Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - LOCKED ON PATRIOTS- 12-5-16- Week 13 Studs and Duds

Episode Date: December 5, 2016

Chris Simoneau breaks down the Studs and Duds for Week 13 and also updates you on all the important news. #patriots Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Good morning, I'm Chris Cimino, Patriots Insider for Scout.com and also your host of Locked On Patriots, your source for everything Patriots. Today is Monday, December 5th, 2016. The Patriots manhandled the Los Angeles Rams yesterday, 26-10, improving their record to 10-2, while the Rams dropped to 4-8 with their embarrassing loss. It's not shameful to lose in Foxborough, but it is when you play as bad as the Rams did yesterday. Like we do every Monday, we're going to pick our studs and duds from yesterday's game,

and this week is going to be put to the test because the Patriots played very well on both sides of the ball. We'll also update you on all Patriots news and notes, and specifically we're going to update you on the injury department because that's where it really comes down to. Before we get to all that, I just want my listeners to know that I can be found on Twitter under the handle Chris underscore Simino. That's C-H-R-I-S underscore S-I-M-O-N-E-A-U. And if you have any questions for the show, be it about the Patriots, myself, Patriots Insider, or if you want to advertise here on Locked On Patriots, email me directly at C-H-R-I-S-S-I-M-U-Simusc at yahoo.com. That's chrissimusc at yahoo.com. If you are a member of Patriots Insider on scout.com,

you can contact me directly on the site via message, and I'm pretty sure you guys know how to do all that. So, all right, let's get to the good stuff here on this early Monday morning. Patriots news and notes. Danny Amendola, he left the game early with what appeared to be a high ankle sprain and was spotted leaving the stadium on crutches and a walking boot. That is not good for a team that is dealing with some injuries. The Patriots need as many school guys healthy as possible,

so hopefully this injury, it's not significant because Amendola is not only good in the passing game, he's a security blanket in the punt return game. We'll keep you guys updated on the Amendola situation. Cornerback Eric Rowe was also hurt during today's game. Rowe's been up and down. He's had some bad plays, but he's also played okay at times. So it would kind of be a loss for him to lose him too

because when the guy finally does get some confidence, he does have ability. So we don't have any updates on him yet, but as soon as we do, any updates come out on the second year corner out of Utah, and we will provide them for you. So we'll definitely have some of those for you on Tuesday, I'm sure. The Patriots honored their 2001 Super Bowl winning team this weekend, and it brought up some great memories for Bill Belichick. Belichick spoke about when they started 5-5 and

things weren't looking pretty, but they got hot around Thanksgiving, they won nine straight games, and although they weren't the most talented team, they just continued to execute, they make plays, and they beat weren't the most talented team, they just continued to execute. They make plays, and they beat teams that were probably much more talented than them. Belichick also spoke about how that Super Bowl was kind of a springboard for the region as they started to win, teams started to win championship after championship during that decade. He didn't want to take credit for it, is what he was saying, but what it did was it pushed the other teams to up their games and compete in order to maintain their fan base, really. You know, the Patriots had won so much that the Red Sox were kind of forced to say, you

know, we got to go out and do something here, and next thing you know, the Celtics are doing the same, and the Bruins followed suit, too. So it was pretty interesting how that all started from that team and how Belichick actually noted that he believed that was a big part of it, which is very interesting. So let's take a minute to tell you about one of our sponsors, Patriots Insider on scout.com. You should check it out. You can get daily news, video from NFL.com,

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site take advantage of all the discounts you can get and all the different items go now nwe dot scout dot com go sign up check it out okay so we're on to our studs and duds segment of the show. And this week was a good week. So we have more studs than duds. It happens.

So first stud of the week, we just can't ignore it. Tom Brady, like last week, he didn't light the world on fire like he has in past weeks. But Brady was 33 of 46 for 269 yards, one touchdown, and he didn't throw any interceptions. This game reminded me of when New England traded Randy Moss back in 2010. New England was forced to alter their attack, but they had the personnel to do it, and they made it work. They went to a shorter passing game and started to use the tight end more,

which is ironic, and that is essentially what their offense is still today. Gronkowski was starting to stretch the field a bit this season. He always has, but not like this year. He's never done this in his career, averaging over 20 yards per catch, but now that's gone, so Brady has to adjust, and he did that by targeting eight different receivers, and seven of them made catches. Only James Devlin couldn't make the catch in his one target. Brady continues to make clutch plays on third down, too,

and he extends drives to lead to scores. So he's been great, and he just keeps it going. Oh, and did we mention Tom Brady won his 201st game today? The most ever regular season wins for a quarterback, surpassing forehead Peyton Manning. So that's pretty awesome to see. Tom Brady, 201 wins. He's far from done.

He just, I don't think he's going to lose it overnight. You know, Manning really didn't lose it overnight. Manning had an injury, and it caught up to him. That's what happened. So if Brady can keep himself upright and continue to do what he does and take care of his body, I think he's going to get the 250. I really do. And that's a number that might never be reached.

So congratulations to Tom Brady on his 201st win. It was pretty cool to watch and see all the players are coming up and congratulating him. So congratulations to Brady for the most wins ever for a starting quarterback. So, yeah, that happened. Simply amazing, too, to think back on how it all started and how far it's come. You know, they were showing the segment today with poor Bledsoe getting blasted in the chest and all that. But even before that, I remember leading up to that season and being worried that they weren't going to get Bledsoe signed

and that they were going to lose him and Bledsoe was going to go somewhere and what were they going to do and all that. Next thing you know, Bledsoe's not the starter. Brady's on this run, and it's more a matter of what are they going to do with Bledsoe? What's going to happen with Bledsoe? That whole thing was just crazy. And, you know, I think back to it, and at the time, I'm not going to lie, I was a Bledsoe guy. I loved Brady too, but I thought Bledsoe was a good player. But clearly, it all worked out in the end. And just to see how that all started up and how we went from one year in 2000 to saying,

you know, I hope they can get, you know, Bledsoe re-signed to winning a Super Bowl and saying, oh, well, looks like Drew's getting traded to Buffalo. It's just, it's amazing how that all worked out. But that's how it all works out sometimes. The second stud of today's game is a guy who's been on this list regularly, Mr. LeGarrette Blount. You know, the difference between the aforementioned 2010 offense of one I was just talking about, the one that reminds me of this 2016 edition,

is the considerably better rushing attack the Patriots feature in 2016. Blount helped set the tone today. Right from the start, he capped off a drive with a 43-yard touchdown run on 4th and 1. It was pretty awesome. He came up, bounced off tackle, went outside, and he was gone. He finished the day with 88 yards on 18 carries, which, you know, that's not crazy, especially when you consider that 43 of those came in that one run. So he wasn't exactly dominant. But he picked up first downs when he needed to, and he made plays when none appeared to be there.

Blount has now carried the ball 230 times for 957 yards and 13 touchdowns. And his best stat of all, he's got 53 first downs. 53 first downs is pretty good. Blount's been a regular again, like I said, on the stud list. And if that continues and he continues to put up these numbers he's been doing, I think that's going to help lead the Patriots to home field advantage. Their offense needs that extra element without having Gronkowski out there. They need to have a run game because Brady's going to make it work with his split ends

and the receivers that he has and Matt Patel and Spenna. He can make that work, but they need to have that run game because Brady's going to make it work with his split ends and the receivers that he has and Matt Patel and Spenner he can make that work but they need to have that run game because they need that element of okay this is what we can throw at you that you can't stop and then we have that extra thing we can go to at the passing game it has to be like that this season especially with Gronkowski gone so Blount brings that to them and hopefully he can stay healthy as the year goes on. Our third stud of the day goes to Steven Gaskowski. Slow clap for Gaskowski. I'm not going to clap. I'm just not going to do it, but just know that we're clapping for you, Steven. Congratulations. I'm happy for the guy, seriously. I don't know if he's out of the woods yet. I don't think he is, but so let me explain. First and foremost, he was at home. So that's out of the woods yet I don't think he is but well so let me explain first and foremost he was at home so that's one of the reasons why I'm not too not too sold second two of those kicks were a little

bit shady one of them just kind of hung inside the the the upright there I was a little worried that thing was gonna hook and you can you literally could see the look of fear on his face. Today was a huge step in the right direction for the All-Pro kicker. Gaskowski connected from 28, 48, 45, and then 45 again. He nailed both of his extra points. If the Patriots know

they can get this from him, they can take a little more gambles on third down. When they're in between the 30 and the 20, they can do a little bit more knowing that, all right, well, if we don't get this, we can just kick it and go from there. So they've had that the last 10 years. Unfortunately, this season has not been that for them.

But Kaskowski today looked like the Kaskowski of old, and hopefully he can grow off of that and keep this thing going. And now, today, like I said, we went off the rails a little bit Husky of old, and hopefully he can grow off of that and keep this thing going. And now, today, like I said, we went off the rails a little bit, and we added a fourth stud. The fourth stud of the game is another player that's been kind of under heat from here at Lockdown Patriots, and not just from us, from a lot of people, cornerback Logan Ryan.

I just couldn't keep him off the list because he was all over the field today. He had five solo tackles, one sack, and he was a menace in pass coverage too. Ryan, he had a tough stretch, but it's a long season. Sometimes guys get hot as the year goes on, and I think that Ryan's going to be one of those guys. If that is the case with Ryan, today is a good sign that it is. It's going to be a huge boost to that pass defense that struggled this year. One of the reasons it struggled is because Ryan was so good last year,

and he's not doing that again this year. If he gets it going, you know, do the math. Honorable mention. It was that good of a game. Jabal Sheard is number one on the honorable mention list. He worked his way out of the doghouse, had a strong game today. So expect to see him back in the regular rotation for the rest of 2016. Finished the day with four tackles, two of them are solo,

and he also had two good strong pass breakups. One of them was picked off. He was noticeably angry that he didn't make the play, but it was good that he did make the play by breaking up the pass. Sheard, like we just mentioned about Ryan, he could just be coming off a cold streak or mentally might have just gotten out of it a little bit. And if he gets rolling too, this defense, who knows? Maybe they can get it going and be able to provide more than just a bend but don't break philosophy and actually contribute to what they're trying to do here. Maybe they can make up for the loss of Gronkowski, especially if the defense plays the way they did today

and Sheard plays the way he did. And like I said, the aforementioned there, Logan Ryan, if they get this thing rolling again, look out. Number two on the honorable mention, I wanted to put him on the studs list, but I just couldn't because I had to put Gronkowski there. Malcolm Mitchell, this kid is good. Eight catches for 82 yards for the rookie fourth front pick out of Georgia.

He is starting to look smooth and confident out there. He did make one mistake late when he should have ran a 10-yard hitch and he cut his route off short and ran it for eight. He forced Brady to miss the pass. It was on third down too. Brady was seen talking to Mitchell after too, and Mitchell took full responsibility for the mistake. Mitchell has the talent and makeup to be a great, I'm not talking good, like, oh yeah, this kid's pretty good. I'm talking great, you know, 10 catches, 100 yards a week, NFL receiver, and you know, he is just a really

good player. You know, it's just going to come down to health, and that area has hurt him throughout his career. It sounds like the guy that he's kind of taken the targets from. But, again, so we discussed that last week, that we thought that Mitchell would take some of Gronkowski's targets on third down and things of that nature, and he did today. That says a lot for the rookie, and he was awesome today. So Malcolm Mitchell is honorable mention, but, again, I would have had him on the stud list if it wasn't for Gostkowski having such a good day.

Last but not least on the honorable mention list goes to Julian Edelman. Edelman didn't have any huge plays, but his eight catches for 101 yards, he was targeted 12 times. They went a long way towards helping the Patriots extend drives, and that ultimately helped them win the game. He had a lot of first downs today. I don't have the exact number in front of me. I couldn't find it, to be honest with you guys.

I was looking around for it, and I couldn't find it. So I'm just going to say, just from watching, that he had a pretty good amount of them. Edelman, you know, he continues to improve physically, too. You can see his cuts are getting better. That's the one thing I just keep watching with him. I'm not even worried about anything else. I'm glad they, I'm sure they didn't listen to me, but I've been preaching this for a while.

Keep him off of punt return. Keep him off. Don't put him back. Don't put him back there anymore. He's a wide receiver that you desperately need. Now with Gronkowski out, you really, really, really can't put Edelman back there. Don't risk him getting hurt. He's getting quick in his cuts again.

Brady goes to him. He's a third-down machine, so don't mess that up. So he's getting better, and there's a playoffs approach. If Edelman's healthy throughout, that gives the Patriots a good chance to get back to the Super Bowl. Today's duds. Now, we kind of had to pick and choose because there really weren't a lot, but there were guys that did have kind of not the best days.

Our first dud is Martellus Bennett. You know, off day for the talent at tight end, he only had four yards on two catches, and he was only targeted four times too. Bennett will definitely have positive grades in the run game when I go through the All-22 tomorrow, but he was called for a hold-in today, something he hasn't done all season. One positive from today's dud, he typically has a huge game after a crappy one, so next week should be fun, and he'll do it against a team like Baltimore that

they'll really need him. Our second dud of the day goes to Cyrus Jones. Come on, kid, I want you to work your way off this list. They keep giving him chances, as they should with any team that will do with a second-round pick. It was an incredible punt return in the SEC at Alabama, but he just keeps screwing it up. Today he fumbles a punt. Thankfully, he recovered by Patrick Chung.

He took it out of the end zone when he should have taken a knee. They would have got the ball at the 25 and said he took it out and they get the ball at the 20. Jones, he just looks so unsure of himself and not slow as in like he's slow, just game slow, and it's tough to watch. He just looks unsure of himself, and when he did return the ball, it just wasn't good. It's too early to call Jones a bust, but his rookie season is starting to look

like a loss of year and more regression than progression, so that's kind of unfortunate for a guy that the Patriots really expected to come in here and compete to get on the field right away. It just hasn't worked out for him. Deion Lewis. Okay, people are probably like, what? Why do you have Deion Lewis on the dud list? Well, listen, okay, I have my reasons.

It's not that Lewis was terrible. He just didn't do that much, which is a surprise against an awful run defense like the Rams. Lewis, he only had five carries for 27 yards and four catches for 11 yards. So, you know, he's on the dud list because if you look at those numbers and think about what you expect out of him against a defense that stinks like this, like the Rams, I'm sorry, the Rams defense is okay, but what I saw today, and especially since they were missing, I can't think of his name, the defensive end, but he was out, and it was obvious, and the Patriots interior did a good job of blocking,

because you could tell the way LeGarrette Blount was running, Lewis didn't have the greatest of days, and it's probably because he didn't get that many opportunities, but you don't need to have a bad game to end up on the dud list, and that's the case with Lewis. We expected a bottle rocket, and we got a sparkler. That's pretty much what it came down to. So Deion Lewis, third on the dud list, no fault of his own. I don't believe his yards per carry were actually pretty good.

Yards per catch were not good, four catches for 11 yards, but not really used that much, and I guess that was just by design. Dishonorable mention. Nobody. This is subject to change after I watch the All-22 tomorrow, but as of right now, there's nobody in the dishonorable mention list because there was nobody that was just that bad, so we didn't have to put anybody on the list

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I want to thank you all for joining us For this Monday edition of Lockdown Patriots And be sure to go to iTunes And subscribe to our show today Now, this morning Get it done, and make sure you tell your friends about us Here on Lockdown Patriots We are all about getting Patriots fans

The most info you need To be the most in-the-know Patriots fan Be sure to tune in tomorrow We're going to be the most in-the-know Patriots fan. Be sure to tune in tomorrow. We're going to break down the All-22 Coaches tape, an exercise that has been very painful on defense lately. So that might be fun again to watch for me. So that'll be fun for you guys as I get to watch some good football instead of the train wreck I've seen on defense the last three weeks.

Again, I'm Chris Simino, your host of Locked On Patriots, wishing you a great day, Patriots fans. Again, tell all your friends about us and subscribe to us now. Have a great day. Is democracy in danger or decline? Condoleezza Rice, William Galston, and Carlos Gutierrez and others take on this question in the fall edition of The Catalyst, a journal of ideas from the Bush Institute. Surveys show Americans place less trust in institutions like the media and business.

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