Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots December 14, 2017 - Crossover With Jon Ledyard & Living Like Brady: Day 1

Episode Date: December 14, 2017

Mark Schofield and Jon Ledyard from Locked On Steelers sit down for a crossover show previewing Sunday's big matchup. Plus, Mark has some news and notes from the Patriots and the first installment of Living Like Brady.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The app is certainly sleek from the start. After a brief moment with nothing but the TB12 logo showing, a cutscene appears. Various athletes working out, cyclists, weightlifters, runners, and other people in various stages of athletic endeavors. That ends on a close-up of Tom Brady's face with the words let's go slowly appearing. As instructed I tap the screen to begin and I'm asked to choose a focus. The idea is that the app will build a training plan around a sport of your choice. I look at the various options and once I realize they don't have one for slightly overweight, washed up, 40-year-old athlete who probably shouldn't be doing this, I pick the next best thing. Football.

Quarterback. Look, it was true many moons ago. After creating a profile and choosing a subscription, side note, how does one go about submitting an expense report for this? I'm asked how many times a week I want to work out. Zero is not an option. So I start with two and figure out work my way up. The workout begins, of course, with pliability.

Working on the lower body, then the back, and all the way up to the neck with a roller. Okay, people are staring, but if it works for Tom, it should work for me. The workout continues with a series of stretches, then working through some resistance band work for the upper body. Then of course more pliability at the end to recover. It's an interesting workout unlike anything I've done before but I can't help but wonder when do I get to the avocado ice cream? Living Like Brady, Day 1. Take 2. Welcome on in to Locked On Patriots for Thursday, December 14th.

Mark Schofield here with you in the big chair as I am five days a week. Please follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. You can follow my work over at Inside the Pylon, InsideThePylon.com, where I am a lead writer, where I cover basically anything and everything football related under the sun. You can follow me, of course, LockedOnPatriots.com. You can also follow the work over at Bleacher Report. I am the quarterback scout for the NFL 1000 Project. Big day, big show planned here.

What you heard at the outset was the first installment, day one, of Living Like Brady. Tom Brady, TB12, has unveiled an app, a lifestyle app with exercises, with nutritional information, with hydration advice, and more. What did I do? I got my hands on the app. What did I do? I went through day one. It's interesting. Something a little different. If nothing else, it might be good for some giggles and I am here to entertain and amuse. As I said, locked and loaded show today. In a few minutes, my sit down, my powwow, my chat with John Ledger of Locked On Steelers. As I mentioned Monday night, we are on to Pittsburgh.

Talked with Alex Kizora of Steelers Depot yesterday. And a chat with John Ledger up ahead. But first, a couple of pieces of news. As I broke down in the emergency podcast yesterday, Patriots have added wide receiver Kenny Britt. He was with the Browns this season, the Rams last season. We'll see what he can offer. Patriots have also

signed defensive lineman Ricky Jean-Francois. To do that, they let go Jonathan Freeney and Bernard Reedy. Freeney, a linebacker, got a little bit of a run against the Dolphins. Reedy, a wide receiver, punt returner, had a couple of bit of a run against the Dolphins. Reedy, a wide receiver, punt returner, had a couple of return to punts against the Dolphins on Monday night.

But the biggest sort of move today, I think, Marcus Cannon, starting right tackle, placed on injured reserve. We hope Adrian Waddell is now ready to go. But that's something to watch going forward as we look towards the Pittsburgh Steelers. And what better way to do that than to chat with the host of Locked on Steelers, John Ledyard. That's coming up right here with me, Mark Schofield, and John Ledyard on this crossover

edition of Locked on Patriots. It's a Locked On Steelers, Locked On Patriots crossover episode with Mark Schofield of Locked On Patriots. I'm John Leder, your host of Locked On Steelers. Mark, it's the week we've been waiting for during the Steelers bye week I had you on. We talked about this week, where the teams were at and looking ahead to this type of a game. The Steelers have openly said this is the game that they've waited for. The Patriots look like, and I know they never look past anybody, but they just played like it the other night against Miami. I think both teams know how titanic this matchup has the potential to be, and it could be the first of two meetings perhaps this year between the two.

Yeah, I mean, John, we talked about this game a couple of weeks ago saying this is going to be the one that probably decides top seed in the afc and very very well decide who goes to the super bowl because if i think about it the team that has home field advantage in the playoffs has home field advantage throughout the playoffs that's a pretty good path to get to the super bowl and if this game is played at Foxborough or if it's played at Pittsburgh, if they meet in the AFC Championship game, that's going to be a big factor. And so I know you said there in the intro that New England doesn't often look past people. It almost looked like maybe they were looking ahead on Monday night

to this game. But we've been looking at it for a while. We've been talking about it for a while, on the air, off the air. So I'm excited to dive into it. This should be a fun one. Yeah, I agree. I think that this has the potential to be – this is one of the only times the Steelers will, in my opinion,

really be tested this season, in the regular season. I mean, they've just had incredible luck either with teams, you know, Andrew Locke and their Roduggers and missing their quarterbacks and not being at full strength and saying they didn't play Sam Bradford early in the year. And I think that that's really kind of aided that defense in coming along and how they face injuries. And they've really been gassed the last couple of weeks. And so the defense is obviously a big concern going into this game. But more than anything, like I thought this offense being able to get on track against the baltimore defense was a really great sign but i know the ravens don't have jimmy smith in that game and so it does make a big difference

when you're losing a star corner against the steelers passing game and antonio brown but i think that when you look at new england and you look at what this team offers just focusing on the patriots offensively to start i just have no idea how the steelers without ray and chaser and with joe hayden he's returning to practice in some capacity this week i still feel like it's going to be maybe a long shot that he plays or that he's really 100 if he plays i you know i hope they don't rush him back for a game like this i hope that he gets right and because ultimately, I think it does matter, but I'd rather him healthy for playoffs. But, man, if you just look at what New England's done against Pittsburgh over the years, I mean, the Steelers have just never had an answer for this offense. Really, I mean, almost never have they had an answer.

I mean, you go back to when they played in the regular season in 2015. Because last year's regular season matchup kind of marred because I thought the Steelers actually played okay against New england and new england didn't play great in that game but the steelers had landry jones they lose by 11 you know if there's a moral victory in that game i thought a lot of people out there already get blown out and i didn't think new england played their sharpest but if you go back two years ago the 28 21 win and the steelers scored you know like two seconds left in the game and um that you it was the first game, Keith Butler is defensive coordinator. They looked unfocused.

They looked all over the place defensively. There were blown coverages. Go back to the playoff game this past year. Blown coverages and receivers running wide open and your spot dropping and zone coverage and the Patriots are just flooding. I mean, it's just like basic stuff I felt like Pittsburgh could not adjust and Tom Brady just shredded them. I felt like Pittsburgh could not adjust, and Tom Brady just shredded them. I felt like he has an easier time against this defense,

even with the talent that they have, than he does against most defenses in the NFL. Yeah, and you mentioned sort of the buzz phrase, spot drop in John, and I feel like that's been a big issue when these teams have played because traditionally Pittsburgh has dropped into zone coverage, relied on the things that they do the rest of the year. And that could work against quarterbacks like Joe Flacco. That could work against quarterbacks like Brett Hudley.

But Tom Brady is a different animal. And Brady has had success in sort of picking apart zone coverages. When you sort of show your hand like Pittsburgh has done at times, they've come up with schemes to attack that. And Brady has executed them. And I know when we talked, John, a couple of weeks ago, we talked about this. We wondered if Pittsburgh was going to adjust. And from looking at Pittsburgh's film,

at least up to this point, I don't think there has been a big adjustment. I looked at their game against Cincinnati. They're still doing that stuff. They're still opening up the seam routes. And when Tyler Croft has hit them, that's one thing. But when it's Rob Gronkowski, it's another. Yeah.

One of the big issues with the Steelers is when they play cover three, teams are obviously going to show them four verts a lot. And it does. Like you said, it leaves the seam uncovered a lot of time because they don't consistently carry it. We've seen them carry it with the nickel corner before, but a lot of time they don't. And so it puts the safety in a really difficult position,

almost impossible position to succeed. And I just feel like New England is going to kill Pittsburgh with concepts like that. And I'm not sure how Pittsburgh defends it, given the fact their personnel is already pretty lacking. Yeah. And the issue there, I think, is, you know, the loss of Shazier hurts. Right. Shazier hurts because now you're relying on guys like, you know, TJ Watt. I saw him trying to drop under a seam route. I know Tyler Matkiewicz is hurt.

I don't know if he's going to go, but there was another play against Cincinnati where he got burned. He bought on a run pass option fake. So, I mean, you're going to need guys at that second level. I know Sean Spence got some run, and you were – Yeah, I saw the tweets. I saw the tweets, and you were like, eh. It wasn't good, man.

It wasn't good. I've always liked Spence were like it wasn't good man it wasn't good i've always liked spence but it wasn't yeah i mean so who's gonna carry those roads right that's an issue that's the big thing right now and why uh tj was the only guy with the profile to do it um if you're the patriots i can't see the patriots are going to spread the field they're going to force pittsburgh to match up linebackers they did that when chaise here was in the game when chaise would play they would spread the field they would going to force pittsburgh to match up my backers they did that when shazier was in the game when shazier would play they would spread the field they would put shazier and timmons they would get them on tight ends and wide receivers uh in the slot i mean i timmons covering julian edelman was was a regularity last year in the regular season matchup i mean timmons

was on julian edelman a ton in that game and so those are the matchups that new england's going to try and create uh by the way they also have the added advantage of probably being able to pound the ball at Pittsburgh if they wanted to, which we'll get to in a second. But to me, that's what New England's going to do. They're going to spread the field. They're going to get in those advantageous matchups. And the Steelers don't have anybody inside linebacker to match up with them. And I think that's an issue because the way

that it currently sits, they're going to get shredded. Move T.J. Watte inside linebacker, have Ciccolo and James Harrison play on the edge, maybe you have a shot because Watt at least has the athleticism and he's been very good in coverage this year. So I think it's a possibility for Pittsburgh, but I just don't think they'll do it. Yeah, and I think if you're New England,

you're willing to make that trade because you spread them out. I think they want to get TJ Watt in a situation where he's not rushing the passer because I think with what they've seen from Watt so far, he's probably a more dangerous pass rusher right now than the other two guys you mentioned, Chigolo and Harrison. So I think New England's willing to make that tradeoff. Right.

So I think that's where it gets weird for Pittsburgh because they're dropping T.J. Watt into coverage more than any other outside linebacker or any other edge defender in the NFL other than Lorenzo Alexander, who plays off the ball half the time anyway so he doesn't really even count so basically Watt's dropping more than any other edge defender in the NFL right now DeVries also dropping a ton so you're not really getting it when and when Watt does rush I like what I've seen you know for a rookie I really like what I've seen it just hardly ever

happens so if you're not getting a ton of pass rush from those guys anyway and brady is generally speaking relatively unfazed and terrific against pressure um i i really wonder if you'd rather just have one coverage and let james harrison go to work let anthony chicolo go to work rely on some blitzes here i mean harrison's still a guy that has a lot in the tank i think in terms of being able to rush the passer for a game like this. I think he can have success against somebody like Nate Solder. And Solder, to me, is a guy you've seen probably more clearly than I. I think he's struggled with power moves before. I think he's kind of a hang on for dear life tackle at times. And I think Harrison could have some success against that. Yeah, I mean, there are two things I think really give him trouble. One, like you said, power moves, and other spin moves.

And, you know, I think that does set up well for Harrison. Mark Schofield, John Ledyard, do us a little crossover action, get it ready for Pittsburgh and New England on Sunday. And, John, I had your buddy Alex Kizora on yesterday, and I asked him the question I'm about to ask you, which is this. Patriots fans, they know all about Ben Roethlisberger they know all about Le'Veon Bell they know all about Antonio Brown who's sort of an unsung hero for this Steelers offense that Patriots fans should know about and that the Patriots defense needs to be ready for on Sunday well it would have to be Juju Smith-Schuster as much as I'm attempting to say jesse james after his

90 something yard performance the other day i don't think that gets replicated but i do think it's got to be juju smith schuster because martavis bryant just hasn't been consistent enough this season and neither is eli rogers and smith schuster's more talented and more polished than both those guys he's back for this game he and gronkowski both returned from one game suspensions and i. And Schuster's ability to play outside or inside allows the Steelers to move some guys around so they can keep them on the field and move Antonio Brown to the slot if they need to and bump Martavis and Juju outside and still have your best three receivers on the field. So they're able to do

some things there. If Pittsburgh's going to have success in this game, if they're going to win this game, they've got to put up big points on the board. There's almost no way you can convince me the Steelers won't have to out shoot New England to win this game I just can't see their defense being strong enough to get stops especially in their current condition because what are the things that are going to slow down New England keeping them in disadvantageous down and distances where you can rely on zone coverage a little bit more long long down and distances so to do that you've got to be successful against the run and you've got to be able to sack Brady multiple times good luck good luck based on the way they recently played so i think it'll be a shootout i think pittsburgh's gonna have to churn out yards

offensively and i think juju smith schuster is a guy that could create matchup problems with new england but because he is a bigger type of slot receiver is also a really good route runner so he can separate but he can also make contested grabs too so i he does present a little bit of the mismatch issue that new england typically likes to present and i think that that could be an advantage for the steelers offense given the fact that martavis hasn't come along as well as you'd hope this year um and really neither is eli rogers john are you surprised with how well Juju has sort of acclimated himself, not just to the pro game, but to this offense? I mean, I feel like, you know,

when we looked at him for the draft guide over at ITP, you know, we thought this might be a good fit for him. And it seems like he's worked out even better than we could have hoped for. Yeah, it was interesting because when he was first drafted, I thought this is a guy that'll play on the outside and he probably won't play a ton his rookie year because they really like D'Lyra Rogers. And Martavius Bryant coming back, you know, I was probably a little too hopeful that he'd return to form or, I don't know, at least be like a solid receiver. But I thought that those guys would play on the outside, and I didn't really see Juju as a slot. But in this offense, it is a little different because you're not just running traditional slot route you know type like

the Patriots run a lot more like if your traditional maybe slot route patterns for those guys and the Steelers you know they asked you to get vertical from the slot a lot and you know he'll run some corner routes in there so he'll do a lot more stuff down the field which I think is pretty conducive for his skill set and he's actually grown as a route runner way more than I thought um he would at this point you know I liked him in college uh a lot but I didn't think that he would necessarily get to this level this refinement this quickly and I think that that's part of that process we don't really get I mean I knew he loved football but man he really loves football and he soaks up knowledge and works his tail off and I mean just as soon as I went to

minicamp I could see whoa he's improved his a row at a ton and he worked with Antonio Brown after practices and he was just constantly kind of doing those kind of things so I think his ability to make an impact in that area of the game is pretty critical for Pittsburgh's offense I think this is a really talented unit obviously that's starting to come into their own and I wonder if watching New England the other night and them struggle to keep up with Miami's receivers a little bit and I know Miami has a pretty good cast but I think Pittsburgh's is definitely superior and I wonder if the Steelers can't have a lot of success going with a similar approach to the New England spreading spreading spreading the Patriots out and you know throwing the ball around kind of like they have in the last couple games and just asking them in the Patriots play a good bit of man coverage asking

seeing if their corners can can match up Antonio Browns had success against Malcolm Butler and Butler's had from what I've seen anyway kind of an up and down year this season I mean in four games against the Patriots Browns averaged 94 yards per game he scored three times these are all regular season games. He also had seven catches for 77 yards in their playoff matchup. And so he's had some success against New England. He's had some success against Malcolm Butler in the regular season, over 100 yards the last couple times he played them.

So I feel like this is a matchup that he can win and still be successful in, and the rest of their weapons may have some good matchups as well. Mark Schofield, John Ledger doing some locked on patriots locked on steelers crossover john you just mentioned there and tony abroad and i'm very curious because the last time that these teams have met the last couple of times it's been butler on brown that's sort of been the you know matchup that the patriots have looked to defensively there was a lot of talk before both of those games would they do some different things maybe use another corner on antonio brown with safety help but they pretty much left butler on an island i'm very curious and i'd like to know your thoughts with the acquisition of stefan gilmore maybe it's going to be gilmore on brown rather than butler the the patriots use you know whether it's jonathan

jones on smithSchuster or what, but they move those other guys somewhere else. One of the things that I think is true about New England's corners, and you correct me based on what you've seen, is that I don't think either of them are great at finding the ball in the air with their back to the ball. That's what I've always observed about them. And so Antonio Brown is terrific at that, and he will kind of high point go up and get the ball a little bit.

I mean, he body catches, but he's really good at adjusting and getting back under you if you can't find the football and contest him because that's the biggest thing if corners could consistently find the ball and contest the catch point against Antonio Brown it would be a little bit tougher maybe but he's so he's so good at kind of maneuvering and finding the ball in the air adjusting with it to his body and getting himself in a position where he can box out a player that I think it becomes really difficult for other corners so if that's already a struggle I wonder if the Steelers target either of those guys on vertical routes I don't know that they'll trail Antonio Brown and they may be comfortable with both of those guys and you can tell me you know who's kind of played in the slot if Butler's

played there or not or anything like that but do you see, watching these two guys this season, do you have a preference as to which one would cover Antonio Brown or would you just play sides against him? I mean, I would almost just play sides. I mean, I don't know if I'd have a favor, a guy that I'd pick out of those two to sort of shadow Brown in this game. I think you sort of play sides and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see Devin McCourty more than anything shaded to Brown's side of the field.

So it might be a situation where Pittsburgh's going to have to do some things where they use stacks, where they put them in the inside, get them inside either in the slaughter, sometimes at the number three and three-by-ones, and try to sort of – or even iso-um times it too. Right. Because then you've got to face a decision if you're New England. Are you really going to shade the safety away from the trip side of the field? Right, exactly.

So that's something to think about. You know, another name that I've been really intrigued by the past couple of weeks, particularly those two games against Miami, has been Jonathan Jones, who they acquired basically as a special teams guy. But a couple weeks ago against the Dolphins, he's on Jarvis Landry most of the game, defending those shallow crosses that the Dolphins love to use. Gave up some catches, but didn't give up a ton of yards after the catch. So I think it's going to be interesting.

That matchup with him and Juju might be one to watch too, because now he's facing, he might be facing Juju, who they've used, as you said, more of a vertical guy. So it'll be interesting to see if that's the matchup that todd haley and the steelers try to exploit and is jones the guy that's typically going to play heavily in the slot will you see gilmore or butler kick into the slot or is that just pretty much all jones or a safety yeah it's usually all jones sometimes it's been you know eric rowe now that they've got him back and healthy he's been more of a slot guy for them traditionally you know they usually leave but leave Butler and Gilmore outside.

Now if it's a stack, if there's some shifting and stuff, those guys can kick inside a little bit. Butler, I think, more than Gilmore. But yeah, Jones' row and maybe a safety from time to time will be the guys you typically see kick inside. And Patrick Chung's usually the tight end guy. But the Steelers don't really have a go-to. I mean, Vance McDonald started to emerge. We don't even know if he'll play this week because he got banged a go-to I mean Vance McDonald started to emerge we don't

even know if he'll play this week because he got banged up again I really like Vance McDonald he just can't stay healthy for the Steelers it'll be weird to see how the Patriots use Patrick Chung because I don't really know the you could put a linebacker on Jesse James that you know but maybe Chung sees some time against Juju Smith-Schuster in a slot because Smith-Schuster is going to have a pretty big size advantage over Jonathan Jones and And if that becomes an issue, I wonder if they maybe move Patrick Chung into that role and play Harmon and McCourty deep. I know they like to play three safety sets, right? Yeah, they do some of that. They haven't done a ton of it this year.

This year it's been more like two high safeties if they've had multiple safeties back there. Something I'm intrigued about, we saw this on Monday night. Dolphins flanking out Kenya Drake, a matchup on Alandon Roberts, who's not good in coverage, who's not good covering downfield on vertical routes. Now that, as you said, tight end is not as big a weapon

for the Steelers as it is for the Dolphins. They kind of like Julius Thomas. I'm wondering if the Steelers try to get Le'Veon involved in the passing game, they try to spread the field and move him to the outside. If that's where we see Chon. Yeah, that's a good thought because I could definitely see that happening. Bell has played on the backside of three-by-ones.

He's played in the slot. He's played just about every formation. They'll have him run vertical. I mean, he scored on a post route the other day against Baltimore. He'll run just about everything. So makes presents a real challenge for defenses obviously and i don't i'm not telling sealer fans are you anything you don't know there but just presents such a challenge because he's such a unique player to be able to do all those different things you know how are you going to can you come you can't cover him vertically with landon roberts no no

chance there so um you know you got to find a way to put him in position to succeed too and that you mentioned that with antonio brown stacked releases three by ones all those different types of looks todd haley does that as much criticism as todd haley gets and he does overthink things at times and you know i think he can't shoot the team in the foot at times but uh he is terrific at getting his playmakers in play in position to succeed on a consistent base i mean the steals rarely lose because antonio brown orVeon Bell didn't play well or didn't get opportunities to play well. They mostly lose because they turned the ball over, because they got blown coverages,

because they got penalties, they didn't finish in the red zone, things like that. But rarely do they lose because their stars just got shut down and they couldn't do it. I mean, you've seen that with the Giants. Ben McAdoo struggled to do that with Odell Beckham. The Bengals have tons of issues doing that with A.J. Green and getting him consistently in position to succeed. Teams consistently struggle with that with their playmakers. That's absolutely one of Todd Haley's biggest strengths

and why I think the Steelers' offense will be in position to succeed. Now, a couple questions for you. This Patriots defense has been ripped on a lot this season because they just don't have great pass rushers they don't get much of a rush the Steelers offensive line might be the best in the NFL in pass protection I know they don't have Marcus Gilbert but Chris Hubbard's done a pretty good job do the Patriots dial up blitzes you know what do they do to get home against Ben Roethlisberger because if there's's an area that really makes me feel good about this game is the Steelers' ability to protect Ben Roethlisberger at least one-on-one when these matchups. I just don't see a lot of, oh, this guy for the Patriots is going to win consistently.

I just don't see a lot of that when I look at this matchup. Yeah, John, that's maybe the million-dollar question here for the Patriots defense heading into this game. Because the pass rush was a concern in the early part of the season. They weren't getting a ton of pressure. Then, you know, in successive games against both the Raiders and then the Dolphins, they dialed up blitzes. I think those two games alone they blitzed like 36 times.

Part of that was game script. Games got away from, you know, the opposition in those games. New England knew that Derek Carr would have to throw the ball. They knew that Matt Moore would have to throw the ball, who they sacked, I think, eight times in that game. You know, they brought some blitzes, you know, the other night against the Dolphins. They had chances to get home. They had Jordan Roberts, and this is, you know, how thin they were headed into that game. They had Jordan Roberts, who's a reserve safety, lined up at defensive end.

They brought him on an edge blitz. He had a shot at Cutler in the red zone, couldn't get him to the ground. You know, stuff like that. They're going to have to get Roethlisberger to the ground, which as we know, it's hard to do. Now, my curiosity comes in, are they just going to say, forget it? We're not going to get home against this offensive line anyway, no matter what we do. We don't want to leave ourselves vulnerable in one-on-one situations back deep. We'll just rush three. We'll rush throw if we get any sort of pass rush. We get a blown assignment up front or something. Great. Otherwise, we're going to make

Roethlisberger have to make throws into tight windows to beat us. And Roethlisberger got off to a shaky start. As you know, he's gotten better over the past couple of weeks. But is that the sort of bet that the Patriots are going to make in this game? Right. I think that is really the million-dollar question is how do the Patriots choose to defend that? Because the Ravens brought a ton of blitzes

and Ben Roethlisberger, there were times where they were successful early on. He adjusted, he started recognizing, he hard counted him, got him to show him early, called him out, made the adjustments quickly, found open receivers off the blitzes. And he was a surgeon in that way. Now he has traditionally not played that well against new england but i do think that it's the risky run if your defense is going to send a lot of pressure in that way the other interesting aspect of this game mark to me if the steelers are going to win this game i already said that offensively they've got to be able to out shoot new england and outscore them because defensively i just think the steelers

are going to get gashed out you know they need a bounce play here and there for sure to swing the game, and they've got to capitalize on offense. Now, to do that, you can't turn the ball over on offense, and you can't struggle in the red zone. They've consistently struggled in the red zone this season, but also against New England. They have been a little bit better lately. I think they're still in the 20s in the league. With that much talent, that's still not good.

But the Steelers have been a little bit better in that area of the field uh of late but turning the ball over man I mean and getting maybe a turnover yourself Tom Brady has thrown in the last six games he's played against Steelers in the regular season 19 touchdowns zero picks in the last three playoffs games five touchdowns zero picks he just doesn't turn the ball over against the Steelers Ben Roethlisberger on the other hand in his last five regular season games against the Patriots, six interceptions. In the playoff games against the Patriots in 2004, obviously that's far back, 2016, four interceptions. So, or 2017, I'm sorry. So that becomes the big question. Can the Steelers avoid that kind of bugaboo that's always killed them against me not being able to finish in the red zone the Patriots red zone defense as elite

and stop not turning the ball over and losing the turnover battle because last year in the playoffs it was what one for three in the red zone for the Steelers and they turned it over twice New England was great in the red zone and turned it over didn't turn over at all and that was really to be honest that's all it takes against New England. They blew them out based on those couple mistakes. That's all it takes when New England's on their game. And they're going to be on their game coming off a loss against Miami. Yeah, and that's sort of what teams have to do

because if you're going to finish off a New England team, you've got to convert those red zone opportunities into points and usually seven, not just three. We saw it Monday night against the Dolphins. Dolphins started slow convert those red zone opportunities into points, and usually seven, not just three. We saw it Monday night against the Dolphins. Dolphins started slow in the red zone. They had two quick possessions early in that game. They came away only with six points, two field goals. Most nights, that's not going to be good enough

to beat Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. It was on Monday night. They did convert some red zone opportunities later in that game. But as you said, John, last year, one of three in the red zone, the Steelers were. Whereas when the Patriots had the ball in the red zone, you had Chris Hogan running open, you know, blown coverages, things like that.

Those are the situations where Pittsburgh is going to have to be at their best. And we'll see if they are. Right. One other thing before we wrap up. How the Steelers match up against Rob Gronkowski is one of the biggest keys in this game. And to be honest, as I look at it, I have no clue how they do it. I don't.

I don't have any idea. Because without Shazier, I don't even know that there's a guy that fits the – maybe Sean Davis draws that assignment, but he's really not great in man coverage. I just have no idea how they do it. The Steelers have been pretty vocal about the fact that they will use more man coverage in this game. It's got to be part of it. They have slowly started to phase in a little bit. I did see a little bit against Baltimore.

But, again, like you said, it's still selling amuse. I don't know how they're going to defend with Gronkowski. But in his games against the Steelers in his career, five games against the Steelers, okay? Gronkowski's had 30 catches for 496 yards. He's averaged 16.5 yards per catch, and he's scored eight touchdowns. He's had two three-touchdown games against Pittsburgh. In five games, he has eight touchdowns, and he's averaging almost 100 yards per game as a tight end against the Steelers, and almost 17 yards a catch. He's probably a Steeler killer more than any

player across the league. Yeah, and it makes you wonder if thater killer more than any player across the league yeah and it makes you wonder if that's that more than anything the fact that the Steelers don't have somebody that they can look to and just say here you're covering 87 all game that's that's what we're going to do the fact that they don't have a guy like that means that they have to rely on zone coverages because they need to sort of constrict those throwing lanes to Gronkowski and hope that they can get home before Brady finds a window. And if that's sort of the way this plays out, then it gets us back to what we talked about at the beginning with Brady's ability to carve up this zone coverage look from Pittsburgh.

Yeah, and then it could get ugly. But I still think the Steelers' offense has a chance to match. Patriots' defense has been down this year. They don't have a great pass rush. I think their corners, which are high-priced, but they're struggling right now. Steelers offense looks like they're rolling. They couldn't have a more encouraging performance to go into the game against. But are there any way we don't see points in this game?

Points on points? I mean, I just feel like that's the way this game's headed. Unless there's a freak snowstorm Sunday afternoon, I think we're seeing another like 39-38 game like we saw on Sunday night. And the Patriots offense is a lot better than Baltimore Ravens offense. So I wouldn't be surprised if at least the Patriots get into the 40s. My prediction, before we wrap up, my prediction for this one is New England. It never seems to be quite as bad as you think it'll be,

but I still think it'll be bad. Let's say New England, New England 37, Pittsburgh 26. Okay, okay. I'm going New England 35, Pittsburgh 30. Okay. Either way. I think it's a one-score kind of game. I think, yeah, take that over, man.

Go over to mybookie.ag. Whatever the over is, it's not high enough. Of course, we say that now, but we'll get that freak snowstorm or something. It'll be a 10-7 game. Yeah, our both offenses come out remarkably sloppy, which Patriots did last game. It's possible for the Steelers. You never know what you're going to get with Pittsburgh.

Should be a fun one, though, man. I know we're both looking forward to this one. We have been all season long. And either way it pans out, these are probably going to be, you know, if they take care of business the rest of the season, I would imagine these will be your top two teams, potentially the AFC. And I think this is probably a bigger game. To me, Pittsburgh, if they them being able to host New England in the playoffs is a bigger deal than New England having to go on the road. Because I think if you're in New England, you're fine on the road. You've beaten Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh tons of times.

I don't know that that's a big concern for New England. But I think for Pittsburgh, if you can be at home, it's certainly going to be more advantageous than having to go to New England. Going to New England I think is going to be a really tough mental hurdle for the Steelers. But either way, I think the team playing the hottest, it's ultimately going to come down to on-field performance as it always does. And it should be fun. It's going to be an enjoyable Sunday because of that game.

It will be. It will be, my friend. Thanks for crushing it as always, buddy. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for coming on, man. Locked on Patriots. Locked on Steelers crossover. Getting you ready for Patriots-Steelers. The matchup of the regular season for both these teams really, I think.

So always a good time talking with Mark for Mark Schofield. I'm John Ledger. We'll catch you again next time on Locked on Steelers and Locked on Patriots.