. Touchdown. Touchdown. Complete dominance by the Patriots offensive line at this point in time. Considering coming into this game, the Bills were number two in total defense, number 10 in rush defense, only giving up 105 yards a game on the ground, and the Patriots right now are sitting at 134 yards rushing as we're just kind of getting started here in the second quarter. Yeah, it's an establishment of will.

Yes. That's a nice way of putting it, Bruce. That's Greg Gumbo, Trent Green, and former coach Bruce Arians on the call there for CBS. And White's scamper and the touchdown run off the left side gave the Patriots a 14-0 lead, a lead they would take to the halftime break. But it's important to point out what Trent Green was just talking about there. Entering this contest, the Bills were number two in overall defense, ranked 10th in the

league in run defense. They were giving up just 105 yards per game on the ground, but to that point, and that touchdown run came with just over 10 minutes left in the second quarter. The Patriots had already racked up 134 yards rushing. This would be a theme as the rest of this season would unfold. Up next, we're going to talk about the second half of this contest and a little bit later, break down that James White run as well as some questions that, well, frankly, I still had about this team

as they entered their final week of the regular season. Before we get to that, though, I just want to remind everybody about our great friends over at Playbook Products, playbookproducts.com. Look, we are days away from Father's Day. And if a father in your life, your own dad, your husband, brother is like me and they love the X's and O's, the schemes, the breakdowns, stuff like that in any sport, then you need to check out playbookproduct.com. They have a fantastic array of products, and they break down in X's and O's format some of the most pivotal plays across sports history. If you're a Red Sox fan, you've got Ortiz going yard in Game 4. If you're a Patriots fan, you've got Venetieri splitting the uprights

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Going week by week through the Patriots 2018 campaign. Again, week 16, a victory for the New England Patriots at home against the Buffalo Bills. And we'll pick up the action now at the start of the second half. And the second half got off to a bit of a rough start for the home team. The Patriots received the open and half kickoff and facing a first and 10 on their own 15-yard line. A Tom Brady pass intended for Rob Gronkowski was intercepted by Jordan Poyer. That interception taking place on the Patriots' 24-yard line and it gave the Bills fantastic field position

for their first possession of the second half. However, the Patriots' defense would stiffen. They would face a third and three at the Patriots' 17-yard line and Josh Allen's pass intended for Zay Jones fell incomplete. The Bills were forced to trot out Stephen Hauschka for a 35-yard field goal attempt and the kicker did split the uprights getting the Bills on the board and cutting the Patriots lead to 14-3 New England's second possession of the second half again failure to put points on the

board this time rather than a turnover it was a penalty that really sort of put them behind the eight ball on a second and five play Sonnyia Michelle goes up the middle for eight yards, but Julian Edelman was flagged for an offensive holding penalty, forcing the Patriots back to their own nine and giving them a second and 13 situation. A Sonia Michelle run and a short completion to James White on third and six forced the Patriots to burn out Ryan Allen to punt the football away. His punt was returned to the Buffalo 41-yard line, given the Bills yet again good field position to start a drive. The Patriots, they committed a defensive pass interference

playing on the first play of this drive. Jonathan Jones hit with the flag, and that set the Bills up for a first and 10 at the Patriots' 42-yard line. On that play, Allen would hit Jason Kroon for 19 yards, giving the Bills a first and 10 just outside the red zone of the Patriots' 23-yard line. Then, three straight incompletions forced the Bills to once again trot out Stephen Hauschka.

This 41-yard field goal try was good. Now we've got 14-6 Patriots with the lead, but we are now in a one-score game with 10 minutes remaining in the third quarter. Thankfully, the Patriots finally got themselves on the board. They rattled off a pretty good drive, even dealing with another hold and penalty. This time, Rob Gronkowski was flagged for offensive hold and for 10 yards, but facing a fourth and four at the Buffalo 32-yard line,

Bill Belichick decides to forego the field goal try from Steven Gostkowski and leave the offense on the field Tom Brady would get his touchdown pass of the day on this fourth down try Brady on the quick slant he's got his man for the first down that is Edelman to the 15-yard line. Still going. Touchdown. Never touched the ground. Well, because it's ruled a touchdown, it's automatically going to get reviewed. We had Edelman in meetings yesterday. Let's see if he – it doesn't appear from either of those angles that he hits the ground. Very, very aware that he didn't.

