Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - LOCKED ON PATRIOTS- 1/12/18- Crossover Show with Robert Land of "Locked On Texans"

Episode Date: January 12, 2017

Chris Simoneau, Patriots Insider for Scout.com and host of Locked On Patriots, discusses this Saturday's AFC Divisional Playoff Round Game between the Patriots and the Texans with Robert Land of "Locked on Texans". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Learn more about our healthy benefits at fepblue.org slash get more. Welcome to a Locked On crossover, Texans versus Patriots this Saturday. I'm Robert Land from Locked On Texans. For those Patriots fans out there, along with Locked On Patriots host Chris Semino. And Chris, great to talk with you, first of all. And has the line gone up to 50 yet? I mean, it's not a good thing when we keep hearing the line continuing to go up here in Houston.

That was actually part of my conversation today on my podcast. It opened at 16 and then immediately no it opened at 14 actually it was at 16 within three hours and now i'm hearing it might be higher than the 1994 super bowl with the 49ers and the chargers so i don't know i i think it's kind of crazy but yeah that thing's that thing's jumping and i i wouldn't touch it if i was anybody that's that's a lot of points is there a patriot fan out there that is all concerned at this point about the Texans honestly I think it's a New England I think it's a past time to always have a little bit of fear because as much as the winning that's gone on in this area

for so long there was a lot of losing that led up to it. And the losing was just horrifyingly bad. So people still have that in the back of their minds. Plus, you can't forget 2010, the Patriots lost to the Jets. They beat them 45-3 during the regular season. They were 14-2. They lost to the Jets. They lost when they were undefeated. So there's some scars.

Let me tell you, there's some scars. As much as winning and all the winning that they've done, and I know they've manhandled Houston over the last few meetings, I still think there's a part of this fan base, and it's the older part of the fan base is probably celebrating already, but I do think some of the older fans are always kind of worried that, you know, Texans have the number one defense. Anything could happen. So I think the older fans are a little bit still worried, but the younger fans, like I said, they're already celebrating the win. Yeah, the one thing I never understood about the Patriot

or the New England, I guess, fan in general is it was always about the Red Sox and 86 years of losing and the jinx and all of that sort of stuff. And us down here in Houston, you know, the Astros have never won. We've never had an NFL team that's won a Super Bowl, even though we've had an NFL team for all but six of the Super Bowls, that little hiatus between the Oilers and the Texans. And, you know, we had the Rockets win the back-to-back championships. But, you know, we're down here going, hey, aren't there 16 banners hanging up on the Boston Garden? You know, how can you guys be worried about jinxes and this one – you know, you got one team.

And, you know, we had a bunch of different teams. You know, we went through a lot of years where it looked like we were never going to win a championship with the five slam a jam. And I know the people up there might have seen the 30 for 30 documentary that ESPN did. And just about, you know, they get to the final four three straight years and never win the championship. They went through the Valvano stuff and the Astros in 80 and 86, just devastating playoff losses. And the Rockets had gotten to a couple of NBA finals, losing to you-know-who, the Celtics and everything.

So, you know, we'd been through all of that sort of stuff. And then the Oilers and the Bills game, which everybody knows, which is now legend. And all of those Oilers teams that went to the playoffs seven straight years never went to an AFC championship game, much less a Super Bowl during that period. And the Houston NFL team hasn't been to an AFC championship game in 38 years, much less a Super Bowl. So it's been a long drought here as far as NFL football is concerned. Yeah, I'll tell you, as a fan of football, I was a huge fan of the offenses of those Houston Oilers teams back in the war and moon leading the charge.

Those are fun to watch. Unfortunately, they couldn't stop people when they needed to. Because I remember those defenses weren't all that bad until they needed to stop teams again in the playoffs. So I do feel bad for the Houston fans. But there's just something about New England fans still now. I know the Celtics raised 16 banners and they did what they did. And that's what actually myself, I'm 40 years old, so my first experience with sports was watching Larry Bird unfortunately beat Houston Rockets in the 1981 championship. And that got me into it.

