Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots August 10, 2018 - Semi-Glorious Victory Edition

Episode Date: August 10, 2018

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Hello and welcome into a semi-glorious victory edition of Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield back in the big chair for Friday, August 10th, 2018. And the New England Patriots started their 2018 preseason with a victory after falling down 17-0. They've closed out the Washington Redskins 26-17 in a win that can be described as something that, if you believe in improbables, sorry, quoting a little dodgeball here on this Friday morning,

and before we get into a locked and loaded show, we're going to do some good, we're going to do some bad, we're going to do some leftovers. I want to remind everybody to follow me on Twitter, at Mark Schofield. Check out the work over at InsideThePylon.com, where I'm one of the lead writers. Also, the Matt Waldman Rookie Scouting Portfolio,

MattWaldmanRSP.com. Get a video up on Lamar Jackson. You can check out work over at TheScore.com, as well as a multitude of other places. If they're writing about football, chances are I'm writing for them. Let's get into it, though. The good, the bad, and the leftovers. The leftovers at the end, some questions that were answered

and some questions that were not answered in the Patriots preseason opener. Let's start with the good. The first thing I want to talk about that was good last night must have been Bill Belichick's halftime speech because this was a Patriots team that looked woeful arguably on both sides of the ball in the first half of that game they had a spark at the end leading to a Steven Kostowski field goal that made it a 17-3 game at halftime Bill Belichick walking off the field being interviewed by I believe it was local NBC up at the Boston area I believe it was Bruton, who was asking him about that little drive at the end of

the half and Belichick in his typical deadpan fashion. We played about 38 seconds of good football. And he was pretty much right about that. Devin Lucien, one of the really good things from last night's game throughout the entire game, not just in the first half on the end of that drive where he had two nice catches, but throughout the game, Lucien ended the night with four catches for 71 yards, averaging almost 18 yards of reception. But that drive was pretty much it.

We'll get into some of the bad stuff, but the offense, the defense, they really sputtered that first half. So whatever Bill Belichick said during halftime must have worked because the offense comes out and they rip off an 18 play drive to start the second half i believe it was like 14 runs maybe it was a 19 play drive that's right it was a 19 play drive 14 runs five passes takes about nine minutes off the clock they go right down the field converted a fourth down in the mix as well, and punched it in to get their first touchdown of the 2018 preseason. And what was impressive about that drive, and we'll get into it a little bit more, was

the way that they worked Jeremy Hill. Jeremy Hill had a fantastic night. And if you're a fantasy player, if you're just a Patriots fan listening to this show, you're wondering about the Patriots' backfield and who might sort of survive in this numbers game that's going on in the Patriots' backfield. Jeremy Hill looked like he was back into the old Jeremy Hill of old last night. 11 carries for 51 yards and a touchdown averaging 4.6 yards per carry. We'll get to Ralph Webb in a second.

Don't worry. But Hill, look, on that drive, and these are my rough numbers. They're not, you know, based on the play-by-play data. But he had a run for three, a run for three, a run for seven-ish. And my note there was a first-to-ten run looking really good, running downhill to the left side. We'll get to the left side of that Patriots offensive line in a second. You know, a nine-yard run nearly for a touchdown,

and then he capped it off, you know, with a short touchdown run. And he had a reception on a third and eight, which was huge on this drive. You know, Brian Hoyer checks it down to him in the flat. He evades multiple defenders, first number 25, and then a stiff arm on linebacker number 58. Turns what should have been, you know, a minimal gain into a, you know, He evades multiple defenders, first number 25, and then a stiff arm on linebacker number 58. Turns what should have been a minimal gain into a big gain, a first down, and keeps the chains moving.

So fantastic night from Jeremy Hill. If you were wondering how he's going to look, how he's coming back into form, you got a good answer last night. So the Belichick half-time speech into that first offensive drive was fantastic. We talked about Hill. The left side of that Patriots line, not just when the starters were in, but into the twos and the threes. Again, working off rough numbers, but the Patriots ran the ball to the left side 8.1 million times last night.

My numbers might be off, but they ran it to the left side a lot. And you get the sense that that's where they feel like that's going to be their strength with Trent Brown and perhaps, perhaps, a question we'll get into the leftovers segment, Isaiah Wynn at that guard spot. But they seem to run the ball to the left a lot. There was one time where they tried a pitch toss play where they had Trent Brown trying to pull in front of it. Brown, that might not be the most effective way

to use him. You know, he's big, he's massive. It looks even bigger in game situations, but you know, a linebacker was able to knife behind him using his athleticism. Brown couldn't finish the block. Brown did have two guys that he had to block on that play. So it might have been he picked one and the other guy made the play. But still, you worry about maybe not using that too much out of the playbook. But they ran a similar play, a similar toss play twice in the second half, once with Matt Tobin pulling in front. He was much more effective on that sort of pull block.

So that's something to watch. The left side of this Patriots offense, they kept running to that side. It seems like when they were running either lead zone or power plays to that side, sometimes the lead zone with either James Devlin or baby Devlin, Henry Pogge, who we're going to get to in a second. It just seems like it was all going downhill. They were getting great push to that side. So watch for that.

That was perhaps my biggest takeaway from this entire game was their ability to run to the left side. So watch for that. That was perhaps my biggest takeaway from this entire game was their ability to run to the left side. Some more good stuff from last night. We talked about Devin Lucian. Let's get into Devlin and baby Devlin. James Devlin obviously has been a staple for this Patriots offense the past couple of seasons. They like to run out of 21 personnel with two running backs, often with the I formation with Devlin in front, lead blocking, whether it's on power or on that lead zone, you know, where the offensive line flows to one side and Devlin sort of leads that way as well. Henry Pogge, the undrafted, you know, rookie out of Michigan, you know, in his time in the game, he was impressive as well, whether lead blocking on those zone type things or,

you know, power type designs as well taking on guys in the hole or on the edge. I was very impressed with them. He even had a reception. I believe it was one catch for two yards which isn't a ton but still nearly matched what my boy Braxton Berrios did who had one catch for three yards.

We'll get to Braxton Berrios in a second. So I was impressed with both of those guys. Obviously, Pogge's probably more a practice squad type guy. I would like to see him sort of stick around, but it was impressive to see the two of them doing what they do. Cordell Patterson. Yesterday's guest, Taylor Kyles, noted that it seems like he's still not running at full speed, but he's effective.

As a matter of fact, on one of Devin Luton's two catches before halftime to set up that Steven Kostelski field goal, it was Patterson who was running that sort of clear-out post-seam on what was a Mills-type concept where you have the post route and the dig route underneath. Looked like Patterson certainly took the top off the defense on that play. Obviously, Washington not trying to give up a huge play in that moment, but really opened up the intermediate dig route for Devin Lucien.

And then he had that catch him on the sideline. And if you're like me and you follow some Vikings guys like, you know, Arif Hassan or another guest of the show, Luke Inman, you know, they saw the highlight catch that Patterson made where he's running that deep comeback route. The throw was a little bit high. It's juggled, and he manages to pull it in with one arm while fighting off the defender.

The Vikings fans on my timeline were going crazy when they saw that. And Taylor said it both during the game on Twitter and when he was on with us. Patterson might be the guy to watch. I'm slowly warming up to that as well, and we saw perhaps why last night. Some more good stuff. Ralph Webb. I know Evan Lazar, Patriots beat reporter now over at CSLS or CNLS, I believe.

Definitely follow Evan on Twitter. He's been talking about Webb. We saw what Webb can do. 14 carries, 46 yards, and two touchdowns as well as a two-point conversion. Certainly seemed like he could play. You know, he had, you know,

on their eighth drive of the game, he had a nice little run, a first and 10. He had a nice little run on third and four to get him a first down, a first and 10. He had a run for run on third and four to get him a first down, a first and 10. He had a run for about six, another run to the left side. Then later on that drive, first and 10, a run on a toss.

That's a play with Matt Tobin pulling in front of him. A TD run also coming on a toss play. Looks like he's a guy that can get downhill quickly. Fumbles have been a concern with him, and we saw one where he was ruled down by contact. He'd get chopped down behind the line of scrimmage shortly after a handoff. So that was an issue. There was also something we'll get

to in a bit that meshed with him and Danny Etlin. Not that good. But before that, he had a nice little run on a delay with some change of direction ability. Danny, I mean, Ralph Webb, maybe he doesn't make the roster. Maybe he does. But if he doesn't, man, that's somebody

you want to see get back on the practice squad, so that's another guy who stood out last night, the two-point conversions I said it on Twitter you know, fantastic decisions to do that, because one they went for two when it was a 17-16 game, obviously if it was regular season you'd kick extra point

in all likelihood, you know, to tie it up, because they went for it early in the fourth quarter, but'd kick the extra point in all likelihood, you know, to tie it up because they went for it early in the fourth quarter. But I like the decision to do it because you get to practice it and you get to minimize the chances that you go to overtime. This is the last thing you want in the first preseason game is overtime. So I love the decision there to go for two. The times that they did it the first time, there's a quick pass off a play action to web in the flat. The second time, the toss play to the left converted both of those. That's always nice to see.

Derek Rivers. Man, he looked explosive off the edge. Man, he looked explosive off the edge. Getting down on that four-point stance, getting some pressure on Colt McCoy. You know, I was very impressed with him. There were some defensive players I was impressed with. Juwan Bentley.

Going to talk about him in a bit. Man, it looks like he can play. You know, Derek Rivers getting some pressure. We're going to talk. Trent Harris. Man, talk about a guy that had two really good plays late in the game. He had the strip stack on a blitz of Kevin Hogan that led to the Genio Grissom scooping near score. And then you also had, you know, on the next drive, a nice play where he gets some penetration early,

you know, chopping the guy down for, you know, a loss behind the scrimmage. Other guys that sit out defensively, Danny Shelton is as advertised. He is a rock in the middle of that defense. Dietrich Wise did some nice things,

standing up guys on the edge. So I thought there were some, you know, even though the defense gave up some points early, I thought there were some positives to take away. Finally, Jacob Hollister. It does seem to me like at least if you look at the tight end position as blocking tight ends and receiving tight ends, he's receiving tight end number two.

Because there were some third and long situations in the first quarter and the first half where he was the tight end on the field. And that tells me he's receiving tight end number two. So those were some good things. Up next, we're going to end on the field. And that tells me he's receiving tight end number two. So those were some good things. Up next, we're going to talk about the bad. We're going to talk about, well, the first, you know, 28 minutes of the game. We're going to talk a little bit about, you know,

the offense in the first half as well. Some guys on the defensive side of the ball. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield, back with you now. We're going to talk some bad stuff. Obviously, the start to this game, it was not pretty. You get down into a 17-0 hole. Definitely not good.

Defense was giving up some plays. Kyle Van Noy gets beat. Stephon Gilman got beat a couple of times. And it sort of gets back, I think, to tackling. Tackling seemed to be a question mark. There were some missed tackles all over the field last night. And that's something that's always going to be curious to watch with the new rules, both in terms of leading with the head as well as practice time, CBA, all that kind of stuff.

Tackling might be an issue for teams, and it seemed to be an issue for the New England Patriots last night. And this is a team, this is an organization that prides themselves on execution and on fundamentals, and to see things like that, that's never good. So tackling is going to be an issue. Like I said, Kyle Van Nooy gets beat on a touchdown pass. That's one of those things that's going to lead us into the discussion.

Is this defense at the second level athletic enough? Are they going to be good enough to match up with linebackers? Are they going to be good enough to match up with the RPOs and the stuff like that? And it doesn't concern me right now. Because it kind of

gets into the tackling, of course. But you can make the case that this defense looked overmatched against Colt McCoy in the first half. And the numbers bore that out. The touchdown we're talking about with Van Noy, it was to running back Byron Marshall.

He beats Van Noy, slips out of the tackle attempt along the right sideline. Touchdown, 25 yards. It's a tough play for a linebacker, covering that route. But you still want to see, okay, if you get beat, fine, but then come back and make the tackle. And that was something that stood out to me with Juwan Bentley. A concern with him was going to be, can he cover guys?

And Bentley on a third down play in the second half, he got beat in the flat, but he made the immediate tackle. There was a penalty on the play that gave Washington a first down, I believe. But he made the immediate tackle. And that was kind of the difference in those two plays. Stephon Gilmore got beaten on a couple of comeback routes, things like that. It was a tough route to cover,

but obviously you expect Stephon Gilmore to be a little better, and he'll get into form, I think, so I'm not too worried about that. Offense in the first half, we've talked about some of their struggles in the first half. The main thing that really stuck out to me, offense was 0 for 5. 0 for 5, a big fat goose egg on third downs in the first half.

Now, that's with Brian Hoyer, not Tom Brady. Not with Rex Burkhead, James White, some other guys. Rob Gronkowski, guys that didn't play. Isaiah Wynn, which is a question mark we'll get to in the leftover segment. But you want the offense to execute a little bit better,

regardless of who's on the field, particularly on third downs, and they just didn't do it. So that was a question mark. Interested to see the Patriots bust out a little zone read late in the fourth quarter with Danny Antlin and Ralph Webb? Might want to practice that a little bit more, guys. That's one of those tricky plays where the timing is so critical and the decision making process from the quarterback is so critical because you put that ball in the

running back's belly and you got to make that quick decision are you going to pull it are you going to keep it and it seemed like he waited too long to make that decision you know and it looked like he was trying to pull it late ball on the turf turf. Patriots recover. I mean, Washington recovers. So that was something you might want to go back to the draw on board on. One last thing I want to talk about here in the bad segment, and I've probably relayed stories like this before, but there are moments in your football career when you know, I'm going to wear a white or a black shirt to film review.

Okay? I can't wear something gray. I can't wear something that's going to show sweat because there's going to be a moment or perhaps a couple of moments when we look back at this tape when I'm going to get raked over the coals and the guys are going to be all over me. And there is one player who might want to heed that kind of advice, and that's second-year safety Demarius Travis, who just on one drive alone near the end of the first half had two difficult plays, let's say.

First was sort of a deep throw from Washington quarterback Colt McCoy to wide receiver Cam Sims who had gotten behind Keon Cross and now it's hard to tell because we don't have the all-22 angle, but it looked to me

live like it was a cover-two look where Keon's sort of sitting in the flat with his safety help over the top. And that safety was Travis. Travis is there in position to make the tackle, and he does it. Turning what could have been a minimal 15, 20-yard gain into a 57-yard gain, setting up a first-and-goal type situation. And how do they do a couple of plays later, Washington? They get a touchdown pass to wide receiver Maurice Harris,

working off of play action, and the guy that really got sucked in was Travis. It was a simple sort of route breaking towards the outside. Travis gets really sucked in on the play-action fake, which if you're a linebacker in a goal-line situation, okay. If you're a strong safety in a goal-line situation, you're responsible for covering a wide receiver,

it's a little bit less excusable. And so those two moments, that one drive right there, Demaryius Travis probably going to want to wear the white or the black shirt come film review time. So that will do it for the bad. Up next, literally the leftovers.

Some other things that I noticed, some questions that were answered, some questions that were not answered in the Patriots preseason opener. But before we do that, I want to remind everybody here over listening to the Locked On Patriots podcast with the great opportunity with our people, with our great friends, over at VividSeats.com. And we're getting now into, you know, training camp game, preseason games have begun. You want to get to these games.

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Up next, some lingering questions after the week one preseason game against the Washington Redskins. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now to close out this Friday installment, close out the week here at Locked On Patriots with some leftovers, some questions that were answered and maybe not answered

in New England's preseason opener against the Washington Redskins. Some questions for me that were answered. One, the offense without Tom Brady and Robert Gronkowski to an extent. Slow start. Like we said, 0 for 5 on third down conversions in the first half. You never want

to see something like that. I understand, you know, without Brady, without Gronkowski, but still. Look, this offense, I've said it before, offenses always lag behind defenses. Talked about it on this week. Slow start to this offense.

Maybe that Belichick halftime speech really did have some oomph to it. But a slow start for this offense. Offense without Brady and Gronkowski didn't look to be in sync. Left side of this offensive line, I think that's where they're going to run the football. Again, rough numbers. They ran it to that side 8 million and 1 times last night. Again, rough numbers. Just ran it to that side 8 million and 1 times last night. Again, rough numbers. Just back of the envelope type stuff.

Might have to go to the tape on it to confirm. But I think I'm close. I'm in the ballpark. Seriously, though, they ran the ball a ton to the left side. It seemed to be effective. It seemed to be flowing downhill, particularly as they got into the second half, third quarter, fourth quarter. So I think that's going to be their M.O.

They're going to run as much as they can to that left side behind big Trent Brown, who does seem to be their left tackle for the near future. Juwan Bentley, I dinged this pick when they made it. Seemed to be a little bit redundant with guys like Hightower, guys like Alandon Roberts. This kid can play. And the big question on him was, is he going to be able to cover in space against running backs, tight ends if need be? And I think he answered it at least a little bit last night on that play that I referenced earlier, where he was covering somebody in the flat, made an immediate tackle. Yeah, he could beat on the route, but you make the immediate tackle, you limit the damage. That's sometimes all you can ask for for a guy of his sort of playing style, of his prototype, of his trait base.

And so I was very impressed with him. Trent Harris too, very impressed with him. Derek Rivers looks to be back. That's another question I think got answered. We were all sort of excited to see what he could give the Pats off the edge. We got our answer.

Very athletic. He could attack the pocket. That's something this team desperately, desperately, desperately needs. If you've got him, if you've got Trey Flowers, Adrian Claiborne, maybe they get something on this Harris kid. attack the pocket. That's something this team desperately, desperately, desperately needs. If you've got him, if you've got Trey Flowers, Adrian Clayboard, maybe they get something in this Harris kid. I don't want to get too far over our skis, friends, but we might have a pass rush. That's like when Happy learned to putt. And so that's something that definitely has me excited right now. You can tell by the tone of my voice. Ralph Webb, Jeremy Hill.

We might have some running backs too. You know, Webb might face the more of the numbers game, you know, because of the fact you've still got James White. You've still got Rex Burkhead. Mike Gillisley might be the odd man out here, you know, looking at things right now. Jeremy Hill looks like the Jeremy Hill of old. Taylor Kyles had a tweet where he said he didn't want to get excited,

but it looks like he'll might be back. I'm going to go that step further like I did on Twitter last night and get excited. I'm excited about Hill. It seems to be he's lost a little bit of weight, seems athletic, that ankle seems like it's going to hold up. Excited to see what he did last night. And Ralph Webb looks like he can play. Man, they might have some good running backs there. A question that was kind of answered, but the final grade isn't in yet. Riley McCarron, Braxton Berrios. That might be the final wide receiver roster spot.

And it looks like McCarron was getting more early run as a true wide receiver. Both guys contributed in kick return, punt return type stuff. I will say, even though it got called back, my boy Berrios showed a little wiggle on one of his punt returns. It does look like that might be the final wide receiver roster battle for that last spot.

And we kind of knew that, but that was kind of confirmed. Questions that weren't really answered last night. There were two. A lot of guys sat out. Two of them. One was expected. One wasn't. Tom Brady sitting out on a day filled with a little bit of Brady news

of the good and of the uh-oh varieties. First of the good, seems like they're sort of reworking his contract. They're going to kick in some incentive type stuff and they're get you into the weeds of, you know, incentives likely to be met or not likely to be met. And there's some nerdy cap stuff that I'm not going to bother trying to figure out. I'm just going to say, if you want to figure that stuff out,

or better yet, have somebody tell you what you need to know, at Pat's Cap on Twitter. Miguel Benzon. Nobody does it better. Nobody does it better. The tried and true, the one, the only. Others have followed.

But when it comes to just pure Pat's Cap analysis, Miguel's the guy to go to. He's got a piece up over at Boston Sports Journal breaking it all down. I would highly recommend that you get a BSJ subscription and you read it. For nothing else, for Miguel stuff. Miguel, you're my man. Don't worry. Usually the

check will be in the mail kind of situation but this one's on me, my friend. Miguel does great work. Go check out his piece on what the Brady incentive based contract restructure might look like. The other Brady thing, though, Jim McBride over at the Boston Globe said, according to leaked sources, Brady, part of the reason he sat out, back soreness. Could this be a function of being 41? As a 41-year-old male, I will tell you yes. Or could this be something more? That remains to be seen.

So that's one that wasn't answered last night, is the Brady health situation. I think it's just, look, man, he seemed fine bouncing around the sidelines. There was a great picture. Will Brilson over at CBS Sports had a screen grab of what he captioned, three guys just looking ridiculously good looking together. And it was Brady, it was Edelman, and it was Eric Decker. And then this poor Nate Ebner in the background.

You got to find this tweet on Twitter, at Will Brosen. Got to check that out. It's pretty funny. Other question that wasn't answered, Isaiah Wynn didn't play last night. I was talking about how I was excited to see the offensive line rotation, excited to see Isaiah Wynn. We didn't see him. We didn't see Isaiah Wynn at all. Not a snap.

Now, is that a good thing? Are the Patriots satisfied with what they've seen so they didn't want to force him? Is he dealing with an injury? Because you saw a lot of veterans that didn't play, like Trey Flowers, like Tom Brady, like Burkhead, you know, Rob Gronkowski. Isaiah Wynn was an interesting name on that list.

Is there something there or not? That's a question that also was not answered. What is answered, however, my workload for the week, it is now done in the books here at Locked on Patriots. Hope you enjoyed the week. Hope you enjoyed the ride. For those of you who have been asking, my boy, at Captain Huggyface, two things for you, my friend.

One, Washington looked pretty good. Settle, Hamilton, that defensive lineman, Tim Settle, Hamilton, the linebacker they got in the sixth round, really liked those guys. Those guys pretty good. Settle, Hamilton, that defensive lineman Tim Settle, Hamilton, the linebacker they got in the sixth round, really liked those guys. Those guys looked good. Running back is going to be a loaded position. That's going to be a tough one. When you look at Washington, obviously Darius Geis,

it looks like the knee thing with him is going to be no big deal. He looked good early. You look at the rest of that running back group in Washington. Thompson looked good. I think the battle that's shaping up between Washington Thompson looked good, I think the battle that's shaping up between Kelly and Pirine I give the edge to Pirine he looked really nice last night

some of those wide receivers look like they can play don't sleep on Simi Cobbs I know he got flagged for a penalty there working back towards the play, but I think that defense looked okay too, particularly those guys, Tim Settle,

as well as Sean Dion Hamilton. I really like the way Sean Dion Hamilton played last night. So Washington looks like they might have a little bit to them this year. So there's that. And also Captain Huggyface,

he was nice enough to ask how my ear is doing. I'm upgraded from doubtful to questionable at this point in time. So I should be back to at least probable by Monday. But no matter what, I will be back with a show on Monday.

Hope you all enjoyed the week. Hope you all have a fantastic, fantastic weekend. Check out our sponsors, NordicTrack, nordictrack.com, as well as vividseats.com. Use those promo codes, locked on over there. Get yourself that Fusion CST series. Get yourself some seats to Pats games. You will be living the dream if you do both of those things as well as keeping it locked right here

to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots.