Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - LOCKED ON PATRIOTS- 11/10/16- How Will The Patriots Defense Stop The Seahawks Offense?

Episode Date: November 10, 2016

Chris Simoneau discusses the Patriots/Seahawks Week 11 matchup, the Game of the Week in the NFL. #alwaysagreatgame Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whatcha doing? Ran out of space on my phone, so I'm deleting some stuff. Bye singing dog. Bye goal. Bye wedding ceremony. Stop! At MetroPCS you get two free phones with twice as much memory. Really? Don't say bye to your memories.

Switch to MetroPCS and get two free LG K20 Plus phones with 32 gigs when you switch two lines. MetroPCS. Wireless. Figured out. Coverage not available in some areas. Sales tax not included in phone price. Excludes numbers on the T-Mobile network. See store for details and terms and conditions. Good afternoon. I'm Chris Simino, your host of Locked On Patriots, your source for everything Patriots.

Today is Thursday, November 10, 2016. Today is the day we're going to turn the page when it comes to any of this election stuff. So everybody sit back and listen to some Patriots news and get back to our regular everyday life, which locked on Patriots should be a part of. Today we're going to discuss the Seattle Seahawks offense and how the Patriots can attack them defensively. But first and foremost, let's take a look at some of the news and notes on this second Wednesday of November. Good news for the Patriots offense, as Deion Lewis is beginning to look very good in practice. The Patriots have until November 17th to activate him, and they'll have to place him on injured reserve,

which we've discussed in the past. I've felt from the beginning of this ordeal that New England should wait as long as possible before activating him. That'll allow him the longest possible time to rehab and get into shape. There is a chance he'll play this week versus Seattle, before activating him. That'll allow him the longest possible time to rehab and get into shape. There is a chance he'll play this week versus Seattle, but I personally believe he'll be activated next week so he's available for Week 11. He sure will be a welcome addition to an offense

that doesn't really have anyone nearly as explosive as him out of the backfield. James White does a good job catching the ball out of the backfield, and LeGarrette Blount does a good job running. But they don't have that guy that can do a little bit of both, and Deion Lewis is exactly what that is. So it'll be nice to see him back in uniform. He has been injury-prone throughout his career, so I would just not get too excited about him right away. But if they can keep him healthy for the remainder of the season, that's going to be a big boost to this offense.

Speaking of injuries, good news this week on the injury report, which is what we typically see the week after a bye. Here's the list. Tight end Martellus Bennett is still dealing with his ankle. Defensive lineman Alan Branch is back, and wide receiver Julian Edelman dealing with his foot. Bennett and Edelman aren't a surprise. Edelman has been on the list all season,

and Bennett hurt his ankle during Week 5 against Cleveland. Actually, he hurt it early in the game, and it didn't look like something that was going to be able to be dealt with, but he came back into the game, and he hasn't missed a game since, and I don't expect him to miss this week's either. Branch, who is crucial to the success of the defensive line, specifically the run defense, he's a new addition to the report, and back injuries can become an issue at times.

They're very troublesome. All three were limited participation, which is a good sign that they actually practiced, but the Branch situation is definitely something to keep an eye on. Also of note, Jonathan Jones, the rookie cornerback, he returned to practice yesterday, so the Patriots had a full house In their session yesterday

At practice So again, after a bye week You expect to get more guys back healthy But to have a full house Week 10 And just have three guys that were limited That's a really good sign for this team Hopefully they can keep everyone healthy

Because if they do, they're going to be tough to stop Well, since we're playing the Seahawks this week Let's take a look at their situation that's a really good sign for this team. Hopefully they can keep everyone healthy, because if they do, they're going to be tough to stop. Well, since we're playing the Seahawks this week, let's take a look at their situation. As for them, they're dealing with some injuries to major players, and it's looking like one's going to be available and one isn't. Defensive end slash tackle slash nose, whatever he wants to do, he's dominant in all three.

Michael Bennett, who happens to be the brother of Martellus, will not be available for the game this week. But All-World Safety Cam Chancellor is reportedly ready to return to action. Having Chancellor back is great, which is good for them on the back end, but losing a talent like Bennett in a game when you need a strong pass rush, that hurts a lot. You know, the Patriots, eventually Brady will break through a good secondary, but if the pass rush is there, he's going to struggle.

If the pass rush isn't there, which it's starting to look like isn't going to be for Seattle this week, they might get torn apart by Brady, just like he's done to a lot of teams this year. Tight end Luke Wilson, he's also missed the last three games with a knee injury, But he is practicing this week And according to Pete Carroll Wilson, quote, has a chance to play this week So he's 50-50

When you hear the has a chance I usually lean towards the side of probably not going to play But who knows Pete's the one that sees him practicing And he's the one that's going to make the call So we'll see what's up with Luke Wilson Come Sunday We'll probably know more sooner than that,

and I'll relay that information to you guys. Thomas Rawls, running back. He's coming off an injury to his fibula in Week 2. He's slowly but surely getting back up to speed in practice, but he's also going to be off for Week 10, and he won't make the trip to Foxborough. Left tackle Bradley Soule is also questionable for this week's game, which is big.

If Seattle doesn't have their left tackle and they have to go with their backup for a second week in a row, that's going to be a problem. Actually, it's not the second week in a row. It'll be the third. But he is practicing and recovering from his week 70 injury against the Cardinals. Carroll said that soul is day-to-day, and he may be available this week. So, again, it's the kind of broad, general terms that Carroll's thrown out this week

as to who could be healthy and who couldn't. So we're really not 100% sure on who's going to be out there. But I would have to guess that we've got a better chance of seeing Sol than we have of seeing Wilson. Day-to-day and maybe available versus has a chance, I would say that the second one there, Sowell, has a better chance to play. Speaking of Pete Carroll, this is kind of a big week for him. Carroll returns to Foxborough for the first time since 1999, the year that he was fired after leading the Patriots for three seasons. Carroll did talk a little bit about his time in New England,

and he talked about one thing he wished he had a little bit more control of while he was here, and that would be personnel. Here is what Carol had to say. Quote, when I went into New England, I was really committed to being able to bring the philosophy and do exactly the way you wanted to do it and be in control of it. It didn't really work out that way, the way I hoped. I went back to USC, and when I got a chance to be in charge again and be a head coach, I got to see the philosophy through from the head coach throughout. I thought that was really important. I had learned a lot along the way. It's proven really true to me

that at USC, I had a chance to do it the way I wanted to and to make all the calls. And you win or lose, you fail or succeed and it's on you. And he's got a good, that's a good point. You know, when he was here, Bobby Greer was in charge of personnel, and there were issues with, you know, players talking behind Carroll's back and going up and trying to get Greer to get Carroll to let them play and things of that nature as, you know, faking injuries, things like that. And Greer was an enabler, and Greer wasn't that good at picking talent either. You know, if Carroll was in charge back then,

there's a very good chance that he is, well, I wouldn't say he's still here now, but there's a really good chance he would have had a long career in New England. Bill Belichick may have never been the coach of the Patriots. You know, in hindsight, it worked out, but it's just very interesting comments from a coach that has proven that when he has control of the system,

the program's going to succeed. His time at USC in Seattle has proved that, that he could have succeeded in New England, but again, it just wasn't meant to be. And clearly it worked out for both Patriots and Carroll, which is rare. It's very rare to see something like that, where a guy leaves and, you know, the Patriots were in a bad position at that time, and Carroll was in a tough position, you know. You get fired from the second head coaching job, he was the head coach of the Jets back in the early 90s. And you think that this could be it, but he stuck with it. He continued to work at his craft, and he believed in what he always did,

and now he's head coach of maybe the second best team in the NFL. So good for Pete, but let's hope that the Patriots can beat him again this week. So are you going to the game this week? Well, one way that you can go and try to figure out if you can get tickets is go to SeatGeek. It's the smartest, easiest way to find tickets for any of the football games you want to see up close and person this year. Nothing's like being in the stadium for the biggest games, especially a rematch of the Super Bowl from two years ago. Even for the SeatGeek, it's never been easier to get the guaranteed seats you want,

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You'll immediately see any underpriced seats and be able to find the best deals that fit your budget. Plus, every ticket you buy on SeatGeek is backed by their 100% guarantee so you can shop for tickets on SeatGeek with confidence. Some of the other sites aren't quite as good when it comes to the guarantees. SeatGeek is 100% guaranteed, so shop freely. Best of all, my listeners get a $20 rebate off their first SeatGeek purchase. So to get your $20 rebate on tickets,

what you want to do is go download that SeatGeek app I was talking about, go to the Settings tab and click Add a Promo Code, and then enter promo code LOPATRIOTS. That's L-O-P-A-T-R-I-O-T-S. SeatGeek will send you $20 after you've made your first ticket purchase. Again, download the SeatGeek app and enter the promo code LOPATRIOTS today. So, as we've been talking, obviously it's a Seattle-themed show today because that's who the Patriots are playing this week,

and we're taking a look at what they do and their injuries and all that good stuff. So now we're going to break down their team a little bit, and we're going to go start with the defense, their offense versus the Patriots' defense first. Sometimes we do it all in one show, but I think we want to do it and break it up and make it a little bit easier for you guys, and you can kind of soak in a little bit of what we talk about. Seahawks offense, they're averaging 20.2 points per game, 332.1 total yards per game, 256 passing yards,

and just 75.4 rushing yards, which is definitely not what they're used to. Their calling card on offense during their recent run has been the run game, but those days are over since the retirement of Marshawn Lynch. Seattle's averaging, like I said, 75.4 yards per game rushing, which is ranked 30th in the NFL. That's just not where they want to be. The Thomas Rawls injury doesn't help. He's been out since week two in their offensive line.

