Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots April 19, 2019 - Schedule Day, DT, and Who Won this Week in Football?

Episode Date: April 19, 2019

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Hey there everybody, welcome on into a Friday installment of the Lockdown Patriots podcast. Mark Schofield here in the big chair for today, Friday, April 19th, 2019. I am coming to you live from the Woodlock Family Resort here in the lovely Poconos area of Pennsylvania. That's right. I am on vacation. I am on vacation. Still on vacation. But things are happening in the football world.

And so I did not want to go without recording the show for Friday. A lot of stuff to get to. We're going to talk who won this week in football. We've got, I think, a clear winner. But some other options as well. We're going to talk to Marius Thomas. Patriots making an acquisition at the wide receiver spot. But of course, we sort of have to look at what has become

one of the many holidays on the football calendar, and that is Schedule Release Day. So we're going to do that. But before we do any of that, a reminder to follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. Check out the work at places like InsideThePylon.com, Pro Football Weekly, The Score, Matt Waldman's Rookie Scouting Portfolio,

a bevy of SB Nation websites, including Pat's Pulpit, Bleeding Green Nation, where I co-host the QB Scotiab with the one and only Michael J. Kist, and of course, Big Blue View. Let's get into it now. Patriots schedule is released. They obviously play the first round schedule. They also get the NFC East.

Excited about that because we've got Eagles. We've got Redskins. We've got some fun, fun, fun games. And so that's going to be very interesting. They kick it off on Sunday night rather than the traditional Thursday night opener for the Super Bowl champions. We go on a different route. They're going Packers-Bears for that one. So they've got Pittsburgh at home on Sunday night, rather than the traditional Thursday night opener for the Super Bowl champions, we go on a different route. They're going Packers-Bears for that one. So they've got Pittsburgh at home on Sunday night.

Steelers getting some up-close and personal seats for the banner raising. Then week two at Miami. The good? Well, we don't get that traditional late season, you need a divisional round win to sort of secure your playoff spot. And instead of doing that, the Patriots just lay an egg on the road at Miami. We saw that last year, you know, the Miami Miracle type of game. And so they don't get that late in the season, but early in the season, week two at Miami,

the weather conditions are not going to be favorable for the visiting team in that game. It's going to be similar to that Jacksonville game the Patriots had early in the year. Now, on the bright side, maybe the Dolphins aren't that great, and so the Patriots might be able to steal one still. Then you've got two more divisional games. You've got the Jets at home in Week 3, Buffalo on the road at Buffalo in Week 4, and then you've got Washington on the road in Week 5. So you've got four straight 1 o'clock starts.

Then you come back the Giants on week 6. That is a Thursday night game, Thursday night football. And then that little mini bye, week 7, at the Jets for Monday night football. So they're going to have a nice chunk of time between those games of week 6, week 7. The problem is, then you get that Monday nighter, and then week 8, you're hosting the Cleveland Browns of 425. That is going to be a massive game, at least on paper. Week 9, at Baltimore, Sunday night football, and then the Patriots get their bye in Week 10.

And then becomes kind of the tough stretch. You've got at Philly, home against Dallas, at Houston, home against Kansas City, and then at Cincinnati. So you've got four straight teams that were in the playoffs last year in that Week 11, 12, 13, 14 stretch. And then you go to the Bengals in week 15. Week 16, the Bills at home. Week 17, the Dolphins at home.

That is one nice thing. You get the Dolphins at home in that December game that usually has gone New England's way. They don't have a 1 o'clock game in that stretch from week 6 to week 14. They get all either national games or primetime games. That could take its toll. And again, that Week 11 to 14 schedule does look to be rough as well. But on the bright side, the Patriots sort of get the easiest schedule in the league,

at least on paper. You look around strength of schedule right now based on getting some of the NFC East teams that had some down years. And of course, the Dolphins, the Jets, and the Bills that all held down years, strengths of schedule tilted in the New England Patriots' favor. But I always take that with a grain of salt because so much changes from year to year.

The Jets and the Bills, for example, they have their quarterbacks now. So you expect them to be better teams. The Giants, they have two picks in the first round. They could certainly turn things around. The Redskins, they could turn things around. The Bengals could turn things around. And so the strength of schedule stuff, you always take that with a bit of a grain of salt. And so schedules are out. Excited to see that. It's again, it's another sort of holiday on the NFL calendar. The NFL, we're going to talk about this in a minute, does such a great job of sort of piecing things together,

and so excited to see that come together. Up next, we're going to talk to Marius Thomas and the wide receiver core, and a little bit later, who won this week in football. That's all ahead on this Friday installment of Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now on this Friday installment of the Locked on Patriots podcast,

and to do some quick thoughts here on Demarius Thomas. That's right. The Patriots making an acquisition at the wide receiver position. They signed Demarius Thomas. Maybe not the receiver people were hoping for, but it is an acquisition. Now, what can we expect from Thomas? Well, one, he's coming back from an injury. He's coming off a torn Achilles.

This is now the second torn Achilles of his career. He had one during the 2011 offseason. So there are some questions if he's even going to be ready to go. So that's one thing to consider. Another thing to consider, two torn Achilles injuries for a 32-year-old wide receiver. Probably not the best set of circumstances. Now, in terms of sort of an array, a spectrum of possibilities for this signing, I think Pat Lane over at Pat's Pulpit did a piece, Will Demaryius Thomas be this year's Eric Decker,

that sort of set out perhaps the ceiling and the floor for this acquisition. We can start with the floor, and the two names that come to mind were sort of veteran receivers acquired by the New England Patriots that did not work out, Chad Johnson and Eric Decker. When you look at those guys, they never really got into the system. Decker comes to the Patriots after starting eight games with the Titans. He had 50 catches and 500 yards receiving, but couldn't get the offense and was cut before the season.

Chad Johnson sort of never really panned out, and so that would probably get the offense. It was cut before the season. Chad Johnson sort of never really panned out. And so that would probably be the floor. I do think that even if he's not going to reach the ceiling of what he could bring to this team, Thomas could probably do a lot better than that. Ceiling? Pat Lane makes the case that it's Brandon LaFell. His first year in New England, 74 catches for over 900 yards

and seven touchdowns, caught two playoff touchdowns, one in the Super Bowl. He also had a huge catch against the Ravens in that divisional round game. That might be sort of the high end of the spectrum, the ultimate ceiling, but I think Thomas could get close to that, at least in terms of catches, and I'll say why. When you look at the Patriots' offense schematically, so much of what they do is predicated on the quick game, right? Quick routes, quick option throws, getting the ball out of Tom Brady's hands quickly.

And when you look at Demaryius Thomas and his route tree recently, you'll see why this might be a very good fit schematically. Now this is something that was pointed out by Nick Underhill of The Athletic Boston. He was taking some data from Sports Info Solutions. Demarius Thomas caught 21 of 28 passes for 229 yards on digs, drags, slants, and curls last season. Some of those quick, short, and intermediate routes that the Patriots love to use in their passing game. And as Nick Underhill put it, it stands to reason he could have success

on those types of physical routes early on while he's working up to full speed. And that's the other thing to mention. We all know that the Patriots probably need more of that boundary-type guy, that numbers or hash marks and outsides type guy, because you look at their roster right now. Philip Dorsett, Julian Edelman, Braxton Berrios, Bruce Allenton. Those are all slot slash flanker type guys, guys that you're going to move around, guys that you use on quicker routes

and things like that, guys you're going to use on those option routes, working over the middle. Then you need sort of that boundary guy that, as Nick put it, might need to rely on a little bit of physicality. That's what we're talking about. That's why guys like Hakeem Butler or Keneal Harry might make some sense if they go look for that in a boundary receiver. And you're also, let's face it, looking to replace some of what you're not getting from Josh Gordon as we await his situation. And so Demarius Thomas might make some sense there schematically as well.

And so it's, again, the Patriots sort of nibbling at the edges of free agency. They don't go out and break the bank for a huge type name. But when you look at how he could fit with the rest of the pieces the Patriots have the roster, you could see a situation where it might work. So those are some quick thoughts on the Demarius Thomas thing. Up next, we're going to have sort of who won this week in football. I'm going to have some nominations and then my selection for who won this week.

That is ahead on this Friday installment of Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now. Close out this Friday installment of the Locked On Patriots podcast. And it's time for who won this week in football. I'm going to throw out some nominees again. And I'm going to start with myself.

Yes, Mark Schofield might have won this week in football. Why? Well, partly because I've spent most of this week away from the Twitter timeline and overlooking a lake here in the Poconos, lovely mountain area of Pennsylvania with the family. And it's been fantastic having a ton of fun this week. But also, I've been writing, writing as you know quarterback situations by division quarterback rooms across the league and i wrote recently the packers one and i made the case and

i talked about it on this show that maybe the packers are a team to watch to go earlier on quarterback than people expected that might have been bolstered by the one and only Daniel Jeremiah, who in a recent mock had Drew Locke at 30 to the Green Bay Packers. Maybe I'm on to something. So all of you Packers fans that got into my mentions, it's not just me, but I'm just one man. That is just me. Another nominee, of course, is Daniel Jones, because in that same mark, Jeremiah has Jones at six overall

to the New York Giants. This is happening, friends. It does seem like this is the way the winds are blowing. That Daniel Jones is going to be perhaps the second quarterback off the board, perhaps even the first quarterback off the board to the New York Giants at six, or maybe they have to even package six and 17 to go up and get him, which is just unbelievable, unbelievable

to think about it. So Daniel Jones, maybe he won this week in football. NFL social media accounts, they might have won this week in football. Why? On schedule release day, some of the stuff we saw from these teams was just incredible. For example, the Chargers. They released their schedule using just stock footage. It's absolutely amazing.

Like, I'm watching it right now, and in week one, they play the Colts, and there's a little kid feeding a coat at a petting zoo. Week three, the Texans, two cowboys rocking something that's supposed to be a bucket bronco for another kid. Week four, the Dolphins, people feeding a dolphin in a swimming tank. Week five, the Broncos, a strange man next to a horse tipping his hat. Week six, the Titans, two guys that looks to be like a renaissance fair type situation. Week eight, they get a guy in a bear suit.

And it's all stock footage stuff it is absolutely incredible you've got the carolina panthers and they release it using old video game clips from some old nintendo type games you've got in the same division the nfc south the new orleans saints and this obviously i loved it it's full on thrones they sort of parody the opening segment of game of thrones where they have all the stadiums and they're like getting built kind of the way they do it when they're building like winterfell and kinsland and they're doing that but there are also some hidden easter eggs in there like they have one where they're playing the rams at home so they show some rams like run it into mercedes-benz stadium and then when they show the saints a couple of weeks later they've

got one of the rams like runs over what looks to be a receiver and an official like waving it off, making fun of that non-call and the passive deference penalty. So that was amazing. So NFL team social media accounts did such a fantastic job on schedule release day. Just tremendous stuff by some of these people, the men and women running these social media accounts and building off of that, the NFL itself, because whatever you want to say about Roger Goodell and his stewardship of the National Football League, how he is able to keep the league on our minds year round deserves some serious credit because from free agency and not even just free agency, the legal tampering period, build it into free agency, build it into the draft, sprinkle it in schedule release day. And then before you've got, no, you've got rookie mini camps and then training camp.

When we are supposed to be ignoring the National Football League and thinking about other things, the NFL still has the ability to dominate sports media. Do you want any more evidence of that? I am on a podcast right now in April for a Friday doing five shows a week and I will keep doing this into the summer and beyond because the NFL has that ability, that draw and partly it's parody, partly it's the way they structure the calendar and everything else to keep them in our minds year round. It is absolutely, absolutely amazing. Our final

nominee, Russell Wilson. Look, you get the big payday, you're going to get at least a nomination here as a member of the NFL who won this week in football. And $140 million, that's a big payday. That's going to get you mentioned here. And so those are your nominees. And I think it would be easy to say that it was Russell Wilson, right? Big payday, that's going to get you paid. I would love to sit there and say it was me. But I'm going to go with social media accounts and these team accounts

because they made sort of schedule release day so enjoyable. I was able to sit down after we got the kids to the bed and just go through some of these Twitter accounts and the work that these men and women on these media teams are doing for each of these organizations is just incredible. And kudos to all of them, the men and women that put these together. Obviously, they know ahead of time so they can build these things and design these things.

The Saints one was just amazing. I mean, actually, it was the Atlanta Falcons. I got it wrong. It was the Atlanta Falcons that did it, but yeah, just amazing the way they put that together. And so, who won football this week? The men and women behind every team's social media account

because they did a fantastic job on schedule release day. That will do it for today. That will do it for this week. I will be back Monday, our final mock draft Monday. So please, please, please, please, please get your mocks in. I want to have 10, 20, 30 mocks to grade for Monday's show. And then it is draft week. And I will be covering the draft head to toe.

Every pick will probably get a quick pod, maybe a quick article over Pat's Pulpit or other places. But we will have this draft covered here on Locked on Patriots. So until Monday, have a fantastic weekend and keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield in Locked on Patriots.