Jumping up and scoring. You know, I just love his competitiveness. He's a guy throughout his entire career. You know, he played quarterback in college. And as a wide receiver now, he's fifth all-time in Patriots history in receptions. He just never gives up. He does it with all the gritty, grimy catches. He works the inside hash marks.

I love the way he put it yesterday. He said, well, I was a quarterback in college, but that wasn't much to talk about. This was a pure effort play from Julian Edelman. He catches the quick slant from Tom Brady, and while being hit by two defenders, they fail to get him to the turf, and Julian Edelman shows the awareness

to keep going and finish the play, play through the whistle. He knows his knee hasn him to the turf, and Julian Edelman shows the awareness to keep going and finish the play. Play through the whistle. He knows his knee hasn't touched the turf. He knows he's knocked down, so he plays through the whistle, dives into the end zone, getting the Patriots some much-needed points at a time when this game was rather shaky. Again, it was a one-score game at this point, but Edelman's touchdown comes with 5 minutes and 14 seconds left in the third quarter, and it gives the Patriots a 21-6 lead with the Gostowski extra points. Now, the Bills would be stopped on their next possession. How? Well, this time it was the defense.

The Bills got a huge drive. On a first down run, Keith Ford went left guard for six yards, and then on a second and four play, Josh Allen hit Robert Foster over the middle for a 25-yard gain, giving the Bills a first and 10 at the Patriots' 43-yard line. On that next play, Josh Allen would go left tackle, keeping it himself for 13 yards down to the Patriots' 30-yard line. On that first and 10 play,

Josh Allen would hit tight end Jason Kroon for a big 24-yard gain. But playing through the whistle on this snap, the Patriots defense, a game tackle, forces a turnover. Yeah, he had a Superman cape on too. He thought he could make a play out of anything. Allen, again with time and throwing and wide open to his tight end Kroon Kroon inside the 10 still pushing forward to the five lost the football it came out and recovered by the Patriots Malcolm Brown covered the ball at about the six yard line well both officials came running in and marked it at the same time, so they both had a good look at it.

Looks like the ball's out from that angle. Jason McCourty, number 30, reaching in and pulling it out. Yep. Another situation where you've got a young receiver trying to do too much. Protect the football. That half a yard you're going to gain right there isn't worth fumbling. Get down.

He was continuing to move forward. I know the Bills are thinking, where was the whistle that showed stop of forward progress? He was still moving forward. That's why there was no whistle. By fighting for those extra yards... It's group effort play resulted in a forced fumble by Jason McCourty, recovered by Malcolm Brown

of all people working his way downfield because this fumble was recovered at the Patriots six yard line. Now this was a first and ten at the Patriots 30. Kroon gets down to the six. It's a 24 yard gain but because of the group tackle, the gain tackle effort at the six, It's a 24-yard gain, but because of the group tackle, the gain tackle

effort at the six, because of the hustle by Malcolm Brown getting back downfield after rushing the passer, the Patriots stop the Bills threat. Now on their ensuing possession, the Patriots would eventually be forced to punt, but they take over first and 10 of their own six-yard line with 2.48 left in the third quarter. And by the time they finally do punt, that punt comes with 12 minutes and seven seconds left in the game. The Patriots work a lot of clock. More than 2.48 comes off the third quarter clock and over almost three minutes comes off the fourth quarter clock and they finally do punt and the Bills take over on their own eight-yard line. They would run just four plays going three and out, punting the ball back to the Patriots,

who would take over at the 24-yard line of the Buffalo Bills, thanks to a big return. It was a short punt, punting from their own 11-yard line, Matt Darr. Julian Edelman returns it down to the Bills' 24-yard line, putting the Patriots already in scoring range on this possession. They would eventually get the ball into the red zone and down to the four-yard line. The Patriots would eventually face a first and goal at the Buffalo four-yard line. But on that first down play, James White would go right guard for just one yard. On second and goal from the

three, White would test the middle for again, just one yard. Now on third and goal from the two, James White would go left end for a loss of three, moving the Patriots back to the Buffalo Bills five-yard line. So first and goal at the four becomes fourth and goal at the five. Patriots netting a one-yard loss on that end of the possession sequence. Stephen Gluskowski would come out and drill a 24-yard field goal, giving the Patriots, again, a lead of 24-6. Those would be their final points on the day. The next and the final play we're going to talk about comes with four minutes and seven seconds left on the clock. This is a Buffalo Bills play.

They are facing a second and ten on their own 48-yard line. And Jason McCourty, having forced a turnover with a forced fumble earlier in the game, he creates a turnover with this interception of rookie quarterback Josh Allen. McCracken threw another little floater out there to the sideline with a guy undercut. He'll learn.

He'll learn. You've got to take that air out of that ball if you're going to throw that to the sideline. That's all just part of the learning curve. There's certain throws you really have to bring it, and other throws you've got to try and lay it in there. First interception of the season for Jason McCourty. His twin brother Devin has won.

He did a great job of getting his feet down. He looked like a wide-eyed child. As you heard the announcers there breaking this down, Trent Green and Bruce Arians, this was really just a mistake by Allen. And McCourty's there to capitalize. Allen tries to sort of float this over the underneath coverage from McCourty. He steps in front of a throw intended for Isaiah McKenzie and makes the interception. Now, that would be pretty much the final big play of this game. Yes,

the Bills would tack on a touchdown from Josh Allen to Zay Jones with a minute and 17 seconds left. But by that point, the contest was already wrapped up. The Bills would, you know, they would fail on the two-point conversion try, leaving us the final score of 24-12. Up next, we're going to break down the James White touchdown run as promised, and we're going to revisit my thoughts in the wake of this game because, again, it was a win, but was it a good win? That's all coming up on this Week 16 episode of 2018 Revisited. Here at Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now.

Going to close out this Week 16 installment of 2018 Revisited. Again, we're looking at the Patriots' victory over the Buffalo Bills in Week 16. A hat and t-shirt game where the Patriots indeed clenched a playoff spot. But how we felt about that, or at least how I felt about it, we'll get to that in a moment. But let's break down the pivotal play. This is James White and his touchdown run. That comes at 10-09 of the second quarter.

This is a run off of left tackle for 27 yards and the touchdown. Now the Patriots come out with 11 offensive personnel on the field. They put Tom Brady under center. They got Robert Gronkowski in line next to Trent Brown on the left-hand side with what looks to be Julian Edelman just next to him in a wing. To the right side of the formation, they've got Chris Brown out wide and Patterson in the slot. And Patterson will come in motion here from right to left and sort of show a jet sweep type look when the ball is actually snapped. Patterson is in position for a potential jet sweep handoff, which is something that the

Bill's defense does sort of have to worry about. But the Patriots, they run simple power. And if you remember to this part of the season last year, there were a lot of odes to two people that we were doing here at Locked on Patriots. There were odes to James Devlin. This is a James Devlin account. This is a pro fullback account. So we were doing a lot of James Devlin. We were showing a lot of James Devlin love. Now, the other player that got a lot of love here, a player that I theorized I might write a book about someday, Shaq Mason, because the Patriots run power here. And the way this

play sets up is as follows. You're going to get a double team right at the point of attack with left guard Joe Thune and left tackle Trent Brown. And they work a nice little combo with Brown eventually coming off of that and get into the middle linebacker. So you've got those guys blocking basically to the inside, right? Because they've got a defensive tackle split between them and that B gap between the guard and the tackle. They occupy this player with Brown blocking down and to his right, and he works up to the second level.

Robert Gronkowski has a defensive end outside of him, and he blocks out onto him. Julian Edmund works in, blocks the strong safety who's working down into the box. But that leaves on the backside two key blocks. First, there is a player aligned in the A-gap between Mason and center David Andrews David Andrews he blocks out to his right which allows Shaq Mason to pull around and Mason pulls up leads White through the hole and slams into the other linebacker who is trying to scrape over to make the play this linebacker is left unblocked until Mason erases him and from there it's just a question of whether James White can get the angle on the free safety.

And he does exactly that, races him and dives into the pylon for the pivotal touchdown that gave the Patriots a 14-0 lead. Now, having said all that, let's start the next discussion. Let's frame it this way. With what we heard from Scott Zolak at the start of the show, in the cold open, the ending from Sochi and Zolak on 98.5. What did you hear Zolak say? It's a win.

It's a hat and t-shirt game. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Quarterback's not going to be happy about this. And he's dealing with something. He mentioned maybe a leg or an ear, some kind of injury. Now, I want to play for you what I said in the aftermath of a victory,

a playoff clinching victory on this podcast, on a glorious victory edition of Locked On Patriots. Tom Brady seemed unsettled today. He seemed skittish at times in the pocket. He didn't seem to be himself. This leads us into these, is it an injury discussion or what? So there's a Brady issue that people are still unsettled about. There's a Gronkowski issue that people are still unsettled about. Robert Gronkowski was basically a non-factor. One catch, I mean, excuse me, no catches on three targets and the interception went right through his hands. There's this feeling that those two guys continue to struggle and it's going to be a problem at

some point. They don't look like themselves right now. And when I asked that sort of question about how would you feel this team ended up winning 21-6 or whatever it was, and again, get the sense back from everybody that, you know, would be the fears were confirmed about this team. I made this comment. The Patriots right now look like a Big Ten team in an SEC world. They look like they're a step slower than the competition. Other teams just look faster than them at times. And frankly, were it not for an incredible effort play from Julian Edelman, this passing game would have done next to nothing.

You know, Edelman makes the catch, gets spun down but never touches, scampers into the end zone for a 32-yard touchdown. You know, if it wasn't for that, I don't think Brady gets over 100 yards passing. His QBR of 38.4, not great. His quarterback rating of 48.3 was lower than Josh Allen's, who also threw for a touchdown and two interceptions. 5.3 yards per attempt.

And, yes, they relied on the ground game. I get that. They were going up against the number one pass defense, so they focus on the ground. I get that. But as you start to look ahead, you start to wonder down the road, what are they going to have to do to, we hope, get back to a Super Bowl? They're going to need a Brady-like performance at some point. I mean, chances are, whether it's at Arrowhead or, you know, by some, you know, set of circumstances, they're hosting a divisional game and or an AFC championship game.

They might need a Brady-like performance. And in years past, sitting here at this point, we might say, look, the Brady-like performance could still come. And it still might. It still might. But more than anything else, we're sitting here right now. This team seems slow. It seems like, like I said, a Big Ten team in an SEC world. More than anything else, they need that bye week.

The best thing that can happen for this team right now is to get that bye, use it to get everybody back to where they need to be for making this stretch run. And I know this probably sounds to a lot of people like, you know, I'm melancholy in the Infinite Sadness episode because look, as I said at the outset, 10 straight divisional titles, 16 10-win seasons. They're going back to the dance. They've at least punched their ticket. The things broke so far that they needed to have break in their, in their favor. So now they're back as the two seed controlling their own destiny for that

spot. And the chiefs could still fall tonight. The Seahawks could still help us out. By the time you listen to this, maybe that has happened and the sky is really opening up and bright for us on this Christmas Eve when you listen to this. Having said all of that, how do you feel about this team? And I'm judging based on the comments that I've heard from people, based on what people have been telling me, based on what I've been reading myself is people still feel unsettled. Merry Christmas, everybody.

Listening to that again, that sounds like a funeral. I sound like they had just lost a game rather than clinched a playoff spot. We were still unsure. A lot of my discussion during that episode was framed by the discussion that took place in the wake of that victory in the Locked On Patriots Slack Channel. We all felt like this team wasn't that good. Like they were just not going to put together the type of run they would need to win a Super Bowl.

Now, what did we learn eventually? Just how wrong we were. Because, yes, and some breaks went their way. Dee Ford and all of that. But they went into Arrowhead and they won with Tom Brady throwing the ball down the stretch. They won a Super Bowl game. And so it's fun and it's been an enjoyable part of this exercise to look back at the season now, knowing how it ended up,

to see just the ebbs and the flows and the peaks and the valleys of a 16-game regular season and a playoff run. Because of the aftermath of this week's 16 game, if you were to ask me, look, if you were to come up to me and said the Patriots are going to go on and win the Super Bowl and beat the Rams in their defense in the Super Bowl, I would have said you were crazy. I would have thought, there's no way.

I did not feel confident about this team at that point. But we would go on to see them get that bye, to have that game against the Chargers, and perhaps a very advantageous situation, San Diego having to make, or Los Angeles having to make back-to-back trips east and play in a physical game against Baltimore and then have a banged-up defense

and basically no linebackers healthy, and they could run the ball against them. And then Tomady going into arrowhead and doing what he does in overtime and yes getting some breaks going their way but the aftermath of this bills game did not see any of that coming but that will do it for today in this week 16 recap that will do it for 2018 revisited for this week next week we close it out we'll get that jet season finale we've got that chargers game we've got that AFC championship game. And yes, Super Bowl 53 revisit. That's all going to come ahead in the days and basically the week to come.

Until next time, everybody, keep it locked right here. To me, Mark Schofield. And Locked on Patriots. Thank you.