Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots December 13, 2017 - Scouting the Steelers with Alex Kozora

Episode Date: December 13, 2017

Alex Kozora from Steelers Depot stops by to preview the upcoming meeting between New England and Pittsburgh.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome everybody to Locked On Patriots for Wednesday, December 13th. Mark Schofield here in the big chair and you can follow my work. You can find me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. You can follow my work at Bleacher Report where I'm the quarterback scout for the NFL 1000 project. Follow me over at Inside the Pylon at ITPylon, where I do quarterbacks, scheme analysis, basically anything and everything. You can also, of course, follow the work over at LockedOnPatriots.com. If you listened to yesterday's show, you know that we are on to Pittsburgh. I told you we're going to have a great guest to kick off Pittsburgh week. I'm joined now by Alex Cazorra, a writer for Steelers Depot.

Please follow Alex on Twitter at Alex underscore Cazorra, which is K-O-Z-O-R-A. Alex, my friend, it's been a while, but how you doing, man? I'm good, Mark. Thanks for having me on. I was talking to you before we got started, and I asked, I don't know who's more nervous about this game this week, you or I? Yeah, I don't know how to answer that. I think in the aftermath of what we saw from New England last night, it's probably me, but I don't know, and I

guess we can get into that here, but I think the best way to start sort of is away from the field, and Ryan Chazier had the injury against the Bengals two weeks ago, went through some spinal surgery. Is there any sort of update on his status, anything that you've heard? Nothing major outside of the obvious. Tuesday, he was placed on injured reserve. So of course his season is over, but that, you know, is obviously secondary and no surprise to anyone who knows the extent of the injury. You know, obviously the number one thing you hope for right now is just his own personal wellbeing, being able to walk again and getting back to a full health and full recovery in that way for his day-to-day life, for his family life, for things of that nature. So football's kind of secondary right now, but he's going to be used as a source of inspiration for the Steelers the rest of the

way. As difficult as he is to replace, and my goodness, as he's almost impossible to replace, this team's going to rally around the guy. And, you know, when they beat the Ravens last week and won the AFC North, one of the first things they did after the game was FaceTime Shazier in the hospital. And that was a really cool scene and put a smile on his face and certainly my face as well. You know, Alex, we can stay on the defensive side of the ball. And, you know, Pittsburgh traditionally known for stout defenses, but they've taken perhaps a step back in the past few weeks. They gave up 130 rushing yards and a three-point win over the Bengals, gave up 152 on the ground, and 38 points to the Joe Flacco-led Baltimore Ravens.

What's the state of this defense right now? Is the loss of Shazier a big part of their recent struggles? It certainly is, Mark. It's much of a mash unit right now where they're just trying to mix and match and get different guys in there. And, you know, to replace a guy like Shazier, the Steelers have talked about it. It's pretty clear and, again, obvious that it's going to be more than a one-person job. They had three different guys trying to replace Shazier against the Ravens

to mixed results, and that's being kind. You have the left corner spot with Joe Hayden. Now, Hayden could play against the Patriots this week tomlin said he's going to practice he does not know what capacity he'll practice so that's something certainly worth watching for both fan bases but if he can't go then you might get a mix and match if cody sends the ball and with the rookie cam sutton and if it's going to be cam sutton then you know tom brady's going to go after sudden the way they went after already burns who was a rookie last year so uh you know Tom Brady's going to go after Sutton the way they went after Artie Burns, who was a rookie last year. So, you know, the weird thing is with the run defense, because that's been normally stout this year. You have a really strong defensive line with Tewitt Hayward,

Javon Hargrave. The outside linebackers have done a good job against the run setting the edge. I think one weird thing that's popped up is just some of the alignment issues, you know, against the Bengals, where the Bengals had success running the football two weeks ago, the Steelers were walking their inside linebacker out when the tight end got flexed out. That was opening the bubble in the B-gap. Some of the zone runs the Bengals were running just had clear runways, where it doesn't matter what the defensive line does. The defensive line's always going to be wrong in a zone scheme if the back is reading things right.

And it was creating big holes in the second level. Overall, tackling's been a major issue uh they were awful against the Ravens they probably missed 20 plus tackles so that's uh been some popcorn some weeks it's good some weeks it's really bad Chicago back in week three was really bad uh last week against the Ravens was really bad but if you're a team that can run outside zone like the Ravens do you're gonna have success and I think that's just part of uh the the style the defensive line the Steelers are more of a one gap team now because they have guys that can do it like Haywood like to it like Hargrave um and whenever you're playing nickel you know your guys are playing inside you have your one tech your three tech and the outside linebackers are going to cheat inside and either play outside shoulder on the tackle maybe head up on the tight end anders are going to cheat inside and either play outside shoulder on the tackle, maybe head up on the tight end, and that's going to allow the tackle,

allow the tight end to reach the outside backers and get the edge in an outside zone scheme. So the Ravens run outside zone really well. I'm not sure how much the Patriots do it, but that's certainly one way to beat the Steelers. Yeah, and outside zone, it is a component of their run game right now. They've been pretty diverse this year with some outside zone, with some power stuff. They do a lot of wham stuff. Relying on fullback James Devlin,

which we saw Monday night against the Dolphins until the game sort of got away from them. They got away from the run game a bit. You mentioned, Alex, alignment, tackling, things like that that have contributed to recent struggles. And you wrote this week, referencing some comments from Cam Hayward, that the Steelers' defense needs to stop with the absurd mistakes. You know, are those some of the mistakes the defense has been making over the past few weeks,

and can those get corrected quickly? I'd say yes to both. Those mistakes being penalties. Steelers had four defensive penalties. They were two personal fouls on Sean Davis, two on Artie Burns, a pass interference call. Now the one was kind of ticky-tack, so, you know, what can you do there? Two personal fouls on Sean Davis, two on Artie Burns, pass interference calls. Now the one was kind of ticky-tack, so what can you do there?

But certainly big chunk plays allowed by the defense. But I think the thing that bothered me and Steelers fan base the most was just the missed tackles. Guys have to be able to rally to the football. Guys have to be able to wrap up. You can't go in on a shoulder against, especially big backs like Alex Collins. You can't expect a shoulder tackle to bring those guys down. um again that's been a frustrating part teams worked on it hard i think last week or two weeks ago they were back in pads for a practice which you know december football to be in pads is kind of uncommon um just to try to rep that stuff and obviously it hasn't been good enough but um again whenever you're missing some of the big pieces like a guy like

ryan chazier who um you know can the perimeter, again, going back to the outside zone stuff. Guys like Sean Spence, Arthur Motes are not going to be able to get to the edge the way that Chazier will. So that's a big loss that you just aren't going to be able to make up for. But yeah, just the fundamental stuff. I mean, you're, you know, this far into the season, we're heading, you know, into mid-December. You shouldn't have these issues with tackling, and that's certainly a big frustration. You know, Alex, we started talking about Shazier, and we talked about his loss a little bit,

and obviously, like you said, you know, his health is tantamount right now, and that's what everybody's concerns and thoughts are. We're all sort of pulling for Shazier and hoping the best for him. But when it comes to this defense on the field, how have they tried to replace Ryan Shazier? Have they been relying on guys like, you know, like you know TJ Watt to do some different stuff have they been around McKavich to do some different stuff how have they approached the loss on the field they've literally thrown the kitchen sink at it Mark they've tried to do basically everything possible um now Tyler Medakevich suffered a shoulder injury against the Bengals he missed

last week his status is still up in the air. My guess is he's not going to play, but we'll see. So what they've done is a couple things. They've kicked in inside Arthur Moe, who's played outside linebacker. He played inside of Buffalo. He rotated in with Sean Spence, who was re-signed this past week and got the start. So Spence might open up as a starter against the Patriots with some sort of rotation there. They've used number 54, LJ Ford, who's more of an athletic MAAC linebacker, in some dime packages, certain long-covered stuff. And then also they used three times against the Ravens was a 3-2-6 dime defense

with their three defensive linemen, so Tewitt, Hayward, and Hargrave, both outside linebackers, no inside linebackers, and then six DBs. They used that three times. They forced two incompletions, and it kind of had some decent success to it. So honestly, like the team has said, and they mean it when they say it, that you can't use one guy to replace Ryan Chazier. He's just that talented.

He was an every-down guy. He was the quarterback of that defense. He had the green dot. He was the communicator. That goes to Vince Williams now. But yeah, they've done literally, I think, everything that you can think of to try to replace number 50.

Mark Schofield, Alex Cazor. We're talking about the upcoming game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots. We're going to have more with Alex in a second. But first, I want to remind everybody about the great opportunity we have for you over at Draft.com.

Hey there, Locked On Patriots listeners. What's the best part of fantasy football? It's the draft, right? Trying to match which with your buddies, trying to see if you can find that late round pick that could propel you to a title. What's the best part about daily

fantasy sports? It's winning money, right? And doing it every week. What if you could combine the two? That's what you get with Draft.com. You get to play in a real live snake draft, but you're done in under five minutes and they last for just one week. And you can win money too.

That's what you get over at Draft.com. And listen up, it's not too late to join the half a million people that have already downloaded Draft this season. All new players get a free entry into a real money draft when you make your first deposit. But you have to use the promo code LONFL. That's right, you can play a real money game for free just by using this promo code LONFL. And it gets even better.

Draft is so sure you'll love it that they're even offering Locked On Patriots listeners a money-back guarantee up to $100. And the best part? When you play for cold hard cash, your chances of winning on Draft.com are 80% better than on the salary cap sites because there's no salary cap. How great is that? So get started today. Sign up over at Draft.com. Search Draft in your app store and get started today. Sign up over at draft.com, search draft in your app store, and get signed up. I'm going to be

putting out a link later in the week to set up a draft with Locked On Patriots listeners and I hope to see you there. Just remember, use that promo code LONFL when you sign up. Okay, Alex, let's dive back into this and stay in with the defense for a few more questions.

A player that seems to be stepping up the past few weeks is that rookie edge T.J. Watt. Game clinching sack against Baltimore. Hayward said after the game that Watt is not afraid of the moment. What have you seen from Watt sort of over the course of his rookie year from when he started to now? I think honestly, Mark, one of the first things you notice about T.J. Watt, and I was a training camp and was at every practice, and it became pretty evident, was his conditioning. And that's such an underrated trait, underrated characteristic people overlook when they talk about rookies because most of these guys just aren't in football shape, in NFL shape. They get dinged by a soft tissue injury or they just can't go through practice. They're different at the end end the way that they start for what it's all been consistent and steady and i'm sure a large part of that has to do with his

football background being part of the watt family um everyone knows the story about that but um you know he's just done everything and it's been steady it's been clean um maybe a little bit of a wane from the start of the year he's also had some nagging injuries um a little bit of a groin injury that suffered mid-season um maybe that's affecting him a tiny bit, but he does it all. He'll rush well. He might be their best pass rusher on the edge right now, but Dupree hasn't played to the level that he has to. He drops in the coverage an absurd amount.

I forget the exact number. We chart it every week, but I think he's around 35% to 40% drop percentage this season, which is such an absurd number by LeBeau's standards, his old standards, or what Keith Butler has done, he's able to stunt that stuff he did at Wisconsin. So the Steelers have talked about it, that Watt was a really easy evaluation because the way Wisconsin used him is similar to how the Steelers used him. He played on his feet. He dropped into coverage a lot.

They ran some exotic blitz concepts and some stunts and things like that. So he's been a quick study. He's been excellent in coverage. You know, he's been a hardworking guy. No one has a bad thing to say about him. But again, I think it all goes back to his conditioning, letting him play the high volume of snaps that he does and play them at a really high level. Alex, looking ahead to Sunday, you know, when these teams have met, at least in recent history, Steelers defense has struggled a little bit against Tom Brady in this Patriots offense. I know you and others sort of look at the zone coverage, looks the Steelers use, spot drop it into coverage as a potential reason

why. And is this still a concern of the Steelers adjusted in the secondary this year and in recent weeks? Struggled a little bit. You're being kind, Mark. I appreciate that. It's been a lot more than that, I think. Yeah, no, I think the spot dropping has been one of the big issues. And that's why the buzzword this entire offseason was play more man coverage. And I think if you look at the numbers, I haven't looked at them too closely. The Steelers statistically haven't played a lot of man coverage, but I think they do it in key situation. And that's a big difference. In third and medium, third and short, they're going to play a lot of cover one. They're going to play a lot of man coverage, uh, as opposed to where last year they might be playing more traditional cover three, but, but that's still one of my number one concerns is spot dropping. Because if I was an opposing offensive coordinator and I'm thinking, how do I beat the Steelers defense? I'm looking

at the seam routes. I'm running four verticals every play because the Steelers just don't often enough match number two down the seam. And you get big plays downfield that the safety can't get there in time. If it's a well-thrown ball, which Tom Brady, you know, it's going to be, you're going to get big chunk plays that way. So that's still been my concern. I've seen it too often. And then the Steelers defense, you know, it's a pretty young secondary. There's been a lot of new faces with some of the injuries.

So it's created some miscommunication. And over the last four to five weeks, there's just been chunk play after chunk play, and it's been a real, again, source of frustration for this defense. So that makes me really nervous about a Tom Brady offense because I'm sure they're going to play a whole lot better than they did against Miami, and they're going to take some chances down the field and create some big plays.

Let's talk about offense now. We can switch gears to what the Steelers have been doing in recent weeks with the football in their hands. And, you know, Alex, you know me. I'm a quarterback guy, so let's start there. Watching Roethlisberger, at least early in this year, it seemed like he was a bit shaky, was missing on some deep throws, but he looks dialed in right now.

Is that an accurate statement? Yeah, 100%. You know, For the first half of the season, I think it's fair to say that no one really knew what was happening with Ben. But honestly, I think one of the biggest differences is just him being able to play at home and being able to run his no-huddle offense. Obviously, when you're on the road, that's a lot tougher to do. When you're at home, you're comfortable. The crowd noise isn't a factor. And so Ben's at his best whenever he's running the no huddle and he's running the show. But yeah, I mean he's been as good – this four-week or four-week – one-month stretch has been basically as good as he's played probably at any four-week stretch in his entire career, which is such a crazy statement to think about when not too long ago people were asking if Ben was done and if he was washed up and making mountains out of molehills about his maybe-I-don't-have-it-anymore comments and things like that. But he's been excellent.

I think the line's done a great job of giving him time, so you have to start with the offensive line. But Ben's been a lot smarter with the football and not forcing it downfield as often, taking his chances when they're there. But if they're not, he's not afraid to throw the horizontal play, the check down, and leave you on bell. Bell's been a big part of the passing game over the last month which i think it's not a coincidence of why ben's played better the whole offense has played better you know bell is getting more involved there um and the tight ends have gotten more involved look at the ravens

game jesse james france mcdonald had some of their best games uh of the season um so that's been distributing the football getting other guys involved. And then whenever the defense finally caves and starts giving more attention to other guys and not playing too high, then you're going to go deep to AB. Alex, are you implying that people in this industry sometimes make mountains out of molehills? Never, never. Not on Twitter, especially. It's very rational. Alex, you mentioned Le'Veon Bell. and I went back and started looking at the AFC Championship game from last year, and I was reminded that Bell was largely limited with a groin injury. But he seems 100% now.

Could his presence sort of be a defining factor in the difference between last year's meeting and what we see on Sunday? Sure. He's the best back in the NFL. I have no reservations about saying that. Now, I don't know if Tomlin had him on the injury report, but he did suffer a little knee. Maybe Tomlin called it a quad, so there was something that happened against the Ravens that caused him to miss a couple of snaps. I think he's going to be fine. I don't think it's going to be a big issue, but I'm going to monitor that throughout the week. But again, like I said about TJ Watt, I talk about conditioning and volume of snaps and just being available. And that's what Le'Veon Bell has done this year.

And that's what Le'Veon Bell does better than any other running back in the NFL. He's playing 91% of the snaps this year. I think there's only one other running back in the NFL. I think it's Todd Gurley that's playing above 75%. So just he's an all-situations, all-downs kind of guy. And, you know know you remember that run that bell had with stiff arm draker patrick with 42 yard and it was a highlight real play what i loved most about that play was not just a stiff arm which was fantastic but he stayed in for like

five snaps after that even though he just ran 42 yards and zigzagged all over the entire field you know any other running back is tapping out after that play and trying to get a breather so again it's his conditioning it's his pass protection his ability to recognize and pick up blitzes and then again what he's doing as a receiver like i said getting a lot more involved in the passing game over the last month he's on a pace to set a personal high in receptions i think 88 90 receptions or so um so that's been huge and then of course what he offers as a runner um the average does not look great i think some of that situation with some of that's volume based because he's just gotten the ball so much but um you know you know that you're gonna have to dial in and find a way to stop 26 speaking of finding ways to stop guys you're gonna worry about

number 84 too because over the past four weeks and you know this alex 627 receiving yard receiving yards on 39 catches for six touchdowns two-part question here is antonio brown an mvp candidate and what can teams do if anything to contain him right now i mean i'm gonna sound like a homer here uh but go ahead because i think i think he has to be in the conversation especially as unfortunate as it was you know to have a guy like carson wentz to go down um that could open up another you know uh guy in the conversation and it's not just you know the stats but just how how dominant he's been above everyone else he's got what 11 more catches in the second place guy he's got i think over close to 300 yards more than the uh second place guy it's been a level of dominance and i mean the guy just does not have a bad game and it's so rare

for the wide receiver position because sometimes you know the quarterback's bad or whatever the case is or you're just taken away by the defense but you know the second part of your question how do you stop him i think the only way that he gets stopped is if the offense stops itself um sometimes haley's done some bad things with i think ab where he hasn't gotten him you know hasn't moved to split enough hasn't moved into the slot enough but i I think Haley's been pretty good about that this season of kind of moving him around and getting him a free release. But I mean, you can bracket him and you can try to, you know, press him with the line. You can disguise coverage. I haven't found a single thing that's worked against Antonio Brown. So good luck with that one.

Patriots fans, they know Ben, they know Bell, they know Brown, they know the Killer Bs. And you may have alluded to a couple of options here, but is there an unsung hero for this offense in 2017? And if so, please introduce Locked On Patriots listeners to that person or persons. I mean, I think most people know Juju Smith-Schuster, maybe more for the off-the-field social media stuff.

But he's been such a valuable piece as that guy over the middle because you know obviously since heath miller's been retired they haven't had that tight end to step up now jesse james had the best game of his career last week the tight ends really got involved but um generally speaking to have that kind of middle of the field option so when teams go too high you have a guy that can run down the seam and force teams to try to stay single high um it's been judas mchuster uh he's got he's shown all the traits he showed at usc in the nfl his toughness his ability to work on a scramble drill uh his football iq making combative catches over the middle and again for a guy that just turned you know 21 years old it's really remarkable the level

of maturity and how quickly he's grown and progressed and also he's a guy that missed a good bit of training camp as well usually that's going to set back a lot of players especially receivers because it's such a tough position to transition to in the nfl for a rookie but he's passed every test with flying colors he's been an enforcer a guy that's been involved in the uh you know run game uh you know cracking safeties and and things like that the other name i'll give you real quick because you have to show some love to the offensive line is right tackle Chris Hubbard. The Steelers, they haven't had Marcus Gilbert for a large chunk of the season.

He's been suspended. Actually, the Patriots games his last game before he's able to come back. So they brought in Chris Hubbard, who's been a Swiss Army Knight for him, who came in as an undrafted free agent from UAB. Probably one of the smallest tackles in the NFL, about 295 pounds-ish.

He was a guy that can play all five positions, and that was his original role was a backup who just could come in at a moment's notice. Now he's settled into that right tackle spot to replace Gilbert, and he's done a really strong job. What he did against Terrell Suggs last week was incredibly impressive. He did well against the Bengals the week before. Bengals are always going to give you a tough matchup with their kind of freaky-looking pass rushers that they have.

He has made Steelers fans, for the moment at least, forget about Marcus Gilbert, which is the biggest compliment I can give. And for anyone looking to the future, Hubbard's going to be a free agent after the season. I bet you anything he's going to hit the market and get paid handsomely. Mark Schofield, Alex Kizora here in Locked on Patriots, gone through the offense and the defense from the Pittsburgh Steelers up ahead. We're going to dive into expectations for Sunday.

That's around the corner here with Locked On Patriots. Okay, Alex, let's sort of dive into it. And at the start, how do you see this game playing out on Sunday? Oh man, Mark, that's a really good question. I just worry about the defense because it's been a lot of self-inflicted wounds, miscommunication, poor tackling, Steelers beating Steelers stuff, and then you know the Patriots are going to bring it. I throw that Miami loss out the window. I'm not expecting them to play bad two weeks in a row. They're going to correct the issues.

Of course, we're getting Rob Gronkowski back, which is such a huge win for them, that alone. So I'm always kind of a pessimistic Steelers fan just because I've been a back which is such a huge just win for them uh you know that alone so you know i've always i'm always kind of a pessimistic uh stealer fan just because i've been a sealer fan long enough and that's kind of the general stance you take is that of the cynic um and i've always had the mentality as if it's hard for me to think the steelers are going to win until they actually do you know i'll believe it when i see it so i just worry about you know the steelers combination of obviously not having guys like chaise here maybe not not having Joe Hayden, the mistakes, the secondaries made. And I think

Tom Brady is going to go after him. You know, for this game to sort of play out in your favor, what would you have to see maybe early in the game to leave you with the impression that the Pittsburgh Steelers were going to carry the day? I think the front four pass rush has to get there because, you know, you blitz tom brady uh he's gonna pick you apart i think you have to be able to rush with four so you can be varied in your coverage you know if you're sending five or six it's gonna limit you coverage wise and the worst thing that you know i'll go back to the championship game last year i know the big buzz word is man coverage steals don't play enough man coverage you know that was sort of true but the

the biggest way you lose as a defense to Tom Brady is if you're predictable as if you're playing man coverage 100% of the time that's not going to work whatever you do it has to be varied from a rush standpoint and from a coverage standpoint so that's going to be the biggest thing can Butler you know have enough different looks and disguises and coverages and blitzes to keep Tom Brady on his toes. So I think if you can get there with four with success, then it's going to be able to open things up. You can blitz when you feel like you want to, not when you have to. That was a big issue last year.

I think it's kind of been corrected this year. And then the other thing I'll say offensively is just situational football. If the Steelers can be good on third down, they can be good in red zone football as they were last week against Baltimore, then you're going to have a chance. But if you're not converting on third down, if you're kicking field goals, you're not going to beat the Patriots. Okay, Alex, I don't want to have, I'm not going to hold you to this because, you know, it will record this on Tuesday. A lot can maybe change with injuries or who knows what. But sitting here right now, any predictions for Sunday? Again, the cynic in me just says Patriots.

You know, the Steelers have played well. Obviously, Ben's at the top of his game right now, but I just worry about that defense. I don't think they have the firepower. They have not shown enough of a consistent pass rush, especially from the outside guys, namely Bud Dupree, over the last three to four weeks. And, you know, it's tough.

It's close, but I'm thinking Patriots right now. Alex Band, tremendous job here. I'm going to turn the mic over to you. Let the people know, those maybe two or three people out there that don't know who you are, where they can find you, where to find you and where to find your great work. I think there's more than two or three people. I think only two or three people know me. I think it's you and my mom are the only people that know me right now. But, yeah, Steelers Depot. We're going to do a full scouting report on the Patriots. That'll come out Friday morning.

So interested to get the view from the other side. We'll have that posted. Offense, defense, special teams. We do that every week. I haven't gotten the best look at the Patriots yet. So I'm really excited to kind of get into their all 22 from the past couple weeks and break them down. They're always a really fun team to watch. But yeah, we're going to cover it at Steelers Depot.

So if you want to come out from the Steelers side of things and see that perspective, check us out. Please do, everybody. I'm not kidding when I say this. Alex is one of the smartest football people out there. I love his work. It's great stuff. Every single week he does great work over at Steelers Depot.

I highly, highly recommend it. And I know, Alex, you'll be getting into draft talk at some point here, which is always fun as well. Yeah, I'll see you at VEATS at the Senior Bowl. There we go. There we go. So, yeah, everybody, please follow Alex over at Steelers Depot. Follow his work.

You can find him on Twitter at Alex underscore Kozora, K-O-Z-O-R-A. That will do it here for Wednesday's show. Our next show, the Thursday show, our crossover with, of all people, John Ledyard. Back-to-back Steelers shows here to get you ready for Steelers week. That will come out tomorrow. Until then, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots. Thank you.