Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots December 20, 2018 - The Un-Gordoning

Episode Date: December 20, 2018

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Hello everybody, Mark Schofield here with an emergency edition of the Locked On Patriots podcast. Patriots fans waking up to perhaps a bit of early coal in their stock in this holiday season. That news? That Josh Gordon, a talented wide receiver, is stepping away from the game of football to focus on his mental health. Gordon released a statement on his social media account

saying that he was stepping away. He thanked the Patriots and their organization for everything they had done for him. But that report was quickly followed up by a report from NFL.com's Tom Palacero that basically said that Gordon was facing another suspension for a violation of his reinstatement. That report from Tom Palacero reads as follows. Wide receiver Josh Gordon is facing another indefinite suspension for violating terms of his reinstatement under the substance abuse policy per source. He announced today that he's stepping away to address his mental health. Now, a couple of things that are important to talk about here.

First and foremost, we wish Josh Gordon the best. That should be everybody's primary concern here. He is a troubled, young, talented individual. We have to worry about his long-term health and well-being. Football goes to the side at this point. We've talked a lot about mental health on this show. I've been open about my struggles with it, not really from an addiction standpoint, which seems to be Josh Gordon's issue, but mental health concerns are a concern of mine, for all the the listeners and certainly for Josh Gordon. His primary focus

has to be taking care of himself as a human being. The game of football is secondary to the game of life. And so we want him to do whatever he needs to do to be healthy and to take care of himself so he can live a long and healthy life. And if he's had a relapse, if he's had another sort of setback that it is incumbent upon him and everybody around him, including the New England Patriots, to try to get him the help that he needs. Now, obviously, that being said, there is a football aspect to this. The immediate impact, I think, of this is the Patriots, they're going to lose somebody that has become somewhat of a playmaker for their offense. I think you are going to see a lot more of Patterson now down the stretch, and that might not be a surprise given how

the end of the game against Pittsburgh, Patterson was in there for the last couple of plays. Are they going to get the same kind of production out of Patterson as they did out of Gordon? Probably not. And will this have an immediate impact? I think it might. Look, we just talked about it in today's show. The Patriots are going up against the number one pass defense in the national

football league. That could be a problem this week. And we've had struggles from other receivers in the passing game. Julian Edelman has had his share of drops. Rob Gronkowski has not looked like himself this season. Yes, it seemed like he was having a breakout game of sorts against the Miami Dolphins, but he was held largely in check by the Pittsburgh Steelers last week,

a team against which he's traditionally done extremely well. And so it's just one more setback in what seems to be a growing list of setbacks to this Patriots team this year. And it sort of raises a larger point about the 2018 New England Patriots. Sometimes there are those years which just are not your year. Through a mix of whether it's injuries, bad luck, tough losses, whatever, a team just can't seem to have the kind of success that it was hoping to when the season began. That may ultimately be the story of the 2018 Patriots, a team that while talented and while started the greatest quarterback of all time, couldn't put together the types of performances it needed to to have the type of season we all hoped they would. You could point to some of the early season struggles, you could point to the struggles hoped they would. You could point to some of the early season struggles.

You could point to the struggles on the road. You could point to the struggles from the defense at times. You can point to the struggles from the offense at times. You know, in terms of playing a complete game and finishing a complete game, if you were asked what was the most complete game the Patriots put together this season? What would be your answer?

What would be your answer to that question? Would you say the Minnesota game? Maybe. But let's not forget, there was that stretch in the middle of that game from basically the second to the third quarter where not a lot of people were pleased with the Patriots' offense. Would it be the Kansas City Chiefs game back in week six? Maybe, but you gave up 40 points in that game.

Again, yes, against one of the more talented offenses that the league has seen in recent history, but you still gave up 40 points. It's not really a complete showing. Maybe it was the Dolphins back in week four. Maybe that's the one you would point to. That might be sort of your standout case for it. But you could also say, look, the Dolphins did what the Dolphins sometimes do when they come up to Gillette.

They laid an egg. Maybe you would say it was that Packers game, 31-17. That one might have some merit to it. But the point is, it's not like they're going out and putting together a bunch of complete performances on both sides of the ball in the games that they've won. They haven't. In the games that they've lost, well, we know the reasons for those losses. We've talked about them ad nauseum. And so it's yet one more brick on the wall of uncertainty that has been built around this team,

starting with that loss in the Super Bowl. This has been an off-season of unease, a pre-season of unease, and now as we sit here in December, a month where the Patriots are traditionally playing their best football, they've lost two straight, they just lost a talented player, and they're going up against two things that have given them fits in the past. A very good pass defense and a mobile athletic quarterback in Josh Allen. The Patriots may very well win this game on Sunday, and when we wake up on Christmas Eve hoping to find presents and not coal in our stockings in the next morning, the Patriots may very well be back in the driver's seat

for a first-round buy. That's all theoretically possible. Or something else might be in front of us come Christmas Eve. It's not out of the realm of possibility that the Patriots lose this game to Buffalo. Would it surprise me? Yes. Would it stun me? No. This has been a strange season, and it might come to a strange conclusion. The Patriots may very well get into the playoffs.

I think most people expect them to at least win the division and at least host a first round playoff game in the wild card weekend for the first time since 2009, but we know how that ended. So with this Josh Gordon news, while we hope for the best for the person, it's hard to just not look at this as yet one more brick in the wall of uneasiness and uncertainty surrounding this 2018 New England Patriots team. We wish Josh the best. We hope for his recovery. And we hope that the New England Patriots can finish this season the way we expected them to play this entire 2018 campaign. I'm Mark Schofield. Thanks for listening to this quick emergency installment of the Locked On Patriots podcast. I will be back tomorrow with a crossover installment.

I will be back later on Sunday with your tailgate edition of Locked On Patriots. Looking at some DFS stuff, talking playoff scenarios and all sorts of stuff like that. Maybe recapping some of the Saturday action. Still got football to be played. The Patriots got opportunities to take care of business, get a little bit of help, get back to where they need to be. We'll all be keeping our fingers crossed, and you know I will be here breaking it down for all of you.

Thanks for listening. I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots.