Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - LOCKED ON PATRIOTS - Aug. 17, 2016 - Julian Edelman shows off, and did David Andrews just win the center competition?

Episode Date: August 16, 2016

The Boston Herald's Jeff Howe details Julian Edelman's huge return to practice and discusses a key event that might have determined the victor at center. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, where are you going, Jim? The elevator's over here. Taking the stairs. But our meeting's up on 8. Yeah, I know. But that's 8 floors up. That's like 8 times... I don't... a lot of stairs. That's the point. I've already lost a few pounds and earned almost $100 in wellness incentives. Whoa, you're getting rewarded for working out? Yeah, I know. I'm just as surprised as you are, Bob.

Fearless is full of surprises. That's the power of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Federal Employee Program. Learn more about our healthy benefits and sign up at fepblue.org slash choose blue by December 11th. What's up, everybody, and welcome to Locked On Patriots. I'm your host, Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald, and this is your episode for Wednesday, August 17th. And welcome back to the loyal listeners who have helped grow this podcast on a day-by-day basis over the last three weeks. And welcome aboard to all of the new listeners. I know you're out there because, again, we're growing every single day. So by the end of this show, if you're a new listener or if you're an old listener, run and tell your friends.

Say, hey, you know what? You're not listening to Locked on Patriots by Jeff Howe. You need to jump on that. And is there really anything better in this life than reminding your friend of something that you introduced them to? Isn't that really important? Isn't that what friendship is all about? Maybe sometime during the football season, you're watching a Pats game with them and you're like, hey, remember that time you didn't really know all that much about football? You didn't know all that much about the Patriots.

And I came along and said, hey, you know what's missing in your life? A little Locked On Patriots by Jeff Howe. And now you're just as smart as me. Don't you want to have that conversation? You can, if you tell your friends about Locked On Patriots. Now, back to the show. Wednesday, August 17th, I'm going to get to two important things. Julian Edelman and Brian Stork in the center competition. Both of those developments took a key turn during Tuesday's joint practice with the Bears. The Patriots are now two joint practices in with the Bears. And for all intents and purposes, they're done. Sure, they're going to share a field on Wednesday for their walkthrough.

But nothing is going to happen besides a bunch of guys taking a nap. Because this practice is going to be boring. But the last two were very eventful. We learned a lot about both teams, I guess, but this isn't locked on Bears. This is locked on Patriots. So the biggest story of the day really was Julian Edelman. Participated in his first set of team drills since August 8th,

when August 9th and now was when he went down or felt the numbness and the pins and needles in his foot. So the first time that we had seen him participate in team drills since August 8th, and my goodness, he was electric. He looked like the old Julian Edelman. Now when he debuted in his team drills last week, almost a week and a half ago, he looked like the old Julian Edelman as well. But the Patriots gave him a little time. They weren't all that concerned about the foot. Again, the pins and needles, it it sounds worse than it is and for a guy who hadn't experienced that before like Julian Edelman it was a little scary for him I think that's why he was pretty

dramatic pretty heated as he had to walk off the field but pretty typical stuff for a guy who's recovering from not one but two surgeries is that scar tissue sort of settles again that's happened that's normal stuff it just this once the shock wears off and then I think the Patriots just said look there's no point in in overdoing it with Edelman he came back a day later was doing some conditioning sprints clearly they had no intentions of playing him in that preseason opener against the Saints and then he slowly worked his way back this week. But when he was out there in team drills, really actually it started in one-on-ones, when he ran a route on Tracy Porter, a Super Bowl hero. Remember what he did against Peyton Manning and the Colts

when he was with the Saints back in 2009, that pick six, that legacy defining drive that Peyton Manning potentially could have had. Tracy Porter took it to the house. Julian Edelman put Tracy Porter on ice skates. He made him look so bad in a one-on-one route that Tracy Porter stopped, turned his back to Edelman, and just sort of waved. And this was before the ball was even thrown. So Julian Edelman essentially made Tracy Porter quit during a one-on-one route. That stuff doesn't happen too often. And you knew what type of a day Edelman was in store for

when he started off like that. And it became a spectacle. There were a bunch of fans right in front of that field. It was the inside field. The left, the one that's away from the bleachers, if you're familiar with the Patriots practice policies, if you've been down there at practice, every single time he lined up for those one-on-ones there were fans heckling the defensive back it was trying to cover them none of them had any success most of them were

just trying not to get embarrassed and then it carried over into seven on sevens where Edelman caught uh five balls in that seven on seven period from both Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo, or a combined five balls from the pair, and was off to a flying start. He put a triple move on a backup linebacker. Now, granted, there aren't going to be too many backup linebackers who are going to cover Julian Edelman over the course of the season, so you take that for what it's worth, and it's a seven on seven drill that's geared toward offensive success. But Julian Edelman was lined up in the left slot, showed a dig route, turned it into an out route,

and then basically went up down the seam. By the time Edelman was going down the seam, the backup linebacker was reacting to the dig. And Edelman created at least 10 yards of separation caught an easy touchdown pass and I think by the time that linebacker had any idea what was even going on Julian Edelman was running back to the huddle with the football so he just he has a capability of embarrassing guys at this point in training camp he does it almost every time the Patriots welcome somebody for joint practices it happened last week against the Saints before he walked off with the foot numbness but again it continued throughout practice he was he was turning ankles into applesauce and he even you knew it was his day when a pass went through Martellus Bennett's hands and wound up in in Julian Edelman's lap in the back of the end zone he he also he carried it

over in 11 on 11s it he tracy porter on the first throw of 11 on 11s from garoppolo on a crossing pattern there aren't too many dvs who can stay with julian edelman when he's got a free release on a crossing pattern especially when he's made it 75 of the way across the field uh and started a little bit of an incident there uh when he was shoved from behind on an interesting play was harold jones cordy who was i spoke to him after practice jones cordy and he was extremely apologetic and it seemed genuine now i'm not saying he couldn't have been being facetious i had never met the guy before so i don't know what he's like but he seemed genuinely apologetic saying that edelman caught him with a spin move and in Jones' court he was out of

position that's why he ended up dropping him but a good moment I think in terms of team camaraderie because Aaron Dobson and Martellus Bennett got right up in in his face and came to Edelman's defense Edelman was essentially laughing after the play but he has the ability to get under cornerback skin you've seen that time and again it's it's happened with Malcolm Butler frequently over the course of various or really last training camp was the best for that but had some great battles with Darrell Rivas he's gotten some opposing teams pretty heated in past years in joint practices so Edelman doing what he does best and i think the the big thing with that is is obvious his importance to the offense can't be undersold he is going to make

up for any issues that i think you can have with the offensive line now that's not always the case that wasn't the case totally in den last year in the AFC Championship loss. Not entirely sure how full speed Edelman was really going in that game. The Broncos also had a tremendous game plan and an all-time elite caliber defense. But when things are working, and Jimmy Garoppolo, let's say the offensive line isn't fully together. Let's say they're not hitting their peak in week one, week two, whatever. You know you can count on Julian Edelman getting open as quickly as possible. And if he can't, let's say opposing defense, whether it's the Cardinals or the Dolphins or Texans or Bills, any one of those teams they

see in weeks one through four, they're stacking the line. They're trying to take away edelman's crossing patterns you know at that point you got to figure rob gronkowski is going to be out there i'll have a quick update on him in a minute martellus bennett has been one of garoppolo's favorite targets throughout training camp you know you would think deon lewis would be back at that time we don't know for sure but you would think and we're not entirely sure on danny amandolaola's return time table we still haven't seen him out on the field but Chris Hogan's looked really good so any one of those guys Malcolm Mitchell could be back by that point if all goes according to plan with his recovery so again if Edelman is out there making things run and if he can be Garoppolo's first target and if he can't be the names I just listed are all going

to be out there and available to catch passes from Garoppolo James White's another one who's having a good camp so everything really can run through Julian Edelman Rob Gronkowski is the most dominant pass catcher in the NFL but Julian Edelman really helps make this Patriots offense tick and I think when he was making guys look foolish on the practice field on Tuesday Jimmy Garoppolo and Tom Brady whether they were throwing the passes to Edelman or they were the guy who was the odd man out during that period just watching from the sideline you knew those guys were smiling because they were like their guy is back Julian Edelman is back and he's fast and he's got

those quick feet and he's making those cuts that can make defenders look foolish Edelman finished the day with eight catches in team drills to put that in perspective Tom Brady and Julie and Jim I've done that twice now Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo completed 20 balls so Edelman caught eight of them not too bad right there four catches from both Brady and Garoppolo completed 20 balls. So Edelman caught eight of them. Not too bad right there. Four catches from both Brady and Garoppolo. So just a huge start for Edelman in some quality work against the Bears defense. And quite frankly, Edelman was somewhat limited. He would run maybe, let's say, two plays, go off to the side for a play, come back for two. It wasn't that exact pattern.

But he wasn't out there for every single route in team drills and he still produced and he won you could tell how eager garoppolo and brady were in throwing to edelman so really just a huge huge development for the patriots midway through august a few weeks away from the opener. Who knows if Edelman's going to play Thursday night against the Bears? I honestly don't believe it even matters. Of course, Garoppolo and Brady could both stand to get a little bit of their timing back with Edelman. Garoppolo was 4-4 when throwing to Edelman on Tuesday. Brady was 4-5.

Missed him by about a fingertip on a diving attempt to the right corner of the end zone. But if you remember, if you were listening to the podcast last week, or if you read my practice observations at bostonherald.com or even in the Heralds, you would have seen that Brady and Edelman connected for just a beautiful pass when Edelman had Justin Coleman in his hip pocket. And that pass right there just showed me that Brady and Edelman their timing is there they're fine they don't need too many game reps together before the season opener or really before Brady's season opener in week five now that's not to say Garoppolo couldn't use the the full speed work with Edelman but who knows

we'll see we'll see what their plan is I wouldn't fault the Patriots for using Edelman the same way that they use Rob Gronkowski because of Edelman's injury history and his importance to the team they sit him for the entirety of the preseason I can't imagine they're going to be a worse team in week one than they would be if they had Edelman out there for those games they do want him out there and they do believe that Garoppolo needs the timing or to, to sync up a little more with Edelman. Then I get it. But again, either way, you'd have to think the Patriots are thinking long-term in this and it's not just a short-term type of solution. So I think whatever they choose is probably going to be the right answer because I mean, when you're talking about that sort of stuff, you know, who are we really to judge? They're the ones who see these guys on a daily basis.

And some of these, some of these decisions they make, yeah, it's fun to second guess or, or kind of think ahead and question what they might do, speculate what might be going through Bill Belichick's head. But ultimately, you know, they're the ones who know the intricacies of the injuries, the rehabilitation schedule any chance of re-injury so you would think at this time of the year when they're going to be overly conservative if they have to be if they have edelman out there i guess ultimately you look at that as a good sign for his health uh in in that twice surgically repaired foot i mentioned

rob gronkowski earlier i wanted to get to him I've been told it's just a bruise. I believe it was where he was grabbing. This is mostly speculation on this point. I know it's a bruise, but where it is, I believe it was when he was kind of grabbing his waist sort of above his left thigh after he hobbled off the field during Monday's practice. Either way, you know, those bruises can be painful be painful clearly it's not just one of those surface bruises that that we could get by whacking our elbow on something but it's a little deeper than that it's going to take a little treatment that's why he wasn't out there Tuesday I highly highly highly doubt he's going to be out there Thursday night if at any point during the preseason because that's been a plan that again nobody really second guesses so with their big

guys out there and as close to healthy as you could pretty much ask them to be at this point that's as good of a situation as the Patriots could really have as they are approaching that trip to Arizona and that week one opener against the Cardinals. Now, before I get to Brian Stork, I just want to bring up, if your company is interested in men between the ages of 18 and 44 and you want to reach that target audience, your company should be sponsoring this podcast, Locked On Patriots. Now, Locked On Patriots is listened to by 98% men, 80% between the ages of 18 and 44.

So again, if you're interested in that target demographic, you've got to be sponsoring Locked On Patriots. So hit me up at jeff.howe at bostonherald.com. Now, Brian Stork, David Andrews, going into training camp, I called this a dead heat in terms of the center competition, which one of those guys was going to win the job. They alternated first and second team reps every day during minicamp and OTAs. So Stork would take the lead one day. The next day, Andrews would come back with the lead. And then it started that way the first two practices of training camp.

We didn't really get to see. We assumed it was going to be a continued rotation for the third practice but that's when stork went down with the concussion first time they had pads on and stork got into in that time since july 30th david andrews has been the starter now he's had that role even since stork came back about a week ago from the concussion and Stork has not taken any of those starting reps with again with the first team offense in practice now I was wondering if when David Andrews missed a blocking assignment in that Saints game he played the first three series missed a blocking assignment that led to a sack. Bill Belichick replaced him and him only in that first string offensive line for the fourth and fifth series with Brian Stork.

Stork was inconsistent and Belichick put Andrews back in for the sixth series, which was the final series that the starting offense or Garoppolo's offense had in the first half of that game. So Andrews had four series, Stork had two. And I was wondering, all right, is this going to be a point where Stork can kind of make up some of that ground that he lost with his fourth diagnosed concussion in the last four years? The third time in his career, all three seasons now, he's missed time in training camp with an injury of some sorts

two straight years with a concussion so is this the the point where you look at and say all right stork is going to start to get some of those reps back because belichick put him out there wanted to see what he's got with the starting line and then i think he probably hurt his chances a little bit tuesday because he got into a fight with an off with a linebacker head butted him and then went after Sam Acho with a couple really aggressive shoves going up high and they were shoved you know this wasn't just pushing and shoving there was some anger behind them and Bill Belichick immediately kicked Stork off the field. So this is now the second time that Stork has been kicked out of a practice this offseason. Also happened June 8th in minicamp

when Stork got into a shoving match, some headshots with Woodrow Hamilton, an undrafted rookie. So there's a pattern here. And then you go back to the AFC championship loss to the Broncos when Stork headbutted Vance Joseph on a first down, negated a five-yard run from Steven Jackson in the first Broncos as the Patriots trailed seven nothing in that game now that's a game where the offense was sputtering they they had a hard time getting consistent yardage especially on first down and every single yard every single possession was huge in that game which ultimately ended 20 to 18. So you've now got three incidents where Stork is doing something to tick off the coaching staff. Nobody is going to excuse anybody for headbutting someone in the middle of a game. And then he gets himself booted from a practice in June. And then he gets himself booted from a practice in August, again, for headbutting.

So you just, it's a pattern where the coaching staff has to wonder, all right, where's your focus at? The injuries are one thing. You can't always control those, especially a guy who's playing center and has a concussion history. Those are just so dangerous. You never know when the next one could happen. It doesn't even have to be on hard contact or anything which is unfortunate but that's that's how those go that's how those those head injuries go they're so unpredictable but the stuff that you can control is how you handle yourself on the field so if you've got the coaching staff sitting there saying well david andrews and and belichick praised andrews before tuesday's practice and and reinforced some of the things i've been telling you all along andrews is an extremely smart guy he knows how to handle the the intricacies of the

cadence he's really smart with aligning the alignment or setting up their blocking assignments before the snap getting and staying on the same page with the quarterback whether it was Tom Brady last season or it's going to be Garoppolo for the first four this season then Brady again I know how much Brady really likes working with Andrews very much a Dan Kopan-like player because he's cerebral, does the right thing more often than not. And you've got a consistent, reliable, dependable player in Andrews. And then you've got Stork, who is, again, you've got a pattern now with three mistakes. Now, if this was just one situation where, all right, you know, he lost his cool in the middle of the game, it happens. If it was one situation where, okay, he got into a pushing match in June when it's hot, hey, it happens. If it's just one situation where it's the second day of

joint practices with a Bears team that's out there yapping and yapping and yapping and really just trying to poke you and prod you in the chest and you kind of lose your cool and you fight back, all right, it happens. But this is three three situations now and that's not what the Patriots are looking for as Bill Belichick would say so again I think Stork has already been behind David Andrews because of the head injury earlier in training camp and Andrews has held on to the starting reps in practice this week even after when I thought all right is this when you draw the line in the sand and Stork can start to make up ground? And then I think by him going out there and playing in undisciplined level of football,

Bill Belichick's not going to reward him for that. So now you're talking about extra days, if Stork was going to make up any ground on andrews in the coming days now it obviously wasn't going to happen wednesday in the walkthrough and based on the practice reps it wasn't going to happen thursday in the game against the bears but who knows did belichick have any plans of saying all right let's see what stork looks like in the starting lineup next week when they start to prepare for the panthers and that all-important third preseason game? I don't know. But if he did, does he look at an incident like this and say, why can I reward him when I'm preaching to the team the whole time, don't fight with these guys, and then he goes out

there and does that? So let alone a guy with a concussion history going out and headbutting somebody. So it's just, it's not what Bill Belichick is looking for when you've got a very tight competition between him and david andrews especially a guy that they like so much in andrews so i think you could probably look to this day on tuesday august 16th and say this is probably the day that david andrews solidified himself as the Patriots starting center for the 2016 season. Now, that's not to say that David Andrews started off 2015 as a rookie, played really, really well, surprised everybody, and then ultimately started to taper off and Brian Stork got healthy again and took over that or took back that starting job. I'm not saying that

can't happen at any point in 2016, but right now I think you have to pencil in David Andrews as the starting center going into week one for the Patriots season. A very, very important Patriots season with extremely high expectations. So I thought that was an important day in terms of Julian Edelman coming back and looking like Julian Edelman. And then David Andrews solidifying himself is probably the starting center for the 2016 season. That's locked on Patriots. Once again, not expecting too much to really happen on Wednesday.

So I'll come back to you Thursday with a preview of this Patriots-Bears game. Who are we going to expect to see out there? Still not entirely sure. Is Tom Brady going to get some action? Still don't know. But a fun game coming up especially after a couple joint practices or a couple padded joint practices some fights some tempers some good energy and there's gonna be some fun stuff to talk about

in terms of dante hightower and jamie coll Collins as they go against the Bears. And then I think you're going to see the possibility for the Patriots to have their way with this Bears defense. But we're going to get to all that on Thursday's podcast. Once again, I'm Jeff Howe. This is Locked on Patriots. I'll see you guys Thursday. 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. Others contend America has faced far more challenging periods and emerged strong.

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