Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Enemy Mine: Patriots-Chiefs Talk with Braden- 12/5/19

Episode Date: December 5, 2019

With the New England Patriots set to take on the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday at Gillette Stadium, host Mike D’Abate stays behind enemy lines. He welcomes Braden Holecek of Full Press Coverage Chiefs to preview this highly-anticipated AFC-matchup from Foxboro.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello to all you Foxborough faithful and welcome to your almost-the-weekend Thursday episode of Locked On Patriots, your daily home for news, notes, analysis, and the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. This episode is brought to you in part by Away. Away creates thoughtful products designed to change how you see the world. For $20 off a suitcase, visit awaytravel.com slash locked on and use promo code locked on during checkout. If you're listening on the go and you can't visit away right

now, you can find this and all other offers from Locked On sponsors at lockedonpodcast.com slash offers. My name is Mike DeBate and I am your host of Locked On Patriots, which of course is a part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

Please feel free to reach out to me on Twitter at MDABATEFPC, and be sure to follow Locked On Patriots on Twitter as well at LO underscore Patriots. Folks, we're just a couple of days away from the Pats returning home to Foxborough and the friendly confines of Gillette Stadium for a highly anticipated matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. And yesterday, Chris Clark of Locked On Chiefs and I kicked off the Pats Chiefs coverage for the week with Crossover Wednesday here on the Locked On Podcast Network. Chris is always such a wealth of knowledge on anything and everything, Chiefs. It's always my honor to join great analysts like him on the Crossover episodes, but believe

it or not, folks, we have only scratched the surface when it comes to this Kansas City team. So many offensive weapons and a defense that is better than people think. There is so much to cover and there is so much you want to know about your enemy. After all, you know my affection for the Godfather and as Michael Corleone so eloquently said in The Godfather Part 2, keep your friends close and your enemies closer. So building on that thought, I thought it would be a good idea to stay behind enemy lines. And today, it's my honor to speak with another valued colleague,

my second in as many days. Full Press Coverage Chiefs Managing Editor and Beat Writer Brayden Holchek joins me today. Brayden is one of the most knowledgeable analysts you'll find anywhere in Chiefs Kingdom, and it's my pleasure to welcome him in for some insight and pearls of wisdom when it comes to the Kansas City Chiefs. I'm excited to speak with him today, and I hope that you enjoy today's podcast. But first, we start with the news of the day, and the week's first injury report, folks, was issued on Wednesday afternoon. Center Ted Karras, good news. The knee looks to be a minor sprain, and that's been reported by several media outlets, including

his family, by social media. He was out of practice on Wednesday. It's highly unlikely he's going to give this one a go on Sunday, but good news overall. It appears he'll avoid that lengthy absence, and the knowledge that we'll see Teddy again on the field this season is great news for him, and everyone in Patriots Nation is definitely glad to see that. But that also means that James Ferentz will likely be this week's starter at center, and Ferentz is a very good depth piece when it comes to the offensive line.

He's garnered some praise from Bill Belichick as of late, and the team seems pretty confident that he can admirably fill that role. So once again, it's next man up on the offensive line, and thankfully for the Patriots, they have Dante Skarnecchia running things when it comes to coaching the O-line, and there is nobody better in the league at being able to do that. Ted Karras wasn't the only New England Patriot absent from practice yesterday. Defensive tackle Byron Cowart was out with a head injury.

He was absent from practice again today on Thursday, so his status for Sunday is looking unlikely as well. But the silver lining on the injury report is that only one player was limited and listed as having that illness that ripped through the Patriots locker room last week, and that was Marcus Cannon. Right here on Locked on Patriots on Tuesday, you heard Dr. Jessica Flynn refer to Cannon as patient zero. He was the first person to contract this illness, and apparently he's still feeling the effects.

In fact, he was removed from Sunday's game, needed an IV at halftime. He was at practice on Wednesday, but was listed as a limited participant. If I were to venture a guess on his status for Sunday, I would say Cannon will be good to go. I think this is more about managing his stamina. And look, they're going to need their stamina, all the Patriots will, in order to keep pace with a very fast group of Kansas City skill position players. So hopefully, the Patriots look to be putting this flu bug to rest.

And lastly, still conspicuous by his absence, is the Patriots look to be putting this flu bug to rest. And lastly, still conspicuous by his absence is the Patriots kicker, which we still don't know who that will be on Sunday. Wednesday passed, and no kicker was signed. Thursday, still no kicker visible at practice. They did reportedly put in a claim for kicker Chase McLaughlin. He had been released by the San Francisco 49ers earlier this week, and Patriots fans started to believe he would be a great fit. He was claimed and awarded to the Indianapolis Colts.

They had priority based on their record. So ultimately, that meant that McLaughlin would not find his way onto the Patriots roster in 2019. But Wednesday's practice passed, and today's practice apparently has passed, and no kicker has been signed. What we do know is that Kai Forbath was released on Monday. Nick Folk, who a lot of people had anticipated would be returning, myself included, had a locker remaining at Gillette through the weekend. His nameplate has been removed. So there's a lot of shrugging

going on when it comes to the Patriots kicking game right now, folks. Hard to get a read, but as always, I'm maintaining my sharp eye on the practice field and on the roster wire, and hopefully we'll have an answer on who will be attempting field goals in Foxborough on Sunday when the Patriots host... Who are they playing this week? That's right, the Kansas City Chiefs. I just feel like that's not publicized enough. No one's talking about that, myself included.

No one brings it up. Okay, enough of my feeble attempted sarcasm. Let's talk business, and I will be welcoming Braden in to do that in just a moment. But first, I have a question for you. Yes, you listening out there. Are you the type of fan that knows football so well that you could choose any game and call it? Well, my bookie is the place for you because they let you turn all of your sports knowledge into cash in your wallet. It's time to get off the sideline and get in on the action with my bookie. If you're the kind of guy who likes to bet a little and win a lot, try a parlay. For instance, if you like a couple of the big favorites this week, parlays are perfect because they let you bet multiple games together

for a much bigger payout. So if you're going to bet this season, do the smart thing and go to MyBookie.ag because no one gives you more ways to win. If you join right now, MyBookie will match your deposit halfway, all the way up to $1,000. That means if you deposit $2,000, you get an extra My guest today is a rising star in the realm of NFL media. You play, you win, you get paid. My guest today is a rising star in the realm of NFL media. He does an amazing job of blending stats, film study, and opinion, and that is not easy to do, folks. He is the managing editor and beat writer for Full Press Coverage Chiefs. He is my friend, Brayden Holacek.

Brayden, thank you so much for joining me today. Welcome to Locked On, Patriots. Thanks for having me today, Mike. It's a pleasure to be here, and it's always fun to talk football, especially with the big game we have this week. Definitely. Braden and I, we were talking offline about this, and you and I both know this has been circled on the calendar,

not just for the fan bases, but for the two teams as well. These are two of the top elite teams in the AFC, have been for a couple of years now, and it's always a happening when the Pats and the Chiefs hook it up, especially from our perspective when it's in Foxborough at Gillette Stadium. Always a fun time, and we're looking forward to a great game on Sunday. Braden, I wanted to start on the defensive side of the ball on this one for the Chiefs, specifically the run. Kansas City allows 141.3 yards per game on the ground. That's 30th in the NFL. So I know part of that's been due to some of the injuries sustained up front, but the Chiefs run defense can be porous even at full strength. So logic would say that the Patriots should stick

with the run, but the problem with that is that the Patriots' run game has not been their offensive strong suit this year, and there really haven't been a whole lot of offensive strong suits for the Patriots, which is such a shift from what we're used to seeing in Foxborough. That being said, do you believe, from your experience looking and covering the Chiefs, do you believe that their best defensive strategy is to try to shut down the Patriots' run, or do you think it might be to their advantage to let the Patriots run the ball a bit and dare to beat them on the ground because the Patriots have been

spotty at best when it comes to running the football and its effectiveness? Yeah, I think most of the time the Chiefs thrive off of pressuring the quarterback but I think they actually do need to try to shut down the run in this game because I think the biggest thing you know when you play the Patriots is you want to possess the ball as much as possible so I think shutting down the run is going to be a big key for the Chiefs defense getting off the field as much as possible and that's something you know And that's something they've struggled a little bit this year. They've made the tackles, but too many times it's led to third and shorts rather than third and long. So I think they're going to try to want to stack the box a little more than they've done the last few weeks

and shut that down. Yeah, and I think you make a good point on that as well. The point specifically that I wanted to expound upon that a little bit is trying to shut down the run and also their ability, the Chiefs' ability to be able to get after and rush the passer. That leads me quite nicely into my next question, which is Kansas City's secondary, for whatever reason, a lot of people I don't think give it the credit that it deserves, but it's fared much better than the run defense. That's both due to improved play in the secondary and a solid pass rush. And both of those elements can give the Patriots passing game some problems. And there have been some issues in

the Patriots passing game. The Chiefs allowed 230.8 yards per game through the air. That ranks smack dab in the middle of the league at 16th overall, but I don't think that really tells the full story. Teron Matthew and Juan Thornhill have been really solid at safety this season. Thornhill coming off a huge game against the Raiders last week where he had to pick six. I think Ward, Breland, Fuller, Claiborne, I think that's a deeper core at the cornerback position than most people will give the Chiefs credit for. And of course, up front, we're talking Chris Jones with six sacks, Frank Clark with five. They provided a lot of the heat for a group that has a total of 34 sacks on the year.

Tom Brady, on the other hand, he's still searching for some reliable options beyond Julian Edelman, a wide receiver. He's had some upheaval in the offensive line. There's been injuries. Ted Karras, who's the center, has not practiced this week. He's had a sprained MCL. We're looking to see if maybe he might be able to give it a go in a week or two weeks' time, but he's unlikely to play. Isaiah Wynn has been out with turf toe. He's come back in the recent couple of weeks. So because of that, from what you see of the Chiefs defense week after

week, what type of scheme might they employ from a past defensive perspective to try to, I don't want to say slow down Tom Brady in the offense, but contain them and prevent them from being able to get into a comfort zone? You know, it's really interesting because both Rashad Fenton and Morris Claiborne have not practiced the first two days of this week, so they actually have elevated a defensive back from the practice squad in Alex Brown this morning so there was some times last week against the Raiders where we saw Kendall Fuller actually playing single high and that was really interesting to see looking back on the film because Kendall Fuller only had 17 snaps in his first game back in a few weeks, and it was just really interesting to see the trust that Steve Spagnuolo has

in Tyron Matthew to play cornerback spot at times or Juan Thornhill to change up his game plan. So it's something where I think the Chiefs are going to be trying to throw a lot of different looks at the Patriots, and I'm really unsure how some guys are going to be matched up. You mentioned Edelman. I think it'll be very likely maybe that they try to double team him and then force the other receivers to try to beat them one-on-one and again I think we could see some of that again this week with Kendall Fuller playing the single high, Tyron Matthew coming

down in the slot or you know know, a different quarterback position. So I think this year the way they've kind of set it up is they're letting a lot of players just kind of showcase themselves, and it's kind of led to more confidence, especially in Tarverius Ward. I think entering last week he was eighth in the league in passer rating again. So he's really grown a lot of confidence, and I think that comes from the attitude that Matthew brings and just kind of the style that the Chiefs are trying to employ in the defense.