It just hasn't been that good. They've had injuries, inconsistencies, things like that. So, to be honest, there really isn't a light at the end of the tunnel for their running game. When Rawls comes back, he's going to give them a little bit of a burst, but he's not Marshawn Lynch. That's the way it is. He's not Marshawn Lynch.

And without having that guy back there, he's not only a good running back, he also sets a tone for the entire team. And I think, personally, from scouting and watching what I've seen, they're not the same without Lynch on their roster. And, again, the running game's taken the biggest hit for it. They've thrown the ball okay. Again, I averaged 256.8 yards per game, which ranks them 13th in the NFL. But their overall yards per game, 332.1, that's 26th in the league. And they're not scoring a lot of points.

Their 20.2 points per game is 23rd in the NFL. So their offense hasn't been that good, but they have been opportunistic. So it's crucial that the Patriots don't turn the ball over and give Russell Wilson a short field to work with because he'll kill you. Another thing that's very, very crucial this week is to keep Wilson in the pocket. I know he's battling knee and ankle and all other types of injuries right now, but the kid is fast. He's got Fran Tarkin type ability and they need to make sure that they keep him in the pocket because if they don't, he's going to do

damage. The Seahawks' offense has not really been that great this year, which is good for a Patriots defense that struggled a little bit as far as yardage allowed, which we're going to get into right now. Patriots defense averaging 16.5 points per game allowed, second in the league. They're giving up 354.1 yards per game, which is 15th. They're allowing 252.5 yards through the air, 18th in the league, and they're averaging, allowing 101.6

rushing yards per game, which is also 15th. People look at the Patriots this season, and even myself, I've talked about it defensively. They got that bend but not not break philosophy I'm not usually a huge fan of it but hey whatever works the most important statistic is points allowed per game and that's their strength they're only allowing like I said the 16.5 points per game that's good for second in the NFL Belichick has always stated that this is clearly the most important stat which makes sense considering that that's what decides games. They're not as bad as some may think in their allowed yardage rankings.

The 354.1 total yards per game is, again, 15th in the league, which is just below the middle. So they're doing okay there. The 252.5 passing yards is 18th, so they're a little bit below that. They're kind of in the bottom half, but it's better than where they were. They're getting better. And last but not least, they're only allowing the 101.6 rushing yards per game, which is 15th in the league.

So they're kind of right in the middle of the pack as far as the yardage allowed. Now that they've had a bye week to get healthy and do some self-scouting, there is a good chance that the Patriots will have their best defensive effort of the year on Sunday. Like I said earlier, Seattle is struggling to run, and the Patriots have proven in the past that they can take the run away when they decide to. Another positive for New England is that they had a chance to work on their pass coverage issues during the bye week and hopefully get a little bit going with that pass rush too. And again, they've got to keep Wilson in the pocket, and

if they do those things I think that they should be able to hold these guys to Between 17 and 19 points I would say between 16 and 20 I'm going to predict that they're going to score 17 So I think Seattle will put 17 points on the board Now I'm not going to tell you who's going to win or lose Because that's for tomorrow's show

But Seattle only scoring 17 points I think you can do the math. But we'll get more into the Patriots' offense versus Seattle's defense tomorrow on our show. So another thing I want to talk about too, have you ever heard of BetDSI? Well, if you love football and you're ready to get into the action, you should go check out BetDSI.com. They've been over in business for over 20 years.

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That's P-A-T-R-I-O-T-S-10 to get your free wager and start winning today. dsi.com. Go there now and use my promo code PATRIOTS10. That's P-A-T-R-I-O-T-S-10 to get your free wager and start winning today. I want to thank you all for joining us today on Locked On Patriots, part of the fastest growing podcast network in the world. Make sure you get us tuned onto your phone. You want to listen to us on your ride to work, on your ride home, when you're on your lunch break. Definitely check us out on a daily basis. If we don't happen to have a show on your ride to work, on your ride home, when you're on your lunch break, definitely check us out on a daily basis.

If we don't happen to have a show up earlier in the day, guarantee you we'll have one up later that night. So, we provide about five to seven shows per week. So, definitely make sure you come in, check us out, get your updates, find out all those Patriots news, and be the most in-the-know Patriots fan out there. Again, I'm Chris Simino, your host for Locked On

Patriots. Have a great day, Patriots fans. Whatcha doing? Ran out of space on my phone, so I'm deleting some stuff. Bye, singing dog. Bye, goal. Bye, wedding ceremony. Stop. At MetroPCS, you get two free phones with twice as much memory Really?

Don't say bye to your memories Switch to MetroPCS and get two free LG K20 Plus phones with 32 gigs when you switch two lines MetroPCS, wireless, figured out Coverage not available in some areas Sales tax not included in phone price Excludes numbers on the T-Mobile network See store for details and terms and conditions