But other than the Celtics, there was some ugly, ugly losses around here up until 01 when the Patriots got the ball rolling. So like I said, I just think it's the older fans that always have that that uh that worry in them but you know i'm the in between so and as i'm still a celtics fan you know i always will be and it's uh there's been some tough losses for them too but the patriots they've been a machine for the last 16 years so i think that people around here they you know they kind of they understand at some point this thing's going to come to an end and there's always that fear is this the game is this the one when when maybe number 12 is throwing balls onto the ground or throwing i mean he's 39 years old too so that

that's starting to that's starting to come into play here i think um you know you hear it on some of the sports talk radio up here they're talking about trading Garoppolo and doing all these other things. But I question if that's maybe the right path to go here because if people want to keep this run going, they might need to hold on to all the quarterbacks they have. And that's starting to come up around here now. So it's getting interesting. The Celtics, they're kind of in no man's land right now.

The Red Sox went out and they've got Chris Sale and stuff. But I think we might be seeing, after this Patriots run is over, maybe a little bit of, I hate to say this because Patriots fans will hate me, but maybe a little bit of drought going on for a little while. So that's what I think part of the fear is around here because we've seen it and it could happen again because the Bruins stink too. And that's not good. That's a bad operation. So we'll too. So, and that's not good. That's a bad operation.

So we'll see. But yeah, that's, it's funny. Houston fans definitely have suffered, I believe as much as any fan should. And you guys, I mean, you're in a huge state obviously in Texas, but you guys just for a city have endured some pretty ugly things.

So I do feel for you on that side of it. Just to let you know too, I was a huge Akeem Olajuwon fan. So I appreciate your rockets of the 94 and 95 seasons. They were great. Well, let me ask you this. I guess if you're the Texans fan, what is the key to beating the Patriots? Is there a weakness?

Is there something that we can go after? Is there something you could do? Always. There's one thing. Interior pass rush. That's the one. Get Brady off of his spot and hope to God that your corners and your safeties and your linebackers can somehow cover.

That's what it comes down to. That's how the Patriots have been beaten in the past. That's how they get upset. That interior pass rush is big. The thing is, they've solidified that area pretty much. And I know that pro football focuses, they do all their grades on the linemen. And Joe Tooney, the rookie there, has had some rough games in the last six weeks. But he plays next to Nate Solder, and Nate Solder cleans things up for him a little bit.

So, you know, it'll be interesting to see if the Texans can get that pass rush that they need to get. The Patriots are going to have their hands full with Clowney. I think Clowney's playing great. You know, that defense is good. And Wilfork, you know, he's a veteran. He knows what the Patriots do, so that helps out a little bit too. I know it didn't help the first game, but I think the Texans were a little bit

shocked coming in here and Brissette playing the way he did. He didn't like the world on fire, but he also didn't make any mistakes, and he made some plays with his legs, too. Plus, the Patriots have a different defense than they had last game, so this is going to be interesting, but I think it all comes down

to the interior pass rush, get Brady off his spot, and hope that you guys can make a few plays. If that happens, then the game could stay close, and then who knows what happens at the end. If they don't get an interior pass rush or any pass rush at all, it's going to get ugly. You would think if anybody has the key on the Patriots

or at least has some ideas, it would be Bill O'Brien, who's coached Brady. It would be Romeo Cornell, who's been there, who knows what Bill Belichick's all about, what the Patriots are all about. And that's been the real frustration, I guess, the last couple of times that the Texans have faced the Patriots because it looked like they've had no clue as to what to do.

And the other thing is, it just seems to go downhill fast with the Texans against the Patriots. No matter how confident they are going into the game, and everybody here remembers the famous Letterman Jacket game, Letter Jacket game or whatever it was called a few years ago when the Texans were rolling. They'd go in there. They had all the confidence in the world,

and it just immediately fell apart, and it fell apart quickly. I think it's a great idea to go inside on the Patriots. It would help obviously, if we had JJ watt down here, because JJ, you could move him inside and with what merciless and clowny are now doing on the outside. I think that that way you could really wreak some havoc. And if JJ Watt was playing this year, people would be talking all over the NFL. This is one of the more dominant defenses they've ever seen. And, you know, the concern obviously in Houston is it's back, you know, there's two back surgeries now and you,

we could be talking about next year and how excited we are to get JJ Watt back, but you don't know if you're going to get JJ Watt back back. And that's the important thing with that is where is he at that point? But if he was around, Chris, I really feel like the Texans would have a great chance because he was the guy that caused turnovers too and could turn turnovers into touchdowns and make those kind of things happen.

