Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots December 18, 2017 - Glorious Victory Edition

Episode Date: December 18, 2017

Mark Schofield breaks down the Great, Good, Bad and Ugly from New England's improbable 27-24 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Good evening and welcome into a glorious victory edition of Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield here. And I gotta be honest, kids, this is take two. I did the entire show and it got deleted off my computer. But we're going to have the same energy because a game of that magnitude needs the same kind of energy. Patriots go into Pittsburgh and escape with a 27-24 victory. Just an incredible performance. And I won't lie here.

I thought I was going to have to do another show after a loss for the second week in a row. And like we do for losses, I was starting to sketch it out. I was starting to sketch out the good, the bad, and the ugly. As they were reviewing what looked like the game-winning touchdown to Jesse James. I had it all sketched out, had it ready to go. But, thankfully, that piece of paper is now in the circular file. And I had some help.

I had some ideas on how to do this show. Ian McDonald, huge friend of the show. You can follow him on Twitter, at Ian C. McDonald, M-A-C-D-O-N-A-L-D. Ian suggested that the show should just be 10 hours straight of nothing but giggling. And now that the first installment of this episode was just deleted off my computer,

I'm giving it some serious thought, but I won't do that. We'll have your good, your bad, your ugly, and I'm giving it some serious thought, but I won't do that. We'll have your good, your bad, your ugly, and the great, and some game balls are doing it all. But just before we dive into that, just the magnitude of this game, you could tell this game meant something. Jacksonville winning earlier just upped the stakes even more because Patriots, they were staring. They were staring the three-seed in the face. Thankfully,

it doesn't come to that just yet. We'll start with the ugly here and I think we've got to start with the catch rule in the NFL. I know it's not really totally game specific but it will be the play that people will be talking about the timeline on Twitter it's already filled with man we don't know what a catch is and you know I think again as a guy with a legal background I think of Justice Potter Stewart opining on pornography. I know it when I see it. I kind of thought that was a catch.

Looked like a catch to me. That's why I was sketching out the Lost show. And what was really interesting was, you know, they start doing the review and, you know, Tony Romo, who again, fantastic in the booth, Jim Nance, you know, they're breaking down, oh, why is it taking so long? Why is it taking so long to look at this?

What are they looking for? He clearly crosses the plane. This is a touchdown. What's taking so long? And then it dawns on them, because to them, it looked like a catch. But it seems like they made the right call on review and you know Mike Pereira rules analyst for Fox he's gone Twitter tonight saying look here is the rule if you're going to the ground

you have to hold on to the ball when the ball hits the ground go into the ground Trump's lunging or reaching to try and get extra yards or score a touchdown. You do that at your own risk. It's incomplete. Just ask Dez. Obviously a reference to the Dez Bryant play from a few years back. Pereira continues. People are saying a runner breaking the plan causes the ball to become dead, which is true.

But the receiver does not become a runner until he completes the process of the ball to become dead, which is true, but the receiver does not become a runner until he completes the process of the catch. Totally different. Tony Carrente answered some questions with a pool of reporters after the game, and he said, in order to have a completed pass, a receiver must survive going to the ground. In this case, he had control of the football, but he was going to the ground. As he hit the he had control of the football, but he was going to the ground. As he hit the ground, the ball began to roll, and the ball hit the ground, and that's the end of it at that point.

He was asked if it was similar to Dez. Corenti punted on that part of the question, but said, I can only tell you that in this case, he went to the ground and lost control of the ball. The ball hit the ground, and that means at that point, it's an incomplete pass whether he was touched or not. So by the spirit of the rule, it's the right call.

It just seems wrong because you look at that and you think that's a catch. And it's mind-boggling that in this day and age where we have all these replays, we've put people on the moon, we're going to go back to the moon, we have all these replays we've put people on the moon we're gonna go back to the moon we have gps satellites telling us where we are on earth within a couple of feet we carry around

pockets devices in our pocket that have the entire wealth of human knowledge at our fingertips in a matter of seconds we use it to look at videos of our cats, but still. And we can't figure out what a catch is. Man. But, this is Locked On Patriots. And it worked to our advantage tonight. Other ugly stuff from this game. Antonio Brown going down with a torn calf injury. You hate to see a player like Brown miss the rest of the season.

He was playing himself into the mix as an MVP type candidate. And if he had a big game, if he had gone on and had like a two touchdown performance in this game, he'd have gotten some votes. But Brown, out for the rest of the regular season. Won't need surgery. Should be back for the playoffs. Hope to see him come back. Other ugly stuff.

Let's make sure. Nope. We're good. We're clean on the ugly. Let's get to the bad here in a second. Got some bad stuff to talk about. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, in Locked On Patriots. All right, let's talk about the bad now.

We have to start with Tom Brady's interception in the third quarter. And that was a play that came in a very, very pivotal moment in the game. Patriots down 17-10 at halftime. They receive the opening of the second half kickoff. And they do what we all sort of expect the Patriots to do in that situation. They go down the field and score. Gronkowski misses the extra point. I mean Gronkowski.

Gostowski misses the extra point. 17-16. Then, defense gets off the field. They force a punt. So now you're thinking, look, New England's down by one. They get a chance to go down the field, put some points on the board, take the lead in this game, sort of take control of the game, put their stamp on this game, seize

momentum. Se seize it. Brady gets pressured, tries to hit Kongrowski, doesn't get enough on it, gets intercepted by a D lineman. What happens then? Pittsburgh goes down the field and score. That's one of those point-type swings in games that you hate to see happen because rather than going down and taking the lead yourself, your opposition just extends the lead.

Now you're down eight. So that was a bad play in that moment. Obviously, Brady makes up for it with the way he closed out that game. But that was a pivotal play. Pressure gets to him. Some problems with pressure tonight. Joe Thune gave up a couple sacks. One that I know of.

So that was a bad play in that spot. Another bad thing to get to, tackling. Oh my goodness. When I had sketched out the good, bad, and ugly, I was going to spend maybe 14 minutes just talking about tackling. There were chances to get guys to the ground. They missed Ben in the backfield a couple of times. Malcolm Brown and Eric Lee at one point,

they had a chance to get him down on a third down situation. They don't get him to the turf. He ends up making a play. And then the 69-yard catch and run by Juju Smith-Schuster. I think everybody on the field had a shot at him at one point. Jordan Richards had a shot at him. Eric Rowe was grasping for air a couple of times during that play. In that moment, you're thinking, oh, man, just don't give up a big play.

Don't give up a big play. Make them work for yards. Make them catch short passes. Don't give up big play. He almost housed that you know when he cut back towards the middle of the field I was like there's going to be nobody there

he's going to house this thing Landon Roberts on Pittsburgh's touchdown drive before halftime a first and goal situation he had Le'Veon Bell dead to rights in the backfield,

misses the tackle. Eric Rowe a couple of other times on Juju. Pittsburgh's second drive of the game, their first touchdown drive of the game. He had him on a crossing route, doesn't click and close on it, can't get him to the ground. So that, the tackling was bad. There was one critical tackle in this game, which we'll get to.

When we talk about great stuff. But there were some key missed tackles there. Other bad thing I want to get to. We talked a little bit about Pittsburgh would want to spread the field out. And they did some of that. They want to use Le'Veon as a receiver. They did some of that. One way they did it,

that wheel stop route where they show wheel route, vertical route out of the backfield and just have them stop and run a curl. That's a great little route. Tony Romo loved it. They were using it against Trey Flowers. That's a tough tough matchup for Trey Flowers. Looking ahead, if these two teams play each other again,

might want to rethink that one. That's all I'm saying. Just rethink it. Don't have to fully go in a different direction. Just rethink it, okay? So that's been your ugly. That's been your bad. Let's get to some good stuff in here.

You know, if you'll allow me for a split second to take a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, teeny, tiny victory lap. Kenny Britt, a catch on a curl route. Did anybody see that coming? How about your boy here who saw that coming? On the emergency podcast, I said it wouldn't surprise me if he was active. Use him on the boundary. Big type receiver. And then in the game day edition, I said, look,

Kenny Britt on curl routes against that sort of cover three type look. You sell the vertical route. You break it back. That was his catch. It was on a curl route. So if you just allow your boy for one quick little victory lap before we get into the rest of the stuff.

I don't take victory laps often. Thanks for letting me have this one. Patrick Chung. A couple of great plays from him. First, Pittsburgh's opening drive of the game. Facing a third and eight. Patriots come out in two-man, cover two look, two high safeties, man coverage underneath.

How do you want to attack that as an offense? You want to hit a post route in the middle of the field to split those safeties. What's the best way to do that? Doing it from an inside receiver, maybe even your tight end. That's exactly what the Steelers try to do. But Chun with a tremendous pass breakup on it.

He's in trail technique. Gets that left arm up. Breaks it up. Great play there. He had to play later in the game. Some good recognition from him. Jesse James in the flat. Recognized it.

Broke on it. Looked like James had room to run after the catch. Didn't pick up a yard after the catch. Great click and close there from the safety. He got a shot on Roethlisberger at one point on a blitz. That was on one of those wheel routes. But he still got a good shot on Roethlisberger. So I thought Chun had a good game.

Lawrence Guy. Good game from Lawrence Guy. Stephon Gilmore led the team with eight tackles. Guy had seven, so he was second highest on the defensive side of the ball in terms of tackles. He had seven tackles. Forsall had one sack as well. One tackle for a loss.

The last good thing I want to mention, the defense in two sequences near the end of the game, the defense stepped up and did what they had to do. First was that drive that started at the end of the third quarter and carried over to the fourth quarter. It's a 24-16 game Steelers deep in their own territory thanks to a good punt

which we'll talk about in a second but the defense needs to get their offense back hopefully with a 3 and out take advantage of the field position get the offense back with good field position but nope they missed on that one and that's

that's when the the words that I can't say here on the air started creeping into my handwritten notes. You know, on that sequence, Steelers face a third and three. This is that wheel stop I was just talking about. They hit Le'Veon Bell out of the backfield on that. They move the sticks there. Third and five again. They get pressure on Ben Roethlisberger.

He's able to escape. So they pick up two third downs there. But then there's a sequence of plays where you get a hold and penalty on a run, a short run. Defense does a good job there. False start on their left tackle. Villanueva. So it's second and 23.

Run a little draw play. Just pick up four yards to the third string back. Then on third and 19, third and long, they get off the field. And that sets up a field goal drive for New England. That makes it a 24-19 game. And that's when the defense steps up with their first three and out of the entire game for either team. Patriots come up.

They get the three and out. Le'Veon slips on first down, picks up one yard. Second down. This is a play. Lee and Malcolm Brown, they have him, Roethlisberger in the backfield. They've got the sack.

He escapes, sets up a third and four, crossing route to Juju. Dron Harmon makes a play in that spot, forces the punt. Defense did a pretty good job on those two plays. Also, I do want to mention Trey Flowers and setting the edge against Le'Veon Bell, which is one of the keys to sort of slowing him down.

Not that the Patriots really slowed down Le'Veon Bell. Look, you have 117 yards on 24 carries averaging 4.9 yards a carry they're not really slowing you down but they didn't let him get off those huge chunk plays the way you do that is you make sure with him you set the edge

because he's such a patient runner picking his spots looking for a crease you got to maintain that edge. Maintain that discipline on the edge. Force him back to help. There are more than a couple of times where Trey Flowers did a great job of that. So I did want to mention that. So that's been your ugly, your bad, and your good.

We're going to round it out with the great stuff from this improbable win over the Pittsburgh Steelers and some game balls. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked On Patriots. All right, everybody, let's get to the great stuff. And we've got to start, I think, with Rob Gronkowski. I mean, 13 targets, 9 receptions, 168 yards, no touchdowns. Did have a pivotal, crucial two-point conversion late in that game

to tie it at 24. Gets isolated, Y-ISO. Shows slant, matched up against Artie Burns and runs the fade. Big play there. Wasn't the only time they did Y-ISO in that game. They did it on a fourth down on New England's first drive of the second half. On a fourth and one, they did YISO.

That time he did run the slant, sort of setting it up for later in the game. But Gronkowski was pivotal, pivotal down the stretch in that game, particularly on that final drive. Look, you have the two-point conversion, sure. First down on that drive that starts you have the two-point conversion, sure. First down to that drive that starts just before

the two-minute warning. It's a deflected pass. Sean Davis has a chance to end it. Can't make the interception. And Tony Romo called it, man. Called his shot. Said,

what happens when you don't finish off Tom Brady? He's a killer in those situations. He will kill you if you give him a second chance. That's exactly what happened because on second and 10, climbs the pocket, great pocket movement, finds Gronkowski over the middle out towards midfield. Next first down, next play, hits Gronkowski on the post for

another big gain. Next play, Brady, another great job slide in the pocket, finds Gronkowski along the right side, that low throw that Gronkowski somehow, someway fingertip catch just inches from the turf. I mean, just a huge job from Rob Gronkowski. And this was something we talked a lot about

circling back to where we began the week. Talking about spot dropping. Talked about it with Alex Kizora. Talked about it with john ledyard this was sort of how were the steelers going to play defense against tom brady because in the past that's what they've done they've spot dropped into zoned looks and they've let brady sort of take him apart and john ledger told us on our crossover show look going back to training camp looking ahead to this game,

Steelers were all about, look, we got to play man coverage. And they played a lot of it, a lot more than I think any of us really expected. Tony Romo kept talking about, oh, man across the board, oh, man here, man here, man here.

Oh, man, oh, mano a mano here. But then, as I talked about this week, that begs the question, who are you going to use to cover Rob Gronkowski? Who on Pittsburgh matches up with him? Because if you're willing to now go man-to-man and show Brady different looks and not just spot drop against him,

you need somebody to cover Rob Gronkowski. Nine catches for 168 yards, averaging 18.7 yards per catch as a tight end. I mean, Juju Smith-Schuster had six catches for 114 yards, including a lawn of 69 yards, and he averages 19 flat. This is a tight end we're talking about. Just an incredible, incredible game from Gronkowski, working up the seams, working on the post,

attacking the middle of the field. And dare we say, let me just mention this. I don't want to dive too much into Rob Gronkowski's head right now. But did you catch his post-game interview with Tracy Wolfson? I was watching it. My wife was next to me. We turned to each other and basically said the same thing instantaneously. And when you've been with somebody for

17 years, you have those moments where you just know exactly what they're going to say. And my wife and I had the same exact moment. We were just like, why is he so subdued? This is a subdued this is a subdued Rob Gronkowski and so I can't help but wonder if Gronk sort of saw what happened Monday night saw what this offense looked like without him and the impact it had on this team and potentially potentially on the season with him being out due to suspension.

And he learned from it. And here's an even bigger example of it. After he catches that two-point conversion, there was a split second where I saw a nightmare scenario

unfold in my mind because I thought he was going to spike that right next to Artie Burns and get flagged for taunting. Which would set Pittsburgh up with incredible field position when they just need a field goal to tie. But he didn't.

Sort of moved himself away from it. Then he had the spike. It was just, you know, seeing how gregarious he was on that drive, flexing after that fingertip catch. You thought maybe in the heat of the moment he would do something like that, but he didn't. And maybe I'm reading too much into it. I don't know.

But it just seemed to me like maybe, maybe, maybe, young Rob learned a little bit this past week. We'll see. So, yeah, got to start with Rob Gronkowski there on the great stuff. Tom Brady in the fourth quarter. And yeah, he threw the bad interception that sort of got them behind the eight ball, so to speak.

You hand up 11 points in the fourth quarter on the road in a must, basically a must-win type game. You know, that's a pretty big performance. You know, and I will say, I didn't like on the field goal drive they had in the fourth quarter, some of the play calls there, they got basically a first and goal situation, first and 10 situation down near the red zone, down near the goal line, and they went back-to-back seam routes.

They had the inside seam to Amendola, an outside vertical route to Cooks that was broken up by Artie Burns. They settled for the field goal. I didn't like that, but then come back and have the final drive that he did. Looking at it, four for four. Or three for three plus the two-point conversion.

Just a finisher. You know, and that's what Brady did. So Tom Brady in the fourth quarter was great. Ryan Allen and Matthew Slater in a somewhat understated point of the game. The Patriots, it was a sort of must-have type situation. They're seventh drive of the game. They're down eight.

And they just can't really get anything going. They have to punt on fourth and nine near the end of the third quarter. And Ryan Allen with a great punt slid with an incredible job in coverage. Downs it inside the five. That was a big play in that moment. It would have been better

if the defense could have immediately gotten Brady the ball back with good field position. But it still sort of flipped the field position there a little bit. And even though the Steelers managed to convert two third downs as they started their next drive, starting from where they did, they couldn't

do much with it. They had to punt. So that was a big moment in that game. Last great thing I want to mention before giving out some game balls. Harmon. Obviously, everybody's going to remember the interception. It sort of sealed it.

But I want to talk about a play on the drive before that. Third and fourth. When the Patriots get the first, third and out. And I believe the only three and out of the game. Third and four, crossing route to Juju Smith-Schuster. Harmon, he's the safety on that side of the field, recognizes it, rotates down, and makes a must-have tackle

in a must-have situation to prevent them from moving the chains. Forces the punt. Patriots get the ball back right before the two-minute warning. They get a first down there. Complexion in the game changes entirely. And for all the ranting and yelling that I was going to do about tackling,

that I've even done about tackling, that was a pivotal play. Game looks completely different if he doesn't make that tackle. And it was textbook down to the execution and the form and everything. So an incredible tackle from Harmon there. Let's give out some game balls here before we go. Robert Gronkowski, don't get suspended again, okay?

Tremendous effort from him. Can't overstate what he meant to this team tonight. Give out two special teams, one to Allen and Slater for that punt. Small little moment in the game, but all the small moments add up. I thought that was a really big play. Harmon for the interception

and for that tackle on that third and four to force the punt. Two huge plays in this game. And finally, Eric Rowe. Had the Patriots lost this game he was going to be listed in the ugly section of the podcast was having trouble covering Smith-Schuster on some crossing routes

got beaten by Eli Rogers on a touchdown whiffed a couple of times up and down the field for Smith-Schuster's 69-yard catch and run that looked like, well, they're going to lose this thing. But then on the pivotal play of the game, in a game filled with pivotal plays, but on the, the, the, the, the pivotal play, whose left hand deflects the pass in the air? When Ben Roethlisberger shows the fake spike, they run the slant route.

By the way, situational awareness there. Patriots were ready for that. They were ready for that fake spike. But whose left hand got in to break out that slant route? It was Eric Rose. And after everything he had been through in this game, included on that drive when it looked like maybe he had perhaps been the GOAT, it was his deflection, his left hand, that set up Harmon's interception,

that tipped it away and set up the interception. So for that, for battling back through everything else and making the critical play, Eric Rowe, game ball to you. That's been a take two edition of the glorious victory edition of the Locked On Patriots podcast. I'm going to go pour myself an adult beverage.

Hope you enjoyed it. This kind of win, it's earned a taped Tuesday edition. We'll have some taped stuff for you sometime on Tuesday. Until then, if you're a Pats fan, enjoy this one. Until we talk again, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on P.