Yeah, good, good points on a lot of that. And you mentioned about doubling Julian Edelman, and we saw the Houston Texans do that a lot from the Patriots' perspective on Sunday. They really blanketed him, prevented him from being able to get a lot of open looks. He still received for 106 yards. So that shows you how adept Julian Edelman is at being able to get open. What I thought the Texans did that was impressive, and when they stopped doing this, this is when they were able to find a little bit of hole for Edelman, was placing a defensive back on James White, who is so adept at being able to catch the ball out of the backfield.

I think Kansas City, and I look for Kansas City to try to do that a little bit this week, maybe throw the game off a little bit. If that's the case, the Patriots may counter with a guy like Rex Burkhead, who, believe it or not, is a lot better at receiving the ball out of the backfield than he gets credit for. He can get some bursts and yards after the catch that might be able to be a factor. So if I'm the Chiefs, I'm looking at him as being a possible X-factor in this game, an under-the-radar type player that hasn't had a lot of impact on the Patriots' offense thus far,

but Burkhead could be a name to watch for the Kansas City Chiefs. Again, I think you made some great points about Teron Matthew and about Ward and Fuller, and I appreciate the information on Smith. I think that's a great addition as well in terms of what this team would like to do from a cornerback position and keeping pressure, because ultimately, the way to get to Brady is not so much through just constant pressure, constant pressure, constant pressure. That's really the narrative about how to knock him and play him off his game. He had a ton of time to throw on Sunday.

He had over three seconds, which Brady almost never gets when it comes to being able to throw the football, but Houston blanketed his receivers and really did not give him that many options of getting guys open. So it'll be interesting to see, but I think that's great insight from a Chiefs perspective, and if I'm the Patriots, I'm definitely keeping a close eye on that and

seeing exactly how these guys are going to match up with the Patriots' skill position players. Folks, his name is Braden Holchek, and I appreciate him joining me today here on Locked On Patriots. We have discussed the Chiefs' defense and what they might do to keep Tom Brady and company out of the

Gillette Stadium end zone. But the main event this weekend is the high-octane offense of his Kansas City Chiefs, squaring off against that vaunted Patriots defense. And in just a moment, we'll ask Braden his opinion on the Kansas City offense and what problems may be posed to them by the Patriots defense. Once again, I am joined today by Braden Holchek of Full Press Coverage Chiefs. And Braden, for all the problems the Patriots defense had in dealing with Deshaun Watson and the Texans,

stopping the run, believe it or not, was not one of them. Lawrence Guy in particular, who is one of their defensive tackles, was dominant. He helped limit Houston to 52 yards on 23 carries for a 2.3-yard average. The front seven appears to have straightened out some of the issues it had earlier in the season containing the run. We've seen running backs run all over the Patriots and really give them some difficulty, but Kansas City's ground threat is a little bit of an anomaly in terms of how they do business. LaShawn McCoy, Damian Williams, and now Spencer Ware, who's returned to the fold, those are names that can definitely raise the eyebrow.

They're very adept runners. I was very intrigued by the fact that they were able to bring back Ware. He's so good at running those downfield running back routes that have given the Patriots some problems over the years. So if I'm the Patriots, this along with the fact that the Kansas City offensive line, which has dealt with injuries all season, they're currently operating at close to full strength. That concerns me a little bit. Do you expect the Chiefs to try to exploit the Pats defensive front with a run this week,

or is the running game something that the Chiefs consider a secondary option in their offensive attack? I think it is more of a secondary option, and especially this week where Damian Williams missed practice again today for the second straight day. Darrell Williams was placed on IR. So, yeah, you mentioned Ware coming back. The rookie from Utah State, Darwin Thompson, got extended look in the fourth quarter last week

and really his first extensive action. And even though he didn't touch the ball until that late, he actually led the team in rushing yards last week. So right now, I think just kind of knowing how Andy Reid does things, it takes him a while to kind of trust some players. So I think this week the running game may remain a secondary part of the Chiefs offense for sure. Yeah, I think you're probably on to something there. Like I said, the one thing that does worry me a little bit is seeing a running back, especially a couple of years ago.

I still have visions of Kareem Hunt running all over the Patriots in some of the regular season games that these two teams have played against each other. And because the Kansas City offense is so high-powered and so potent, it leads me to believe that there may be a way for them to exploit the defense on that. Like I said, the Patriots' defense was not struggling to stop the run or to stop a guy like Deshaun Watson from being able to run on them. And I will get to your prolific quarterback in just a moment, I promise you. But what that does for the Patriots now is it really puts some focus on the front seven, specifically the defensive three front, which Danny Shelton is the anchor. He's the nose tackle in the middle.

Lawrence Guy and Adam Butler on either side of him might even see a guy like Chase Swinovich, John Simon, even Dietrich Wise come up and try to help out when it comes to stacking the box, which you mentioned earlier, which could be a strategy for the Chiefs to be able to do to stop the Patriots' run. I think the Pats will employ a same type of front to be able to do that. But again, I think a lot of what people are really looking forward to, if you put pressure on them and ask them what they're looking forward to most, it's seeing how Patrick Mahomes and this

high-flying group of skilled position players on the offensive side of the ball of the Kansas City Chiefs matches up against the Patriots secondary and maybe even a couple of linebackers at two. I think this is going to be the real true matchup of the game. Mahomes continues to fright through the injuries. He's really maintained, I think, a high level of play virtually throughout despite the injuries he's had. He had the ankle injury early on this season and then, of course, the dislocated kneecap. That cost him three games. Mahomes has been quite effective. He's had 20 touchdowns against just two picks, and he's got plenty of options to choose from. Travis Kelsey, Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, Demarcus Robinson, even Mecole Hardman. I mean, that sounds like a Pro Bowl wide receiver and

tight end set, and we're talking about an actual NFL team here. So in respect to the Patriots secondary, they've been excellent this year, but they did struggle a little bit at times last week in Houston. And I think a lot of that was from health reasons, and this team was really just feeling the effects of a flu bug that completely decimated the locker room here in Foxborough.

But I'm looking at this point, I'm saying Stephon Gilmore is probably likely going to get Sammy Watkins. We saw him get matched up on Tyreek Hill a couple of times, and that did not end well. I don't think that's going to be the case. I think Jonathan Jones figures to be involved with double coverage on Hill. It's going to be whether or not Jason McCourty can go. If not, I look for McCourty, JC Jackson, and Jonathan Jones to rotate on Hill. Gilmore could also see Kelsey a little bit. That was the case that we saw in last year's AFC title game at Arrowhead.

And as we just talked about, the running backs can also be heavily involved in the passing game. That was trouble for the New England linebackers in Houston. So if I'm Kansas City, I'm watching that game film and saying this could be an area that we could exploit. If I'm the Patriots, I think that they're going to need to get some pressure on Mahomes, force him into some mistakes. The Patriots secondary continues to lead the league with 20 interceptions. And Mahomes has had some times where he's been confused when it comes to the Patriots defense and what they're able to do.

But I think Patrick has become a much better reader as he gains experience. From a Chiefs perspective, what's your biggest concern in the passing game, and what areas of the Patriots' secondary might Mahomes and company look to exploit? I guess first off, you mentioned Mahomes kind of getting rattled. That's actually something he mentioned yesterday to the media that, you know, he's gone back and watched the AFC championship game this week, studied both the Ravens versus Patriots film and the Texans versus Patriots

film. So I think it's something where he understands this is, you know, this is a big time game and, and he's known that before against the Patriots, but I think he understands this time, you know, we got to just keep going at them.

We can't get rattled. And you mentioned, I think, just trying to exploit this Patriots secondary. Obviously, I think they're always one of the best secondaries in the league. So I think it's just something where you just have to try to take your chance on some really lucky shots. I think that's where Houston won last week. You know, we saw the penalty, I think, brought back, or maybe it was an incomplete pass, brought

back one touchdown, but then Houston went back right after that and found 10-0 steals. I just think you have to be able to know when to take the shots, but also just stay the course and try to beat this Patriots secondary. You know, the Patriots are known for taking away the best players, so I actually think it's going to be Travis Kelsey or McCole Hardman. Maybe that is the most pivotal guy to watch for in this one to try to beat the Patriots secondary because it's just hard to see Tyree kill unless, you know, the Patriots just get confused by him or something or Mahomes, you know, for him to really have a big game.

I guess we saw it last year in New England, but it's just so difficult to try to beat this Patriots secondary as the best player sometimes. Yeah. On Hill and him, a big game. I think last year in Foxborough, Hill did have a big game I think last year in Foxborough Hill did have a big game I think the secondary is better equipped to be able to handle taking away the team's top option and you hit that on the head and I think that's exactly what you're going to see this week I think you're going to see a combination of Jonathan Jones has been excellent in the slot coverage but also great in coverage

overall and I think a combination of guys like JC Jackson and Jason McCourty on him to be able to blanket and prevent him from breaking for the big play. Kelsey, to me, is going to be such a key for that offense. The Patriots typically have difficulty defending against tight ends. We've seen it over and over again. They need a solid safety to be able to blanket him. Patrick Chung is typically the guy that does that. He's been banged up a lot. He had the illness last week. He did play in last week's game, but he's been out and hampered by a lot of different injuries this year.

He's had a heel injury, a chest injury. He's had that illness, like I said, that went around Foxborough last week. So if he's healthy and ready to go, he may be the guy that ends up getting matched up on Kelsey, along with Gilmore, maybe switching off a little bit. So definitely interesting matchups and intriguing matchups. But to me, again, I think it comes back to this being the main event of what we're going to see this weekend. And I think you brought a lot of good insight in terms of what the Patriots might see offensively from the Chiefs and defensively from the Chiefs.

And I thank you very, very much for that. Braden, again, I can't thank you enough for joining me today. Always providing great work for full press coverage. I highly recommend checking that out, not just this week, but every week, because this young man does a great job in giving coverage to the NFL, mostly the Chiefs. He's dialed in. You heard some great pearls of wisdom today, and I could not be happier to welcome you here to Lockdown Patriots today.

Before you head out, please let our listeners know where they can find you on social media and where they can always read your great work. Yeah, thank you, Mike. You guys can follow me on Twitter at ebearcat9. That's all one word, lowercase e-b-e-a-r-c-a-t and the number nine. Like Mike mentioned, I'm really excited that I've been kind of increasing the content this year. So I usually get a handful of articles out each week over at fullpresschiefs and fullpresscoverage.com. And, you know, we're getting to the nitty gritty of the regular season. So hopefully playoff coverage will start coming soon. And after that draft season, I'm always a big fan of the NFL draft. So all year long, I just keep trying to increase the workload

and improve myself. So thank you, guys. Oh, you're very welcome. And again, like I said, Braden is someone that I'm honored to call both a friend and a colleague. And definitely check out his coverage. You mentioned the playoffs. Both of these teams look to factor in heavily in that coverage for the playoffs. As usual, Kansas City, New England, stalwarts when it comes to the AFC

playoffs. So, Brayden, thank you again. Enjoy the game on Sunday, and who knows, maybe we'll be doing this again during the playoffs and bringing you back in for some more wisdom and counsel when it comes to a potential Patriots-Chiefs matchup down the line. Yes, thank you, Mike. Have a good one. You're very welcome. You as well. And as for me, I will be back to give a final preview for Patriots-Chiefs and offer my game prediction for this Sunday's matchup.

And I might just have a special guest joining me tomorrow as well, so stay locked in to Locked On Patriots. As always, please join me each and every day on the Locked On Podcast Network. As always, please join me each and every day on the Locked On Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen via your preferred podcast provider. Once again, I'm Mike DeBate of Locked On Patriots. I thank Brayden Holchek of Full Press Coverage

for his appearance today. But most of all, thank you all so much for listening. Best wishes and have a great day, everyone.