Oh, I totally agree. I think it's a Patriots win to not have to face him this week because you're right. If he was in that defense along with Clowney and whatever, they would just be – they would wreak havoc on the NFL. And as bad as – I hate to say it. As bad as a Texans offense is, it wouldn't matter. They'd be like – I wouldn't say the 2000 Ravens because they'd be built in a different way. But they'd have that type of ability to shut teams down if they had Watt healthy, just because of how dynamic clown he is. And they just,

it's unfortunate for the Texans that they don't have him, but I would assume that next year he'll be ready to go. But again, the back for a defensive end or a defensive lineman in general, that, that's a tough injury to deal with, but I don't know. He's a, he's a pretty tough guy and he works his butt off. So if there's anybody who's going to be able to make his way back and come back to the form that he was at before he had the injury, I would think Watts, the type of guy that can do it. And he's just, he's a freak. He really is. Yeah. I mean, I've watched the NFL for 40 plus years or whatever. I'm a little bit older than you are.

And, you know, he's the best defensive player I've ever seen and just an amazing talent. And it was just it was actually a real joy and pleasure just to get to watch him every week. I mean, we've struggled over the last three years at the quarterback position. But you always had the the entertaining of, I can just focus on number 99 on defense. And that's a lot of fun. Let me, let me ask you about Brady and the, and the offense there and what they might do against the Texans defense. I feel like if there is a weak spot in the Texans defense, it's the linebacking position where, you know, there's, it's been a fantastic year by Bernard McKinney, but McKinney and Cushing, both of those guys, they're terrible in coverage.

If you can get running backs on them, you can get them into space. That's going to be an issue. I would imagine. I'm just guessing. I think that's what, how Bill Belichick goes after the Texans defense. He's going to try to get those guys on running backs, and that's happened quite a bit in the past in the Texans-Patriots rivalry. I definitely think that's what's going to happen.

I think Martellus Bennett's going to be a big target in this game. I just think James White is a guy that could have a big game for the Patriots. I think New England's going to try to run the ball a little bit too. They've been good this year running the ball, and I think that's one of the other areas they're going to try to keep some balance, try to wear them down a little bit because it's something that they can, and they've done it all year. But they'll definitely attack them with Martellus Bennett as much as they can.

You know, adding Michael Floyd has made a big difference too. You know, people don't quite understand. That last game against Miami, I don't know if you saw the game or not, he had three catches for 43 yards and a really nice touchdown. But he was a playmaker in that game. That block that he made and just the way that he was, you know, Brady was looking for him a lot, that's a big playmaker to add before the playoffs. I think it was really underrated, that move.

Plus, Danny Amendola's healthy now too, so they have depth in the receiving core all of a sudden. Lengel, the tight end there, the kid they picked up off of Cincinnati's practice squad, he's turned out to be a decent pickup too. It's funny because he looks like Rob Gronkowski. That's the big story up here this week, how much he looks like him. He really does. He looks like one of his brothers. But he actually had a nice touchdown catch a couple weeks ago, too,

and he's starting to come together. So they have a lot of options, and they love getting the ball to White out in space. James White, to be honest, as far as a running back is concerned, is flat out terrible. He goes down at first contact like it's, you know, the guy touches him and he's on the ground. But you get it to him on a screen pass and that guy he's a dangerous player uh dion lewis is another guy that i think is going to give the texans a lot of problems just because of his you know his ability to get in space and just go and he's so shifty so quick he's going to give them a lot of trouble and of course julian edelman is going to give them some problems too because edelman is one of those guys that

likes to work inside and it's going to be tough tough for the Texans to defend the amount of guys that the Patriots have. And like I said, I think the only way they can really slow them down is to get that pass rush. And if they can get a pass rush on Brady and make a few plays, they're going to be able to keep the Patriots in the 20s, which is what they have to do to have a chance to win this game. The one thing the Texans have done well all year is tackle. They tackle very well in space. So they're a tough team to get that big play against. And I say that, but they have had some big plays.

But it's been later in games when the defense has probably been on the field too much because the offense, as everybody knows, has been terrible all year. And so that's been the issue with the defense is maybe in the fourth quarter, they finally start giving up the big plays because in that Raiders Monday night game, people might remember, I think the defense had only given up

or had been less than 100 yards until that fourth quarter. And then they gave up maybe 200 plus to the Raiders back when Derek Carr was healthy. And so that's been the the issue later in games but the Texans will tackle in space and they'll do those sort of things and without maybe Gronk having being out there and the big play it might be a little bit work for the Patriots to move down the field a lot of times it's just weird stuff happens you know when the Texans play the Patriots though the Thursday night game where you know you have two kickoff fumbles you know i don't know if the

texans had a kickoff fumble the rest of the season i can't even think of one and they had two in that one game and that was 10 quick points and it's it's right there where if you're if you're going up against a team that you know always beat you like they're like you're the the little brother then that's gonna it's gonna be a big deal because you feel like, oh, we've already lost the game right here. And it's points that you can't get back and possessions that you can't get back and stuff like that. As far as New England goes, I don't know what to say. I don't feel like Belichick should have much difficulty on the defensive end unless Brock Osweiler does something that we haven't seen so far this year but he did beat the Patriots in a

cold weather game in the snow last year with Denver having a great defense behind him what do you remember much about that game oh yeah I remember that game well that game it's funny too because people around here were not happy when Jamie Collins was traded away, but people seem to forget that Jamie Collins blew coverage twice in that game last year and gave up two touchdowns that pretty much cost him the game. So I do remember that game well. He's not working with the same type of offense either.

The thing that Osweiler, I think the biggest problem he's having is he's running the Patriots offense, which is not the type of offense that he's suited for. He's not a short, you know, the short passes, the corners, and the receivers have to make the routes, they have to adjust off what the corners are covering, everything. It's not the type of offense that he fits into. He's one of those guys that goes down the field, throws those deep out routes and the deep in cuts,

and that's not what they're going to be doing. So I don't know. I just don't think he's a good fit for them. I think that's one of the biggest problems that they're having. Patriots defense is interesting because if you looked at them all year and you just kind of watched their progress and just watched how they went, their one steady was that they didn't give up a lot of yardage and people were looking at it and saying, well, you know,

that's just because the teams they're playing aren't that good. But I always took that as, I just didn't buy that. A lot of it had to do with their special teams, but a lot of it had to do with just steady improvement. They just kept getting better and better and better. And by the end of the season, they actually they're ranked 12th overall in passing yards allowed. At one point, they were 24th, so that's a pretty big jump.

And they're only fourth in the rushing yards allowed, too. So I just think that it's going to be tough for the Texans to get anything going. As I'm sure you know, Bill Belichick, what he does, first thing he wants to do, he's going to take away the one thing that the Texans do the best. So they're going to try to take away the running game. New England's given up 88 rushing yards a game, so they should be able to – I think they'll be pretty successful there. And then the next thing they're going to try to do is take away DeAndre Hopkins, which

makes sense because that's what every team tries to do. But Belichick's actually able to accomplish it. So if they are able to take those two away away i think that it's going to be really tough for oswald to get anything going and plus there's something about him this year he's just his confidence is gone i'm sure you've seen it you know you watch him every week and he just doesn't seem right it's the whole the whole setup i don't know i just i kind of feel for the kid and i kind of feel for the texans and that they spent so much money on him and you know like you said you guys have gone through quarterbacks like crazy lately from the beginning of Matt Schaub and his complete downfall and all these it's it's interesting how they just can't

seem to find that right guy and yes I understand he did it behind a great defense last year and I do think the Texans defense is excellent but I don't think they're as good as that Denver defense is oh yeah there's there's no question about that the one thing that Texans defense is excellent but I don't think they're as good as that Denver defense is oh yeah there's there's no question about that the one thing that Texans defense has a difficult time doing most weeks is turning the ball over and and that again I go back to JJ Watt you know he was the guy that seemed to make those type of plays that the type of plays that led to turnovers or just doing it himself and that that's a big part of the defense, but they're, they're rock solid and they're going to fight and they're going to keep, they're going to try to

keep you in the game. And the secondary has been really good. And you know, it's just, they tend not to make too many mistakes. So we'll see if they can continue to do that. And the biggest thing to me is that the offense can't make any mistakes Brock can't turn the ball over and that's one of the things that he's not done since he came back in for Savage the last game and a half he hasn't turned the ball over and that was a big bugaboo for him the rest of the season so you know I think that's going to come into play what about as far as the the Patriots are there any injuries that you're concerned about? Obviously not having Grok is huge, but anything else?

Alan Branch didn't practice the last couple days, but they said it was because of personal reasons and things of that nature. But I'm not really sure what the deal is there with him. Alan Branch is honestly one of the most important pieces to the Patriots' run defense. So if he's not going that's a big that's a big one but uh other than him everybody's good to go it's it's all hands on deck here they're ready uh Malcolm Mitchell rookie wide receiver he was dealing with a knee issue for a little while but um he's back off the crutches and ready to go too and like I said Michael Floyd's ready to step in for him anyways, if he wasn't able to go.

So they're good. And Danny Amendola, his high ankle sprain, we talked about that when we did a Locked On Patriots episode three weeks ago. I actually said the date he would return, like that's how long, because it takes six weeks to come back from a high ankle sprain. People want to pretend that that's not the case, but it's almost like a broken bone. So we called the date and everything, and we're actually right on the money. He's good to go. He's going to return on Saturday. So Amendola is big because I think for him on special teams,

they don't want to put Edelman back there anymore. I know that's something they're trying to get away from, and Amendola gives them that extra guy because Cyrus Jones is a fumble machine. And the Patriots' special teams have been good for a long time, but when they put the ball on the ground, those are the games they tend to lose. If you look back at the Denver game in the regular season last year and a couple of the games this season when they put the ball on the ground and the games got close or they lost.

So I think Amendola is going to be having him healthy is going to be big. He's going to end up returning punts, and he'll probably have a few catches too. I wouldn't be surprised if he caught a touchdown. One of the things that's interesting you say about the i'm just thinking about this how the texans play defense and it is they're good tacklers and they do make plays but the one reason i think that they do struggle to stop the patriots is the patriots are the one team in the nfl on offense that's patient enough to take what's given to them and drive down the field all the way without making a mistake because brady just such a clean passer. I think that's a big reason why the Patriots have

been so successful against the Texans. Yeah, well, there's no question about that. I mean, I can't disagree with that. For the lockdown Patriots fans out there, I guess if there's one thing that you can look for for the Texans, I feel like, where they can change their luck on offense or maybe have a little bit of success. They have to play with a fast pace. And Bill O'Brien can't give up. If he has a bad possession, he can't come out of the block and say, oh, we're going to just try to leak the clock and run the ball. They need to be going up-tempo the entire time

or as much as they possibly can. And the other part about that is they got to throw on first down. The Texans, you will see them have success in drives if they can throw the ball on first down. He can't run the ball up the middle every single time. If they come out and I see them running the football on first down and the first possession up the middle, I'm just going to be shaking my head and thinking, same old thing.

It's the same old deal. You've shown this every single game this year, and it just hasn't worked. And I guess people out there might think the Texans are a good running team. They just run the ball a lot. I don't know if they're really good at it. Their offensive line is not real strong, especially on the the right side they lost Derek Newton for this season he was not great to begin with but at least he was serviceable Chris Clark's terrible and then Jeff Allen is at right guard uh has not been good at all they've kind of rotated him Odea Boucher who's who's come in a little bit more often and

and Xavier Suofilo all those guys have been kind of doing a guard rotation the last couple of weeks. And I'm guessing that's what we'll see some more. Anything else that you got from – interesting from a Texans perspective? Anybody would be interested to know for the Patriots people would be interested to know? As far as what Patriots to watch for? Yeah, or just what questions that people over there might have for the Texans. Actually, the people around here are wondering about their health too in the secondary. That's the big question around here is how healthy is the Texans secondary?

Because they've played pretty well lately, and if they can step up and actually make plays, they could be a key to this game. So that's one of the big questions is who's was who's stepping up who's healthy who's not and who do you think is going to be the the guy that makes a difference back there well jonathan joseph and kareem jackson have been nicked up all year but they seem to be doing okay at this point and then uh the other one is aj boye who's who an injury, but it seems like he's been okay. The concern a little bit is Quentin Demps went out of the Raiders game with, I'm trying to remember if it was a groin or it might have been a hamstring,

but he's practicing so far this week, and he looks okay. But everybody's kind of nicked up, but nobody, I think, is a huge concern in the secondary. It would help them quite a bit. They lost Kevin Johnson, and he was a first-round pick for the Texans a couple of years ago, and he's big talent, looking like he's going to turn into something really good, but he's had foot issues that have ended the last couple of seasons,

ended this season a few weeks ago, and he would really help, especially when you mentioned some of those guys like Edelman and when you're talking about tight ends and all those guys would be the guys that Kevin Johnson would help on J. Joe and Kareem Jonathan Joseph and Kareem Jackson usually are the outside guys and they take care of that so if you had Kevin Johnson and he just it's also just huge depth to have to have him because he's a big talent. And when, when, when you've got tight ends or slot guys, having those extra cornerbacks that are really talented,

it helps a big deal of course. So that that's a, that's a big thing. Let me ask you about Martellus Bennett. Cause I covered him in high school and he's a, he's a character, local kid went to a leaf Taylor high school here. What's it been like? Does he have a fun guy to have around? I mean, he's not maybe grok, but he talks. He's awesome.

He's the best. I love the guy. In fact, early in the season, a few weeks back, actually, they were talking about getting his contract renegotiated, and pretty much everybody around here was all for it. He's well-liked by the media well liked by his teammates well he's loved by the fans he's just a funny guy speaks his mind uh sometimes says a little little bit too much and well for a typical patriot but to be honest with you i don't think belichick really cares about a lot of that stuff as long

as it doesn't get too inflammatory but yeah, yeah, everybody loves him up here. He's a riot. He's a good talent, too. He's a good player. He's not just a receiver, but he's a good blocker, too, and kind of a blue-collar area. People kind of respect that. So he's definitely, from the moment he was traded for, people liked him. And then once he went out there and started making plays, and then when he twisted his ankle against Cleveland,

and when Brady came back and he was able to come back into the game and fight through that. And then he fought through it all year. He's gained a lot of respect from the new England fans media. And I think the coaches love him too. So yeah, my tell us is quite the character, smart guy,

really smart. I mean, his brother, both smart. It's a, it's great to have him around here though. Is Josh McDaniel going to be a much better coach the second time around? Yes.

I do think that. I don't think he was all that bad the first time around, to be honest with you. I don't think these guys get enough time. They get cut short. He actually started off pretty well, and I know he drafted Tim Tebow, which is just, I mean, come on. But he also drafted Demarius Thomas and a lot of other guys, Eric Decker. There's a lot of players that he drafted onto that team that were a big part of that Super Bowl run.

And people seem to forget that. So he wasn't all bad. He just made the mistake as far as Tebow. And the other mistake that, you know, the whole Spygate thing drives me nuts when it really comes down to it because it's stupid but uh skanecki his son got caught trying to film somebody and somebody just hand signals and he got caught too so i remember that was a big part of it too so he didn't help himself in that situation that's a big reason why he was run out of denver but i do think the second time around he's gonna learn from his mistakes i'm sure bill has talked to him about what things he needs to improve on

and things of that nature. He'll do good wherever he ends up. If he leaves, that's the thing. If he takes a spot, all these spots that are out there right now aren't exactly ideal. So even though guys get an opportunity, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to leave. New England's a pretty good place to be, and they're in it every year. So there's a good chance that even if he doesn't take a chance this year, he probably could wait for another job to open up next year too.

Yeah, actually, Romeo Crinnell, I believe he took the Browns to 10-6 right now, which that seems like a miracle that even Jesus Christ couldn't perform. So that's, you know, everybody forgets about that with Romeo, but yeah, he did not have a whole lot of success in Kansas city, but Cleveland, what he did there briefly was pretty, pretty impressive. I love Romeo. Romeo is one of my favorite coaches I ever had around New England. He, he was great.

And I know New England's tried a couple of times to get him back. I know for a fact that they've tried to get him back, but it just hasn't worked out. But he's great. As you guys know, you have him now. You have a number one-ranked defense for a reason. He's a big part of it. He's smart.

He's a veteran. He knows his stuff. So I think he could be a big part of it if the Texans were to pull off the upset. I think Skarniecki would be a big, big part of that. Not Skarniecki, Cornell. He's a great coach. We miss him. Before we wrap it up, can the Texans keep this game close?

Do you think this is going to be a close game at all? I don't. I don't. I don't think it's going to be close. I think the 23-degree temperatures is not going to help. It may not bother Brock Osweiler, but I think it might bother a lot of other guys. I think the Patriots' defense is going to be a big reason why the Texans are going to have trouble. They're very underrated. They've improved all season. And I know Miami,

obviously, they had Matt Moore going. But the way that they looked in their last game out in Miami, they looked terrific. And the defense has been getting better all year. They're starting to cause a lot of turnovers. And again, you said Osweiler has been protecting the ball. But they're still causing turnovers. And one of the reasons is because Trey Flowers has emerged as one of the best pass rushers they've had in years. So I just think that it's just the Texans are definitely a talented team. And they're an up-and-coming team.

And I think they're going to win the South again next year. If Watt's back, I think they'll be an even bigger threat, and they'll have a better chance to compete. But without having him and having the offense that's not able to score, even in the 20s, I think they're going to have a tough time keeping up with the Patriots at home. If this game was in Houston, I would give Houston more of a chance. But I think in Foxborough, the conditions, Patriots being as healthy as can be, I think it's going to be very, very difficult for them to hang around. I think if I could throw a score out there, I think it's going to be about 27 to 10. I agree with you on, I don't think it's going to be close

and until I'm proven wrong, the Texans are going to have to prove me wrong before my mind changes on that what you said about brady moving the ball that's what i expect and uh the texans offense uh i just don't see it doing much against belichick and all of his schemes but uh the people up there know that this could be vince wolfworks last game as a pro football player he's talking retirement maybe yeah yeah people Woolfolk's last game as a pro football player. He's talking retirement maybe. Yeah, people know. He's going to get a standing ovation. It's going to get emotional. People around here are very excited to see him.

Vince is loved amongst the New England crowd. It was sad to see him go, and it's going to be a good time to see him back up here. Like I said, when people hear his name, he's going to get a good time to see him back up here and he's yeah like i said when people hear his name he's going to get a standing ovation a long one too yeah it's a good area of the locker room they're they're kind of real close to each other uh vince wolfork and jadavian clowny and clowny's a character i mean he's he's pretty funny he's talking all sorts of stuff today about how he's not he doesn't spend any money he doesn't like to leave the house, he doesn't like the Houston traffic. He was going on and on about stuff in the locker room today. And Wolfork, he could be pretty entertaining, as you guys know.

So that's a pretty good area of the locker room. And now they've added Antonio Smith, who I just had on my show. We did a little one-on-one with him for a few minutes about, you know, Kubiak and winning the Super Bowl last year. And, you know, he's been around a lot, you know, how he feels going into this one and all that sort of thing. But those guys are a real entertaining part of the locker room. And these guys are a lot of veterans here. You said that the Texans are up and coming, but a lot of their better defensive guys,

people need to realize they're getting older. Jonathan Joseph, Vince Woolfork. You do have McKinney that's young. Cushing, he's not that great anymore, but he's just such a leader out there. They seem to love him. So they got some guys that are showing some age. Obviously, Clowney's young, and you need Watt to come back and be at least maybe 70 or 80 percent of himself.

I'm going to ask for that before I ask for the 100 percent of the old JJ. But, yeah, you know, we'll see if they're they're up and coming. And I think Jacksonville, they made a great hire this week with Doug Marone. I don't know what you guys thought about that. You saw him a lot with the Bills, right? Yeah, he's a good coach. I think, again, there's an epidemic in the NFL of firing coaches way too fast, and I think Marone is another one of those cases. I don't even understand why they fired Rex Ryan.

I don't get it. I don't understand why these guys are getting two years and getting let go. Buffalo is famous for it. But, yeah, Marone, that's a great hiring. I actually like that hiring along with hiring of Tom Coughlin too. That that's a great move by that team. Yeah. You mentioned Rex Ryan. I was a, I was a fan of what I felt like, what he did with the jets was kind of underrated.

You go to two AFC championship games with Mark Sanchez as your quarterback. To me, that's, that's pretty impressive. And you guys remember the run he made beating uh you and and the Colts in that in that one season but uh yeah Rex and Buffalo just I could I know why he's gone he seems like he's made a lot of mistakes and I watched that Miami game and it was just a litany of bad decisions and poor coaching yeah he does make some poor choices. But he gets that team to play. I do think of a guy like him. I don't know if he's head coach material all the way,

but I do think if he was a head coach and he had a very strong assistant head coach, which they have a lot of those across the NFL, not his clown of a brother. I mean, come on. What are you doing? He kind of needs somebody on his staff that can hold him accountable because he does get the players to run through a wall for him, and they do play hard for him, and he has some great schemes defensively. But he's one of those guys that kind of needs his own babysitter

in order to be the coach that he has the ability to be. So I can see what you're saying. It does make sense. But I don't think he was all bad in Buffalo. They were much more competitive, you know, with him. And, again, that was Marone did a good job with them, too. They just don't want to hold on to a coach. And now they get another one, and they'll keep him for two years,

and he'll go 8-8 for two years, and he'll be gone, too. It's just it seems like a trend. They run Tyrod Taylor out of there, too. It's very strange in the buffalo uh franchise what they got going on up there kind of glad we have them in the afc east because we know that they're not going to threaten anytime soon well before i go i i know you guys could end up back here in houston we we hope in houston that uh that you might you guys might not be around next week but uh realistically it looks like the patriots could be here in about three

weeks and uh i think your listeners might be interested in this uh this story i'll probably have to tell my my listeners about this again in a couple of weeks uh so i'll be telling this story again but i was at the 2004 uh super bowl patriots panthers you guys obviously remember that one fondly. And I was in the underground areas of the, of the stadium. And I was actually working for Fox sports, New England at the time. And they didn't need me to do anything during the game. So I'm just hanging out at halftime and I'm, I'm, I'm in the, I'm in the kind of vomitory area or whatever they call it. You know, when you're, you're walking around underneath the stadium and I'm looking for celebrities and I've got my camera ready and I'm going to take some

pictures of some people or whatever. And, and I looked left and I looked right. And you know, it's the hallways kind of perpendicular. So I'm looking left, looking right, looking left. And I looked left too long. And by the time I looked right, uh, there was a girl that was right in front of me. She had, I had waited too long to look back, right a girl that was right in front of me she had I had waited too long to look back right and she was right in front of me and she turned the and right then she I'm right at the spot where you turn the corner to walk out into the stadium and so I missed getting a a shot of her face and her and her body and the whole thing I just totally missed the shot because I didn't look right quickly enough. And it was Janet Jackson.

And I'm still upset about that because I could have made a lot of money off of that photo. Absolutely. Yeah, that's a good story. It's too bad you didn't have that camera ready. And being there, we had no idea. I mean, if you were there, you had no idea. I mean, I'm driving home after the game and I hear that on the radio what happened and I'm like what what did I what happened and that was the first time I knew about the whole nipple gate and that whole deal so uh yeah this really interesting memories I remember

you know seeing Maria Menounos with the Tom Brady jersey on in the media room and I saw uh you know, seeing Maria Menounos with a Tom Brady jersey on in the media room. And I saw, you know, Biff Henderson from David Letterman. And you see, like, I walk, I saw Puffy and he's walking around and Kid Rock on a golf cart. It's kind of crazy. You go to a Super Bowl and it's just it's kind of fun for me. I'm a celebrity hound. So just kind of watching all these people, you know, fly by and walk around was kind of interesting. That sounds like fun. I'm looking forward to that when I make my way down to a Super Bowl. Hopefully, I'll make it down there this year. I'm not sure if that's going to be able to work out or not because I have a two-year-old and a one-year-old.

So things are a little limited as far as my travel at the moment right now. But we'll see what happens. Hopefully, they'll be there at least. Well, man, that sounds like you got your hands full. Well, Hey, it was fun doing this with you. I just remind my listeners and I'm sure you guys, it's probably the same thing. You know, check us out every, every day. We're on iTunes, tune in Stitcher, the Lockdown Network of podcast, lots of great stuff going

on with that. And so much fun talking to you about what's going on with this game and and for the texans fans i'm sure it'd almost be a victory if they could keep this close and just make it interesting yeah absolutely i agree but you know and you got a good defense you never know what could happen so you always keep your fingers crossed if you're texans fans and i know know Patriots fans are always a little bit nervous. Like I said, it's part of our DNA up around here. There's a little bit of nervousness, but it should be a good game. Thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it. This has been fun. Lockdown Patriots, Chris Seminoe with Lockdown Texans, Robert Land.

Looking forward to Saturday. Talk to you later, man. Have a great night. Thank you. What you doing? Running 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?

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