Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots - August 20, 2019: Appreciating Ryan Allen, Bailey Era Begins

Episode Date: August 20, 2019

Host Mike D’Abate welcomes Thomas Murphy back to Locked On Patriots, as the pair discuss the big shoes left behind by Ryan Allen, and the fact that Jake Bailey will fill them admirably.  Murph also offers his take on the expectations for Josh Gordon.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

and hello to all you Foxborough faithful and welcome to another edition of Locked On Patriots, your daily home for news, notes, analysis, and the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champion, the New England Patriots. Locked On Patriots, as always, is a part of the Locked On Podcast Network. I am your host, Mike DeBate, and I cover the Patriots for FullPressCoverage.com, which is where you can always find my written work, and you can also reach out to me on Twitter at MDABATEFPC, and be sure to follow Locked On Patriots on Twitter as well, at LO underscore

Patriots. Once again, there's a great show on tap for you today. My guest was so fun the first time around, I asked him back for a second go-round. Well, actually, he really never left the first time. He's kind of been sleeping on the couch here at the Locked On Patriots studio, and I just can't get rid of him, quite frankly. Obviously, I'm kidding.

But seriously, if there is a better man anywhere in New England, I don't know where you're going to find him. Thomas Murphy returns to lockdown today, and I am always proud to have him join me. However, before I welcome Murph in, we start with the Patriots news of the day. And just one day after Josh Gordon's reinstatement, another key component in the Patriots' core of wide receivers returned to the practice field on Monday. That's right, you guessed it. Super Bowl MVP Julian Edelman, who had suffered a fractured thumb back in July, was in full pads for the first time all summer.

Later in the day, it was reported that Edelman had indeed been activated off the non-football injury list, and obviously this is great news for the Patriots. At the outset of training camp, Edelman was reported to expectantly miss approximately about three weeks. And that timeline actually proved to be pretty accurate. So now Edelman has about three weeks to get into game shape for the opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers on September 8th. During his time, Edelman was not a stranger to the team while he was recovering. He had been present at the first 15 training camp practices. He wasn't in uniform, however, but he did participate in pre-practice workouts, did a lot of work alongside veteran wide receiver Demarius Thomas,

who Thomas is still on the physically unable to perform list. But the sign that Julian was making great progress really started to emerge last week in Tennessee. Before the joint practices in Nashville, Kevin Duffy of the Boston Herald pointed out that both Edelman and Thomas were running agility ladders and wind sprints, and Edelman looked to be in great shape doing that. So it's great to see him back. It'll be definitely good to have him back on the field for the New England Patriots,

and a good sign that he may indeed be ready to go week one. And I think we all expected that, but it's nice to get that confirmation. Now, in addition to Edelman, tight end Matt Lacoste and wide receiver Maurice Harris also returned to practice yesterday. Lacoste had suffered an ankle injury in the preseason opener against the Lions. Harris was injured on the first day of joint practices in Tennessee, exited, didn't come back, didn't see any action on Saturday. But these two guys were back out on the field yesterday, along with Nikhil Harry, and Nikhil Harry was in full pads for Monday's session. That's important to remember because Harry was a non-participant

for both the joint practices in Nashville. He had flown back to Boston on Thursday night to receive additional treatment for a few injuries that he's been nursing, but he's making progress and is expected to be ready for the regular season opener against the Steelers. A couple of sources have confirmed that to both the Boston Herald, Boston Globe, and some of the other area publications. So Harry looks to be making progress, and we look forward to hopefully seeing him on the field on Sunday night, September 8th, when the Patriots take on the Steelers again.

Yesterday there were a couple of absentees, and that was no surprise that both Derek Rivers and Shaliqua Calhoun, both defensive ends, were not on the practice field. Both players were injured on the same series of the win over Tennessee on Saturday. It definitely is worth keeping an eye on to see what the health of these two guys is going to be. So as for Josh Gordon, Josh Gordon was on the field, as previously mentioned. He took the field with his teammates Monday afternoon. Gordon had been placed on the non-football injury list on Sunday.

He was not in pads yesterday, but it should be noted that he was wearing his familiar number 10. So in case you were wondering, Gordon looks to have retained that number. And briefly switching gears to now to veteran punter Ryan Allen. He was one of the unsung performers in the New England Patriots' victory over the L.A. Rams in Super Bowl LIII. Word broke yesterday evening that he was being informed that he would be released by the club. That was confirmed by multiple sources.

Jim McBride of the Boston Globe was the first to break the story. So what that means now is that rookie Jake Bailey of Stanford, and keep in mind the Patriots traded up to select him in the fifth round, 163rd overall, now takes over the job that Allen has held since 2013. The selection of Bailey did create longer odds for Allen to stick around, even though he really had, I think, probably one of his best performances, arguably his best performance of his career in the Super Bowl. Allen is a great, great directional punter

who his control really helped offset a lack of power at times, but he always managed to be able to put the ball where it needed to be put, and that was on full display in the Super Bowl this year. He had five punts for 215 yards with three bunts down inside the 10-yard line. And, of course, the Patriots won that game 13-3, and field position was so critical. It really, really was an easy choice at that point to consider Allen for a Super Bowl MVP nod.

And while Julian Edelman was definitely deserving of the award, I don't think anybody would have flinched too much if Allen was given that opportunity. So it really is a safe bet that I think Allen will find work quickly, and it really speaks volumes that Bill Belichick and the Patriots released Allen early, allowing him to catch on with another team in advance of the season. They don't do that for just anyone, folks,

and it shows the amount of respect they have for him and really is indicative of how well-liked Allen was by his coaches and his teammates alike. To me, he's a true class act, and he'll continue his great career elsewhere very soon. Before I welcome in our guest this morning, though, I just wanted to take a moment to address the guys out there and that topic that is sometimes taboo but always on the brain, and that is bedroom activities, guys.

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Blue Chew is the better, cheaper, faster choice, and we thank them for sponsoring the podcast. You know, sometimes life happens, and something goes beyond your control that can change things up a bit. And in those moments, you go to your family, you go to your blood, and you go to the click. And again, thank you all for honoring my late 90s WWE references lately, but for me i'm very

fortunate because this man just happens to be one of the best at what he does you know him as a featured columnist for diehardbostonsportsfans.com he is the co-host of the sports infusion and one patriots place podcast which is really one of the best casts in the region as i said the last time definitely needs to be a part of your rotation if it's not already. He is my main green man, and the incomparable Thomas Murphy. Murph, welcome back to Locked On Patriots. Thanks so much for coming on with me this morning.

Oh, Mike, thanks for having me, man. It's always a blast when I can get together with you and talk any subject, never mind what is hands down one of our favorite subjects, and that's football, and even more minute, the Patriots. Hell yeah. Absolutely.

Definitely. And we do that well. We're pretty well adept at being able to switch topics and go up and down and I think hopefully be a little entertaining in the process, but we'll leave our listeners to determine that. Yeah. Murph, I know you're a big fan of Ryan Allen, as am I. And really, I mean, how can you not be? As I said earlier, he's a true

pro. And I think one of the key reasons for the Pat's success in the Super Bowl, and really over the past six years, there's no question about that. And no one seems to think he's going to be out of work long. In your opinion, what made Allen such a great fit for the past few seasons, and where do you think he might end up in the grand scheme of things in 2019? Well, you brought up earlier, I was, sorry, I was eavesdropping on the beginning of the show, his amazing ability to place a punt exactly where he wanted to. Allen never had the greatest hang time in the world, but it was always good enough to get a gunner down there to down a ball wherever it needed to be.

It was almost like dropping a dime onto a carpet, a really thick, plush carpet. He kicked a soft ball. For those of you that don't know what I mean, it means that it would land and that ball would stick. For some reason, he always got the roll that he needed. You didn't see a lot of balls going back. I don't know if that's a left-handed kicker thing or whatever. This is also going to be the first time we haven't had a left-handed

kicker in New England in quite some time. But between being left-handed, the touch that he put on a kick, it was really phenomenal to watch. And I was. I was one of the guys last year during the Super Bowl that was standing on the sofa screaming, give the MVP to Ryan Allen because I thought he was – I know people. I understand what was done on the field, and Julian Edelman is an amazing talent. But what Ryan Allen was able to do last year during that game was extraordinary. It wasn't something that you see in any Super Bowl. A punter that was used to that extent and what he was able to do in that game was just jaw-dropping. And I really think that the Patriots would not have won that game without Ryan Allen doing what he did on that field.

And no, I agree, he is not going to be out of work for long. I don't know if people heard it while I was sitting over here on the sofa, actually just rolling out of bed because, as Mike said, this is where I live now. My phone's blown up, and it's Adam Schefter asking me, Murph, are you hearing anything? Where's Ryan Allen going to land? I'm not sure where he's going to land, but he's going to land somewhere, and he's going to land on one foot because the other foot's going to be kicking a ball somewhere

for someone else and doing a great job. I want to wish Ryan nothing but the best. Bill did not shop Ryan Allen at all. I said after the draft and leading up to this preseason that there was a good chance that he would be traded and not cut because I thought there would be enough interest out there to bring him in that somebody he could get back that draft pick that he gave up to bring in a new punter. But Bill didn't even do that. He just did him a solid and said, you go choose the next chapter in your life, and he did it early, so there would be more opportunity to do that.

One thing that nobody's really talking about is the Patriots are going to have a new holder for the first time in quite some time. Ryan Allen was also the holder on field goals, And I want to see how Jake Bailey handles that. He did a little bit of it the other night, but it wasn't something that he did in college an awful lot from what I remember. Honestly, folks, I was not checking out too much tape of Jake Bailey, and I didn't think to check out his holding skills, something that is very important in this league, ask Tony Romo.

Getting a field goal snapped down and in the right way and being on the same page as your field goal kicker. So that's something else that we're going to keep an eye on the next couple of weeks. Yeah, that's a great point about holding, and I don't believe Bailey had a lot of experience doing that in college. I know he handled those duties in high school and actually handled some kicking duties in high school as well, believe it or not. He actually kicked two 54-yarders at one point.

Should Patriots fans have any concern about the leg of Steven Kostowski? And I think that's a little premature to put that on him right now. But Bailey could step in if there is a need for that, and it allows them to be able to have somebody back there that can do it. But the holding is definitely something interesting. We've read reports about how close Kostowski, Ryan Allen, and snapper Joe Cardona had become over the last couple of years. They would practice before the games.

They would stay late after the games. They really developed sort of like a Wolfpack type of relationship, and I know I'm using that analogy from Tom and Brissette and Jimmy Garoppolo. Rotating poker night. Exactly, right? You guys were as close as they come. And it really does speak to the volumes of how Allen will be missed. And by all accounts, Bailey's fitting in well.

He seems to be having a great rapport with his teammates. So I don't think that's going to necessarily be an issue there. But it will be interesting to see how the rookie's able to take over the duties that a veteran had and did so well here for six years. And let's face it, the Patriots have a notable history of left-footed punters. This is their first righty, I think, in the Bill Belichick era. Ken Walter, Josh Miller, Chris Hansen, Zoltan Mesko, and of course Allen have all excelled at situational and directional punting. And that, to me, is going to be where Bailey really needs to step it up and be a part of that. At this point, when it comes to the actual rookie on the

field, and we've mentioned now about his holding skills, do you think that Patriots fans should have any concern about the rookie, or do you think this will either be an improvement or, at worst, a wash in talent at the position now that Bailey officially looks like he has the job? I'm not necessarily sure that it's going to be an improvement. I am positive that it's going to be at least a wash. The kid is a phenomenal talent. We keep talking about his hang time. He could probably kick this ball out of many domed stadiums.

He could hit some roofs, is what I'm saying. He would definitely dent the jumbotron at Texas Stadium, or whatever the hell they're calling the Cowboys Stadium now. But what a lot of people aren't talking about is it created $780,000 in cap space. Allen was on a one-year, $1.5 million contract, included just $100,000 in guaranteed money. So it's creating a ton of cap space that we know Bill will use in some way, shape, or form, either now or during the season. A lot of people get on the Patriots for having so much space under the cap.

When they're talking about that, it's usually $4.5 to $5.5 million that he has under the cap. This will add to that, and it's money that he uses uh during the year to um to bring in anybody that that he sees you know that could help them and push them over the top and uh but no i i just getting back to you i hate when i do that we always do that man we sit there and i start rambling for half hour no i think it will at, I think it will at least be a wash. The kid is really, really good. And, you know, God bless Ryan Allen. He's leaving here with more Super Bowl rings than Drew Brees,

more Super Bowl rings than Peyton Manning, more Super Bowl rings than any punter in the history of the NFL. So that's one hell of a career. I don't know if Ryan Allen will be talked about in the same breath as Ray Guy outside of New England, but he sure as hell will be around my dinner table for the rest of his life. Yeah, and very, very well said when it comes to Alan, and we definitely wish him the best. There's no question about it.

What he was able to contribute here in New England was really second to none, and a great six seasons, and hopefully he'll catch on somewhere quickly and continue what has already been a great career. Mm-hmm. And, you know, it opens up a nice spot on the 90 man, that's for sure. It's already been filled. Absolutely, it definitely has. Getting back to filling those roster spots,

over the weekend the Patriots welcomed back Josh Gordon, who was conditionally reinstated. It definitely was a big moment for Patriots fans, for the Patriots players. You hear a lot of the players, Tom Brady, Matthew Slater, just going above and beyond to really praise this kid and really hope that he's able to put some of the difficulty he's had behind him and really move forward in what could be a bright career

if he's able to stay healthy and on the field. But a lot of fans are expecting immediate fireworks when Josh returns. They're expecting these prolific plays that he can make down the field. And while I think there's going to be some of that, I said in this podcast yesterday that those expectations are probably a bit lofty and for a lot of reasons, which I got into a couple of those just now. But what is your take on Josh and really what should be expected of him in the coming weeks? Well, I mean, a lot of people look back at how Josh came in last year

and the things that he was able to do, and they keep harking back. Wow, sorry, Bob Soce. I just stole a tweet from Bob Soce. Nobody harks back like our good friend Bob. But they look back, they jump back into the Wayback Machine, and they think about Josh Gordon, you know, of seven years ago, of six years. This is a veteran that's been in this, you know, he's not 23 years old coming off of a suspension.

He's much older than that. I think we need to temper our expectations to the point where, yes, last year for the time that he was on the field, he did lead the NFL in yards per attempt. A lot of his stuff was coming on crossing routes, on seam routes, on things that he was getting a lot of yak out of. And that's what I think you're going to be seeing again this year from him. It's a different ball player than the one that we all romanticize. And a lot of people are saying that the offense was actually better after Josh left. I'm not sure if it was better.

If you look at the numbers, it wasn't. Tom was throwing for more yards when he was on the field. The team was putting up more points when he was on the field. But it evolved into something different. It evolved into something that was more diverse. And I think that's what those people were seeing. While Josh was here, I thought the play of the game was forced to him quite a bit to get him involved and keep him on page and just to get him acclimated with the system.

He's been in it for a year now, and whether or not people know this, the playbook has been available to him. He did walk out of the training facility with one, I believe, so he's going to know that tree a little bit better. He did work out with Tom Brady a couple of times. I found out that that was something that was not against the rules, that friends can hang out when they're suspended. He just can't go to the facility.

I found that surprising. I really did. I don't know about any of you, but I found that surprising. So he was able to work with Tom a little bit. I think Josh's role is going to be like the Patriots' offense after he was suspended last year. I think it'll be more diverse this year. I'm going to keep beating this drum until

I get the answer that I want. I want Josh Gordon to run from the tight end position. I really do. I think that he can come in here and he can not put his hand down in the dirt and be a blocker, although he's a very good blocker for a receiver. But he's somebody that can run that route tree that we've lost with Rob Gronkowski's exodus. He's somebody who has the body type.

He has swollen out of a wide receiver role. He is literally the biggest, most cut-up wide receiver that may have ever played in the NFL right now. And while you won't see a T.E. next to his name, I do believe that you're going to see him running those same routes, running those same seam routes, running those comebackers, making things really difficult for safeties that just cannot cover him, for linebackers that just cannot keep up with him.

I don't want to bring up, well, yeah, I'll bring it up, Aaron Hernandez's name, but that Joker-type role is something that he's going to be able to do. It's going to be a different incarnation. I know that Bill wants to get Julian Edelman out on the outside more often. I'm not sure that's going to play out the way that maybe he would like with the emergence of some other wide receivers in this camp that I'm sure we're going to talk briefly about in a minute. But it's going to be fun. It's going to be a lot of fun. I would like to see him in pads and getting this stuff in right now. I don't understand why he can't play in the next preseason game. You're either suspended or you're not, one or the other.

I don't get that. But he's got another opportunity to do something great here and get another Super Bowl ring. And I say another one because Bob Kraft made sure that he got one last year, and rightfully so. Yeah, absolutely rightfully so. And it's interesting that you bring up the point about the tight end position because I was actually thinking about that a little bit the other day

in doing my prep for yesterday's show. I did a little bit of research into the work that he's been doing with Tim Montgomery and some of the body transformation that Josh has gone through. And I made a comment on here yesterday that he's pretty ripped up, and he really is. If you look at Josh, the way he is, he does have that body type. So it'll be interesting to see if he can push some guys around and maybe even line up in some of that tight end set. They probably won't call it that because the Patriots offense

is going to evolve a little bit more this year. You're not going to see the traditional tight end position, I think, the way you saw it with Gronk in terms of receiving and blocking. Let's face it, who's going to be able to give you that type of productivity that Gronk gave you? You've got to Frankenstein this, man. Yeah, absolutely. But Gordon definitely does

fit that mold so I'm looking forward to it I know we're all looking forward to it and seeing the depth of this wide receivers position Murph once again the half hour just completely flies when the two of us are talking and I really really appreciate you coming on today before I have you

take your leave and we put you back to sleep on the couch, no, just kidding, my friend, just take a moment to let our listeners know once again where they can find your amazing content and where they can follow you and interact with you on social media. Well, the easiest way is to follow me on Twitter at TeamERF207. You can hear about everything that's going on, including whatever's happening in my son's baseball life. And you can read me at DieHardBostonSportsFans.

I will be getting into my preseason. I don't do roster breakdowns. I leave that for the much more educated people like Phil Perry and those guys. Of course, Steve Balistrieri. But I'll be doing my pre-gaming. I'll be writing my columns over there at diehardbostonsportsfans.com. You can check that out. And of course, you can listen to me every week on One Patriots Place and, of course, the Sports Infusion with the one and only sporty diva, Pamela Michelle.

Thank you, Mike. Thank you very much for having me. And a great mutual friend as well, and I would love to have Pamela in this hot seat one of these days. Maybe as we come closer to that Giants game, maybe we can get Pamela on here and we can go back and forth a little bit on the Pats Giants, but

once again, my friend, thank you for joining me. It's always informative, always fun when I get a chance to share the mic with you, and I hope that our listeners enjoyed it as well. I'm sure they did. How could they not? Murph is always, always great and brings the wisdom and counsel the way only he can do it. As for me, I will be back tomorrow. I'll continue to take a look ahead to preseason game three on Thursday as the Patriots take on the Carolina Panthers at Gillette Stadium. Another special guest lined up for tomorrow, so stay tuned, and we look forward to bringing you that as well.

As always, make sure to join us each and every day on the Locked On Patriots podcast and subscribe to Locked On Patriots via your favorite podcast provider. Once again, I'm Mike DeBate, and I thank you so much for listening today. Have a great day, everybody.