Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots December 26, 2017 - Tape Tuesday, Week 17 Scenarios and Hot QB Takes

Episode Date: December 26, 2017

Mark Schofield addresses some QB hot takes, talks Week 17 playoff scenarios, and dives into more Shaq Mason tape from Sunday's win over Buffalo.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Good morning and welcome into Locked On Patriots for Tuesday, December 26th, 2017. Mark Schofield here in the big chair for the day after Christmas. Hopefully we had a fantastic holiday. I did with the family over the past couple of days actually, but now maybe it's time to get back into the grind. Hopefully you're getting a chance to take some time off from work, spend it with the family. If not, maybe you're headed back into the office today. I'll do what I can here on a quick, tidy little show to help you get through it. Reminder, you can follow me on Twitter at MarkScofield. Follow the work over at InsideThePylon.com

where I write about anything and everything under the sun that's related to the game of football. Bleacher Report NFL 1000. Reminder that I am the quarterback scout over there. Rankings for Week 16 games will drop on Wednesday this week, a day later than normal.

We're also gearing up over there for year end rankings my year end quarterback rankings on all of the quarterbacks in the NFL will come out on January 2nd set reminders on your phones

set alarms, tell your friends don't at me with any angry takes gonna do a couple of things here on a quick and tidy little show Set alarms, tell your friends, don't at me with any angry takes. Going to do a couple of things here on a quick and tidy little show. First, I have to address two quarterback takes on the timeline that have blown my mind in the past 24 hours or so. I want to dive into those quickly. They're not Patriots related, but they're worthy of discussion. Then I want to talk some Week 17 playoff scenarios, some rooting scenarios.

And then finally, I'm going to dive into the tape. Just for one play and another reminder of why Shaq Mason is having an incredible, incredible year. But first, I want to dive into some quarterback-related takes. And I want to talk about two quarterbacks from the same game. Russell Wilson, Dak Prescott. Because in the aftermath of Seattle's victory over the Dallas Cowboys, thereby eliminating quote-unquote America's team from the playoffs, the timeline was strangely filled with takes from both fan bases saying that it's time to perhaps move on from their quarterback. Let's start with Russell Wilson, and this is an interesting one because if you've been listening to Locked on Patriots,

you know my thoughts on Russell Wilson as a potential MVP candidate. As I teased in the intro, working on my year-end quarterback rankings, he's near the top, friends. But over the past, say, week, maybe two weeks, this faction of Seattle Seahawks Twitter has started to entertain the idea that it would be a beneficial move to perhaps trade Russell Wilson. Now they're looking at Cleveland, a team that needs to fix the quarterback position, and thinking, look, what if we can get the first overall pick? Can you move on from Russell Wilson?

That's a rather interesting idea. And I say interesting because if you look at the way the Seattle Seahawks are currently constructed, specifically on the offensive side of the football, I don't understand how it's feasible to move on from Russell Wilson and expect to have any sort of level of success without him. He is their offense this year. Coming into their week 16 game, he was accounted for 299 total yards per game. That's tops in the NFL.

That's the best average in the NFL of any player. And again, last week against Dallas, yes, he was held to 93 yards passing, but he was still the team's leading rusher as well, as he's been many weeks this season. He is their offense. The offensive line is struggling to protect him at times, so there are times when he's forced to immediately pull the ball down,

look to escape, and try to find an outlet in the scramble drill situation type plays. So when you look at how that offense is constructed, you look at that offensive line right now, what are you going to do? I mean, is the idea trade him, get the first overall pick, and go with a Baker Mayfield type? Who I can see some sort of similarities to. But if you're going to try to

move on from Russell Wilson in some sense, perhaps saving money in the process. You're then going to go draft QB at the first overall pick and go Russell Wilson light, at least to the start, with Baker Mayfield? It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me. Yeah, I watched Russell Wilson's body of work this year. I think he's been one of the most impressive players to watch this season. The Seattle Seahawks, they're on the verge of a playoff berth still.

They'll need some help. They can still get in. And Wilson has been there in the bulk of their offense this year. And the idea of moving on from him doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me. But now let's flip it to the other side of the field here, and Dak Prescott, because Prescott struggled again in this game. And there are some things that Dak Prescott has struggled with that were things that I identified with him,

and part of the reason I was hesitant about Dak Prescott coming out of Mississippi State it's ball placement number one and we saw that on both the interceptions that he threw against the Seattle Seahawks one on a check down to Ezekiel Elliott where he

just misses it and the other he's trying to hit Dez Bryant over the middle on a quick little curl route, and it's thrown behind him. Catchable ball, yeah, but there is a difference, remember, between sort of general accuracy

and ball placement. You know, accurate throws can be placed poorly in a sense because if it's a catchable throw, you could say it's generally accurate. But if it's behind a receiver, if he has to make an awkward adjustment, it's not really placed well. You know, and that's an area where Dak Prescott struggled

when he was in college with ball placement. And we saw that on the two interceptions. We've seen it a lot this season. Dak Prescott struggled when he was in college with ball placement. And we saw that on the two interceptions. We've seen it a lot this season. I don't want to say full on that Dak Prescott has regressed, but this season has had its ups and downs for him. And another thing that sort of stood out, that first interception was sort of the process in speed because he had Jason Witten open over the middle late in the play but for whatever reason he didn't look to it he didn't

see it it seemed like he looked at him for a second but he comes off of it and throws the check down and throws it poorly you know and that sort of started that game and you know perhaps it comes from being eliminated from playoff contention, but that started Cowboys Twitter down the road of, is it time to address quarterback? Is it time to not necessarily full-on move on from Dak Prescott, but bring in some competition and maybe pave the way, perhaps, for a plan B. And as somebody that's spoken at length about how development isn't linear, sometimes there's a year two stagnation

or even regression in quarterbacks. Especially somebody that came out and lit the world on fire like Dak Prescott did last year. And so I think it's a little early to start pulling out the knives for Dak Prescott, perhaps more concerning for Cowboys fans. Some of the postgame comments from Dak Prescott saying that, you know, on the throw to Des Bryant,

maybe he has to hit him in the face, Max, so he just can't drop it. That might be a bigger issue than anything else. Is that just frustration in the moment, or is there some sort of growing rift? But in terms of these two teams, these two fan bases potentially moving on from the quarterbacks in that game, I'd say let's pump the brakes on that a little bit. Both these guys have played well for their teams, particularly Wilson this year.

I think it's time to really just sort of slow the rule on that. But given the heat on those takes, I wanted to at least address that at the start. Up next, we're going to break into some Week 17 playoff scenarios. For the Patriots, it's easy, provided they win. If not, they'll need a little bit of help to get to where they want to be. We'll break it all down next with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots. Okay, let's do some Week 17 playoff scenarios here pretty quickly.

Just get the mind right as we look ahead to the final week of regular season action. And for the Patriots, look, AFC East, first round by, those are clinched. The Steelers, with their victory over Houston, they have also clinched a first round by. So the Steelers and the Patriots, they will be home

wildcard week, and it's just a matter of who gets that first overall spot. And for New England, it's pretty simple. Beat the Jets, it's yours. If you lose, you've got to hope somehow that the Cleveland Browns avoid 0-16 and can go into Pittsburgh and beat the Steelers. And I'll say this right now, I don't have many moments like this, but that's an eat the tweet situation.

If the Browns somehow pull that off, if they go into Pittsburgh and win that game, I will eat a tweet. Period. Because I just don't see it happening. So if you're New England, you've got to take care of business. There is a third path to getting the top overall seed,

and that's Patriots tie, Pittsburgh ties. Again, don't see that happening. So that's how it sort of shakes out at the top. Now, at the bottom Tennessee Titans actually let's start with the Ravens

the Ravens get in if they win period full stop so if the Ravens beat the Bengals get in if they win. Period. Full stop. So if the Ravens beat the Bengals at home late Sunday afternoon, they are in. If the Ravens somehow lose,

they need a Buffalo loss or a Tennessee loss and they're in. For Tennessee, they win, they're in. For Tennessee, they win, they're in. If they tie, get a Buffalo loss or a tie and a Chargers loss or a tie,

they're in. They also get in if both Buffalo and the Chargers lose. Chargers. Here's how they can get in The first way A win Over the Raiders at home

Plus a Tennessee loss in tie Or tie Plus a Buffalo loss or tie Option two for the Chargers A win Plus a Titans loss or tie And a Baltimore loss or tie and a Baltimore loss or tie. Path three.

Chargers tie, Tennessee loss, Buffalo loss or tie. Finally, it's the Bills who finish the season with the Miami Dolphins on the road down in Miami. Bills clinch a playoff berth with a Buffalo win and a Baltimore loss. They can also get in if they win, a Chargers loss or tie, and a Tennessee loss or tie. And finally, they can get in if they tie, the Chargers lose, and the Titans lose. So the last two wildcard teams, the last two teams in,

right now only Baltimore and Tennessee control their destiny. And Baltimore, as we said, they get the Bengals. Tennessee, they get the Jags at home right now. This is a situation where the Jags coming off a loss, you know they want to end the season right. That's not a layup for Tennessee.

So it's going to be interesting to see how this plays out here in week 17. But for our concerns, first and foremost, Patriots win and in. Beat the Jets at home. Take care of your own business. And frankly,

we're going to start talking about it in the next show, but Patriots should be able to do that. Jets. I'm with Bryce Petty right now. Not really looking good right now. You know, a 14-7 loss at home to the Chargers. Petty, 15 of 28 for 119 in an interception.

Bilal Powell, 19 carries for 145 in a touchdown. You know, so the run game is still there. But as we know with Bill Belichick, take away what they do best and he's going to want to make Bryce Petty win that game in Foxborough. And it's hard to imagine that happening.

But that's a quick little Week 17 playoff scenario recap. Up next I'm going to break down one play and talk some more about Shaq Mason. I've been showing him some love this year. I'm going to show him a little bit more. That's ahead on the tape Tuesday

aspect of Locked On Patriots. Alright, let's take a look now. Shaq Mason. Now, I've talked about him a lot this year. I waxed poetically about him the last time these two teams played. But don't just take it from me. Now, I've talked about him a lot this year. I waxed poetically about him the last time these two teams played. But don't just take it from me. Look, pro football focus.

I've talked a lot about their edge product, the grades, the charted. It's all really good stuff. Again, if you want to get your hands on one, leave a review of the Locked On Patriots podcast over on iTunes. Their top five graded Patriots. Probably no surprise who was number one. Rob Gronkowski, the tight end, 96.4 overall grade from this game. Patrick Chun, the safety, 87.4.

Talked a lot about Patrick Chun yesterday. Trey Flowers, the edge defender, 86. Cameron Fleming, the offensive tackle, 84.7. And then number five, Shaq Mason, 84.3 overall grade. So it wasn't just me that's saying it. Mason had a very good game. And on sort of the knockout blow, Deion Lewis's five-yard touchdown,

coming with four minutes left in the game to give the Patriots their 37-16 victory, we see Shaq Mason stepping up yet again. The play comes on second and five. Patriots have the ball on the left hash mark. It's second and goal from the five. Tom Brady lines second and five. Patriots have the ball on the left hash mark. It's second and goal from the five. Tom Brady lines up under center. Patriots going with 12 offensive personnel. So they have two tight ends.

Rob Gronkowski, who's the in-line tight end to the left, and then Dwayne Allen in a wing. And then two receivers with Danny Amendola and Brandon Cooks in a slot formation to the right. Deion Lewis is the lone single back. Bills have their base 4-3 defense on the field. They bring a linebacker down over the two tight ends. They show man coverage in, as we've talked about,

Patriots use motion, bring in Amendola across the formation. Defender trails him. Now they run a power design to the left side. And we get a couple of blocks here at the start.

First, there's a defensive tackle lined up in the B gap between left tackle Nate Solder and left guard Joe Thune. The first critical set of blocks is a double team from those two players on Kyle Williams, who's that B-gap defender. Next, on the sort of back side to the play, there's a defender in the A-gap

between the aforementioned Shaq Mason and center David Andrews. Andrews is tasked with blocking that player on his own. Because that's going to allow Shaq Mason to do something different. On the backside, right tackle Cameron Fleming. A little wheel block here. He looks to go to the second level and get the linebacker, but then peels back, handles the backside defensive end.

The key block, though, is again Shaq Mason, who pulls into the opposite C-gap. So as Nate Solder, the left tackle, blocks down on Kyle Williams, it's Shaq Mason who comes behind that and leads Deion Lewis to the hole. Now linebackers for the Buffalo Bills are flowing to the football. They're reading their keys. They see the block and set up. And Matt Milano, a rookie linebacker out of Boston College, are flowing to the football. They're reading their keys. They see the block and set up.

And Matt Milano, a rookie linebacker out of Boston College, reads the play very well and attacks downhill, attacks the hole where Deion Lewis is going to go. He fills the hole perfectly. But then he meets Shaq Mason, who just stuffs Milano in the hole. And from there, it's Deion Lewis, who does a good job sort of getting small,

finding the crevice, and plunging into the end zone. But the key block, as we've seen so many times this year, particularly between these two teams, Shaq Mason on the pull, fill in the hole, meeting linebacker Matt Milano right in that hole, throwing a critical block, and sprinting the touchdown. Again, Shaq Mason, I've been talking about him a lot. I've been

incredibly impressed with his play this year. A very athletic guard and we shouldn't be surprised given his background coming from a flex bone, triple option offense down at Georgia Tech. Really developing into a nice guard, a nice weapon.

It wasn't the only time he pulled in this game. Talked about it on the post-game show, the Christmas Eve show. Pull into the edge in front of Deion Lewis on a run that was the same exact play the Patriots hit against the Bills a couple weeks ago, only with Rex Burke at that time. So Shaq Mason, I said it during the post-game show. He had a great game. The PFF grading checks that out.

And as we see on this play, pivotal role from him. That's going to do it for your Tuesday edition of Locked on Patriots. Hope you enjoyed it. I'll be back on Wednesday. Starting to get into the New York Jets, getting ready for that matchup. As always, follow the work on Twitter. You can follow me there, at Mark Schofield. Look for Blue Tree Report stuff coming,

more Inside the Pylon stuff coming, more Locked on Patriots stuff coming over at LockedOnPatriots.com. Until next time, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots.