Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots December 30, 2018 - Glorious Victory Edition

Episode Date: December 31, 2018

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Hello everybody and welcome on into a glorious victory edition of the Locked On Patriots podcast. Mark Schofield back in the big chair and yes, I'm going to return to a phrase I've used before, the era of unbridled optimism. Bask in it for a moment. Just let it wash over you like the warm rays of sunshine on a summer's afternoon at the beach. Why? Because your New England Patriots just punched their ticket not only to the playoffs, that was already secured,

but they punched their ticket to a first-round buy by taking care of business against the New York Jets, dispatching our rivals from the Big Apple 38-3 in the kind of performance that I think Patriots fans were yearning for, were longing to see from this team. A complete performance on both offense, defense, all phases of the game. What we're going to do today, we're going to talk a little big picture here at the outset. Talk this game, what it means, look ahead to the playoffs a little bit. Then we're going to do our great and our good from this win over the New York Jets. But before we do all of that, a reminder to follow me on Twitter, at Mark Schofield.

Check out the work at places like InsideThePylon.com, Pro Football Weekly, The Score, Matt Waldman's Rookie Scouting Portfolio, Big Blue View, part of the SB Nation family of websites. As I've said before, friends, if there is an outlet that is covering the game of football, chances are I'm doing some more covering this game that we all love for that outlet. Let's talk big picture. That's how I want to start today's show. Because when you look at this show from last week, the show that I put together for you right about this time last week, that almost felt like a melancholy in the infinite sadness episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast. Why? Perhaps it was a bit of overreaction. Perhaps it was a bit of unplaced or misplaced concern over the passing game and perhaps an emphasis on the negative.

But you look at that team last week and you did or you couldn't help but wonder, look, can this team put together the type of performance they need or they might need at some point in the playoffs, whether it's in the divisional round, God forbid, the wildcard round, if things don't go their way, an AFC championship game, potentially on the road. It was a legitimate concern when you looked at Tom Brady and the passing offense against the Buffalo Bills. But what a difference a week makes.

And if you looked at that game last week, I said it here, in the sort of four offensive and defensive phases of the game, run defense, rushing offense, pass defense, and passing offense, they were really good against Buffalo in three of the four. But it was that fourth, that passing offense that had a lot of us really sort of concerned. It led to a number of questions this week about Gronkowski and his future, about Brady and his future. Obviously, there was speculation that this might be it for Gronk. Brady was getting the questions on EEI, how much longer are you going to play? Tom Curran and others on Twitter and elsewhere, the passing game looked like ass.

Apologies, earmuffs, I guess. I should have said that. But look, it's not one of the seven bad words, so I can get away with that one. Look, there was legitimate concern. And part of it might be, look, this is a passing league. It's a passing era. We have seen Tom Brady time and time again put together stellar performances, whether it's in critical games in the regular season or playoff type games or Super Bowls. And to see the passing game struggle the way it did, it left us all uneasy in what has been a year of uncertainty and unease. You know, the wall, the bricks of unease around Patriots Nation as I've referred to them. But then you see, after that sort of performance, you start to take stock, and we did it in the Tape Tuesday show.

We look at the pass protection, and it was an issue. And so you start to think, look, maybe it's not Brady, and there's other stuff going on. You get asked a question about Chris Hogan. You start digging into the tape, and you see him open at times, and Brady's not hitting him, not pulling the trigger in his direction. And you start to look, maybe this was just a bad performance against the number one pass defense in the league. At least in terms of yardage allowed per game, which is the metric people use, so we'll use it.

Then you sort of look at this performance today and yes they were a banged up secondary group okay Tremaine Johnson sat down coaching decision you had some other names that were sat down due to coaching decisions and other reasons Buster Scrine was banged up for a little bit as well maybe he wasn't fully 100%. They were without Marcus May, one of their safeties. And so yes, it wasn't the best test of this passing game, but it was the type of production and performance that we want to see from Tom Brady and the New England Patriots offense. You look at Brady, and we're going to talk more about Tom Brady

a little bit. Like I said, we're going to do the great and the good after this. 24 of 33 for 250, four touchdowns, no interceptions, just the one sack. QBR 88.9, quarterback rate in 133.8. A much more

Tom Brady like performance. And if you look at the games that he's had this season, at least in terms of quarterback rating, it was by far his best game this year. You look in terms of touchdowns thrown, it was his best game this year. You look at yardage per attempt, it wasn't his best game this year.

He had 9.72 yards per attempt against Minnesota, but it was sort of a middle-of-the-pack game. So putting it all together, production-wise, one of Brady's better outings of the season. And then you can sort of look at what we saw on tape. I'm going to talk about specific throws in a minute, but I thought he made some throws in this game that were some of the best throws he's made,

if not in recent weeks, some of the best throws perhaps this season. I loved seeing the way the ball was coming out of his hands. We're going to talk about specific throws in a minute. The decisiveness, the pocket movement, I thought was fantastic today from Brady. And so that was what we wanted to see. We also saw something that we wanted to see in terms of a big pitcher from our tight end, Rob Gronkowski.

And yes, the numbers were not fantastic. On paper, two catches for 24 yards, no touchdowns. But you had on all three plays we're going to talk about here vintage Gronkowski moments. The early reception, the first one, low throw

on an out route, makes the hands catch, gets some yardage after the catch against Jamal Adams. That sort of catch on that low throw, that's vintage catch, gets some yardage after the catch against Jamal Adams. That sort of catch on that low throw, that's vintage Gronkowski. We saw it there. The play that got called back, the throw again in the right flat where you had a somewhat dubious offensive pass interference calling Dwayne Allen who looked incredulous after that was called. That was vintage Gronkowski. He was sortumbling, big-time yardage after the catch. That's a 30-yard gain that gets negated by a penalty. If he goes three for 54 and that big catch stands, people are really thinking, look, Gronk is back. The other catch, sort of a crosser

working away from the defender, dragging the defender a little bit after the contact. You saw glimpses of vintage tight end slash receiver Gronkowski today, and that was good to see. And so I think because of what we saw from this past game, and the way that they executed in some of the other phases of the game, the defense was fantastic. Yes, we know rookie quarterbacks at Gillette, they struggle. Sam Donald is talented, and we saw glimpses of that. Yes, the run game didn't put up the kind of numbers that it's had against the Jets earlier this season or last week, for example. That's kind of sort of misconstrued a bit because Sotomichel,

while he was held to just 50 yards on 14 carries, he had two runs where he either gets tripped up on the second one or on the first one. He had been struggling with balance as he gets through the hole. And if he's able to sort of stay upright and keep his balance better on either of those plays, he makes a house call. So if he busts one of those, you're talking about 15 for 86 and a touchdown. He busts both of those, you're talking, I mean, 14 for 86 and a touchdown. If he busts both of those, you're talking about 14 mean, 14 for 86 in a touchdown. If you plus both of those, you're talking about 14 for maybe

108, you know, 110 in two touchdowns. And you're thinking, man, the run game is great too. Although the passing numbers might have been different given how those drives might have ended differently. But still, this was as close to a complete performance from this team than

you can get. And people might say, look, it's coming against a band up Jets defense. Okay, you play who's across the field from you. It's still the kind of performance that you'd rather see, right? That if they had won this game, say, 17 to 10, and Brady was 24 of 48 for 206 and one touchdown and an interception, you probably wouldn't be happy about those numbers. And so as close to a complete performance as you can get, as close to perfection as you'd want to see from a team headed into the playoffs.

And in the playoffs, while we didn't get all the help that we could have gotten, we got the one loss that we truly needed, which was Houston last week. And yes, Kansas City lost, so it kept us in contention for that one seed. But now they get the two. Yes, the path to the AFC championship in the Super Bowl might run through Arrowhead, but there's a lot of football left to be played. And if you sort of look around the state of the league right now, particularly the state of the AFC, is there a perfect AFC team right now? I don't think you could say that there is. You look at the Chiefs and they still have an issue with their defense. You look at the Texans and, you know, at times that offense can get a little simplified in terms of the flood concepts that they like to run with, you know,

Deshaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins. You know, that defense, I think, could be a little bit better. It hasn't played as well as you might expect it to. They've got some guys up front that can rush the pass, obviously, and Clowney and Watt, but there's some holes in the secondary. The Chargers, maybe they're the more dangerous team given what they can do defensively, given how they can get after the pass,

or given Derwin James and what he can do in the back end. But again, it's sort of the Philip Rivers factor. How much do you really trust the Chargers? The Ravens have a good defense, maybe a bit more one-dimensional on offense than you'd like to see in a playoff type offense.

People might say, oh, you know, still it's the Ravens, but, you know, and then we're still sort of waiting on this Colts-Titans game, which is underway right now. You've got to say, look, the Patriots got themselves in. They got a first-round bye. They've got a home playoff game to start. And now let's just see how the chips fall. They got themselves in. This is the best they've looked on both sides of the ball, I think, in a while.

And it's the kind of performance that you wanted to see heading into the season. And don't forget this defense that played extremely well against an offense that, you know, look, just a couple of weeks ago against that same Buffalo Bills defense, no, Sam Darnold goes 16 of 24 from 170 in a touchdown and one interception. And they put up 27 points. So this is an offense that at times has put up some big numbers. They put 22 on the board against Houston. They put 38 on the board last week when Darnold goes for three touchdowns and 341.

So it's an offensive group that has shown some talent. The Patriots defense took care of their job as well. And so I'm just saying, I'm going to try to make the case for optimism in the era of unbridled optimism. I'm going to say that it's back. I'm going to bask in the glow of it for a couple of days now. Then we can start sort of diving into the playoffs and everything else. Up next, we're going to talk about the great and then a little bit later, the good for New England's 38-3 Week 17 victory over the New York Jets. Mark Schofield back with you now doing a little glorious victory edition of the Locked On

Patriots podcast. And we're going to talk some great stuff that we saw from this game. We're going to talk Tom Brady. We're going to talk the offense a little bit later in this segment. But I want to start with the defense. Because what was impressive to me from this defense today was the different guys that were able to make plays and the different ways in which guys made plays

from sort of the fundamental to the spectacular whether it's you know guys setting the edge whether it's guys with you know run fits and run forces that won't even show up on the stat sheet but just sort of fundamental defensive football and then you had some spectacular plays whether it's some guys winning some one-on-one matchups up front in the you know in the in the past russian game whether it's some guys winning some one-on-one matchups up front in the past Russian game, whether it's guys sort of making some spectacular plays, punching the ball out,

whether it's some guys in great coverage, Stephon Gilmore against Robbie Anderson. What do we always say about Bill Belichick? He wants to take away what you do best. What they might have done best this year as an offense, Robbie Anderson and Sam Donald and their relationship. Well, Robbie Anderson, three catches for 24 yards.

I think people would take that in a heartbeat. And a bigger, no touchdowns. And so this defense, I thought, played about as good of a game as you can. And yes, people would say it's against a rookie quarterback. played about as good of a game as you can. And yes, people will say it's against a rookie quarterback. Rookie quarterback's 0-10, now 0-11 lifetime at Gillette against Bill Belichick. And I get that argument. But again, this is a quarterback that, since coming back from his foot injury, has put up numbers against teams like Buffalo and their number one pass defense,

Houston a playoff team, Green Bay Packers. Well, we know what the Green Bay Packers are, but still. I think that Donald showed today that he's going to be a good quarterback in this league, but he's still a rookie and he's still making some mistakes. And the Patriots defense made some big plays when they needed to. But it was the way that we saw sound defensive fundamental football, pressure in him in spots, forcing some big type of plays, getting off the field when they needed

to, and holding them to just three points. So I thought it was a fantastic day from this defense. On the offensive side of the ball, two things I want to talk about. First and foremost, Tom Brady. I think this is one of the, you know, we just sort of went through the numbers a little bit earlier. One of the best games, if not the best game he has played this year. There were a number of throws that he made today were literally in my notes when I was taking my notes watching this game and then sort of re-watching it a little bit, watching some plays here and there.

Some of the better throws I've seen him make this season came in today's game. He looked much more confident. He looked much more decisive. He looked much more decisive. He looked much more comfortable. The pocket movement from Brady was fantastic today. And not just on sort of the throw to Dorsett on the move for a touchdown, which I would put up there as one of his better throws of the year, by the way,

but even on some other plays, even on plays that weren't successful, you saw him much more comfortable in the pocket. And part of that has to do with the pass protection, which we'll get to a little bit later, but it was a much more calm, decisive, and comfortable Tom Brady in the pocket. Almost 180 degrees difference from what we saw last week. And they looked more confident in their pass protection. You could see it in the play calling. They were willing to call drop back passes. They weren't so focused on screens and things like that.

They trusted that the protection was going to hold. And for the most part, it did. And even when it didn't at times, Brady was showing you his ability to move around. And if you were concerned about the knee, I think maybe you feel a little bit better about the way he moved this week. And so I thought Brady had a fantastic game. And I will mention one other person in this sort of segment. And part of the reason I'm going to do it is because there's a conversation going on right now on my Twitter timeline and perhaps yours as well.

Guys like Evan Lazar from CLNS Media, Brian Phillips from Pat's Pulpit, myself and others about Josh McDaniels, the play caller. We're seeing reports now that he's in the mix with Cleveland. The Packers are going to seek permission to interview him this week. And we've dinged Josh McDaniels here on the show. I've dinged Josh McDaniels at times. But as I've sort of said, I said it in the Take Thursday show, when you look at the body of work, you look at the ways that he's helped Tom Brady, the things that he's done from a schematic

standpoint to give him pre-snap indicators and cues and things like that, and some of the things that he's done as a play caller, and you look at the potential transition that's ahead of New England at some point, I will be sad to see him go. And yes, there are times when he makes me want to pull my hair out. But if you want just a vintage look at play calling and setting something up, setting a defense up for something. Look at New England's drive that ended in that touchdown pass from Braden Edelman. Look at the way he put that drive together.

This was New England's ninth drive of the game. They have a second and 14. They go Julian Edelman on the end around for plus 17. Two plays later, they have a second and nine. They go Philip Dorsett on the end around for plus six. They get it into third and three. Then they go Julian Edelman end around again for plus six. They get into a first down situation.

They get down into the red zone. They face a first and 15 at the 17. Sort of an out route. James White, great velocity, great throw from Tom Brady. Get it down to second and three. They show you the jet sweep, that end around motion again.

They fake it and they throw the slant working you know away from that so you've got motion coming from left to right you fake that everybody's trailing the motion because you've seen it three times this drive wouldn't be wouldn't surprise you to see it a fourth time and then you bring edmund back against the flow of that the misdirection type stuff we talked about, against this team. And it's an easy throw for a touchdown because he's wide open. That's the kind of stuff that great play callers do. They set a defense up.

They show you something. They show you something. They show you something. They show you a variation of it for a big play. And I will admit I got a huge kick out of the CBS promo package that they did at one point during this game talking about some of the stuff they were doing on offense, and they even had a little segment on misdirections because, yes, this is a Jets defense that is susceptible to stuff like that. Maybe whoever was putting that package together listens to the show.

I think they do because I think I know who it is, but that's a story for another time. All in all, I thought Josh McDaniels had a great game as a play caller, did some very creative stuff at times. And so perhaps I'm getting everybody ready for the time when it's announced that he's going to Cleveland or Green Bay or wherever. But as some other people are saying, look, be careful what you wish for. That's all I'm saying.

Let's talk some other specific great stuff that I saw in this game just for a moment here. New England's second offensive drive of the game I thought was fantastic. You know, this was the one that culminated in that touchdown pass to James White on a fantastic off-hand route. You had the low throw and catch up by Gronkowski on a second and eight, which we talked about. There was a first and ten play at the plus 44 the jets 44 yard line this they did this a couple

of times it's came and listeners to the show know i love it when an offense does this you see that off coverage you see your outside receiver your boundary receivers getting seven eight ten yards of cushion pre-snap just take the snap and throw on the ball you don't have to make this game hard it's an easy game you take the ball you throw game. You take the ball, you throw the ball, you catch the ball, you run with the ball. You try not to get tackled. It's not that hard. Hogan has that off-coverage look from the defensive back. You probably heard Fouts was saying, look, he's going to give you off-coverage. Just take advantage of it. They did that. I thought, I love seeing stuff like that. Jets' second drive of the game. It's a 3rd-and-9 situation. They're in field goal range. They go with that amoeba front.

They get some pressure. The pressure force is a quick throw. He sort of throws to Robbie Anderson along the sideline. What do you see? Stephon Gilmore raking up through the pocket. We talk about that so much on this show. Defensive backs taught New England to rake up through the pocket, not down. Makes a disruptive play at the catch point. Fantastic, fantastic play by Gilmore.

New England's next possession. This is the one that culminates on the touchdown pass to Rex Burkhead. Second and 10, under-centered play action. Brady rips a dart to Edelman, working over the middle. I thought, I literally wrote it down, was this the best throw of Brady's season? Velocity, placement, it was just picture perfect. That was, I literally wrote it down. Was this the best throw of Brady's season? Velocity, placement. It was just picture perfect. That was when I sort of felt really calm about where Tom Brady is right now when I saw that throw.

A little bit later, you have a second 11. They go toss to James White with some fake jet sweep action. Trent Brown pulls in front of it, showing you the athleticism for a guy of his size. And Joe Dooney threw somebody out the club. I need to rewatch that. But he literally threw somebody out the club. I need to rewatch that, but he literally threw somebody out the club.

His defender was on the bench by the time this whistle got blown, and then you get the mismatch, Birkin on a linebacker, another beautiful throw by Tom Brady. When I saw this live, I thought, oh, you know, it's a nice touch throw, but when you see it come out of Brady's hand, I threw this more on a line than I thought when I was re-watching this game. Just came out of his hand perfectly. Fantastic throw from Brady.

Just next possession, you get the McGuire fumble. Flowers punches it out. Devin McCourty recovers it. They carry him, try to carry him into the end zone. They get him down to the seven, but a fantastic, fantastic play by the defense. And then the Brady throw and the move to culminate that touchdown drive, which, look, they had first a goal at the 8. It didn't look like they were going to get in.

They had a holding penalty on Trent Brown. They get, while technically the right call, I know some people on the timeline were a little angry about that roughing the pass call, but it was technically the right call. I think it was Gene Stenatori. Somebody tweeted about it, somebody from a former official or somebody from the NFL office said, put you some still. Said, look, this is the right call.

He took two steps. Then he hit him. Can't do that. Patriots take advantage of a third down and goal. Brady on the move. Flushes to his left and then to his right. High throw on the move. Slightly high, but obviously still catchable.

Philip Dorsett, fantastic catch with his hands for the touchdown. So that was a great play. Into the third quarter now. Third and two play on the Jets. They're open and drive of the third quarter. Flowers with a sack. He wins a 1v1. A fantastic move.

He gets into the right tackle. Then he sees him sort of get over his feet a little bit. Gets out ahead of his skis a bit. Then he sort of uses his weight disadvantage against him. So he kind of like pulls him forward just a bit, gets that kind of fall forward, gets around him. Fantastic, fantastic sack. So I thought that was a fantastic play.

The scoop and score, a nice little green dog blitz from Kyle Van Noy. But it's really sort of Trey Flowers first with the pressure that flushes him. He wins him with a spin move against the right tackle. Adam Butler gets his hands in there, punches the ball out. KVM with the scoop, the score, and the trust fall at the end. Fantastic play there. Then on the Jets' next possession, they get a fourth and one at the end of it. Fantastic stop.

Penetration by Malcolm Brown. Landon Roberts, we're going to talk about him in a minute, with the stop. Fantastic play by the defense. I mean, we can pretty much stop there. We talked about the great drive at the end that ended with the Edelman touchdown catch. That was some of the great stuff. Up next, we're going to talk the good from this fantastic season capper of a victory over the New York Jets. That's up ahead on this glorious victory edition of the Locked On Patriots podcast.

Mark Schofield back with you now. Going to close out this glorious victory edition of the Locked On Patriots podcast. Talk briefly about some of the good stuff we saw today. Big picture, pass protection. I mentioned it. Brady was sacked just the one time, but I thought all in all, this was the type of performance from the guys up front in terms of pass protection that we wanted to see headed into the playoffs.

Much better job than we saw last week or in some of the recent games. Maybe the game against the Steelers, we saw some pressure as well. Obviously, he had the interception, of course. Much better job by the guys up front in terms of pass protection. And you could see it in the comfort level from the quarterback. When the quarterback is comfortable, when he's trusting the guys in front of him of pass protection, and you could see it in the comfort level from the quarterback. When the quarterback is comfortable, when he's trusting the guys in front of him, good things tend to happen.

Landon Roberts, I thought he had a fantastic game against the run. And, you know, box score-wise, was it his best performance of the season? I'd have to double-check that, but he had six total tackles, one solo. His run fits were fantastic, all game long. Say what you want about him as an overall linebacker in the National Football League, but in terms of a run defender, a guy that's going to stick his nose in there and stop the run, which you're probably going to need to do, at least in a division-around game at home, he had a fantastic game. So very happy to see that.

Stephon Gilmore, running out of good things to say about this guy. Another fantastic performance from him. Trey Flowers, Deke Riquoise, Kyle Van Noy, they all had some fantastic, fantastic, fantastic games. Dorsett and Edelman, I think they had some really good games. And sort of run fits and run forces and setting the edge. Three sort of cliched type phrases that you hear people talk about when they talk about defensive football.

You know, we've got to set the edge. We've got to have good run fits. We've got to have good run forces on the outside. I thought the Patriots did, for the most part, an almost flawless job. There were a couple of times when, you know, they failed to set the edge, but for the most part, they were great.

Dietrich Wise, for example, off the top of my head, a fantastic play where he set the edge with himself and then scraped off of it to hold the run back to a one-yard gain on the right edge, a run to the left side of the offense. So I thought that was really impressive. I think that defensively, again, it was a very, very solid game. J.C. Jackson, seven tackles, five of them solo, one tackle for a loss, one pass broken up as well. He's another guy that wouldn't show up in the stat sheet at times, but in terms of run forces as a defensive back, a cornerback in the NFL, playing the run and getting up when perhaps the edge isn't set,

but you're still forcing it back to the inside. He did that a couple of times. I was very impressed by that. So those were some of the big picture good stuff. Some individual things. Jets first drive, third and 11. They try to go back shoulder. Robbie Anderson is incomplete. The Blitz doesn't get home, but Kyle Vannoy gets some good

pressure, you know, to sort of set the tone for what the defense was doing. Jets fourth drive of the game. Patriots have a 21-3 lead at this point. First and 10, they go tossed to the right. J.C. Jackson sort of runs and forces them out of bounds. First and 10, they go toss to the right. J.C. Jackson sort of runs and forces him out of bounds. This is that play where McGuire looked to throw.

Patrick Chun with some great coverage downfield takes away the trick play option, and J.C. Jackson sort of strings him out, gets him out of bounds. Third and two, Danny Shelton gets some penetration. They go run to the right. Landon Roberts and Lawrence Guy with the stop on that. Force a fourth and three situation. Now they go for it. You blitz.

Moves Darnold off the spot. Gilmore with a great, great, great job of coverage. Maybe he got there a step early, but still on Robbie Anderson. Great job to sort of prevent that. Right before halftime, Derek Rivers showing up on the stat sheet and runs a little stunt with Kyle Vannoy. Gets some pressure. Gets a sack. You do like to see Derek Rivers getting involved.

After the play where Hightower McCourty went out, we're still assuming that Devin McCourty is going to be in the concussion protocol because it was a head injury. He took a shot from Malcolm Brown. They try to take advantage of that. They run wheel route to Cannon. Kyle Van Nooy with a great coverage. Second down and 10. Hightower is back in the game. Roberts, great run fit. Hem and Malcolm Brown get a nice stop of the run. Forces a third in long.

And the next play is that scoop and score and trust fall from Kyle Van Nooy. Next offensive possession for the Jets. Again, we've seen they go right side with Cannon. This play gets called back to hold him. But again, J.C. Jackson, fantastic job forcing this back to the inside. Run in the alley. Great run support from a cornerback. Same thing later in this drive.

They go toss to the left. Another good run fit and forced by J.C. Jackson. Third and four, J.C. Jackson again. They go radar amoeba look with Trey Flowers over. Jackson. Third and four, J.C. Jackson again. They go radar amoeba look with Trey Flowers over the center. They force a quick throw. First defender Gilmore misses the tackle, but J.C. Jackson comes off his guy, stops him short,

forces a fourth and one, and they get the stop again. Fantastic play. Some other defensive stuff. Lawrence Guy, fantastic effort sack on a first and ten to start the fourth quarter. They use a twist up front. He gets home for a loss of nine. Next play, this is the play I was talking about with Dietrich Wise. He sets the edge, pulls off, makes the tackle for just a one-yard gain.

Fantastic, fantastic individual effort play from Dietrich Wise. Patriots next possession. They started it. This is when Brady hit 6,000. They started it, but throw, throw, throw. The first three plays of the drive. The first one, two-runner back look. They send Edelman to motion.

Nobody moves. Brady makes that pre-snap adjustment, switches the protection, slides it to the left with that lion call. You might have heard that. The mic picked that up. They slide the protection. The protection is sound. He hits Hogan on the crosser. Great job.

Pre-snap by Tom Brady. Then a couple plays later, he hits Hogan again. Career completion, 6,000. Fantastic mark for TB12. I think that's the way to end it. And look, I'm going to be optimistic tonight. Maybe that will change by tomorrow. Who knows?

But I'm going to bask in the optimism for now. What are we going to do now? We're going to sit back. We're going to watch Indianapolis and Tennessee. That game now, 17-10 at the half. We'll see who gets in, who's forced to stay home and miss out on the big dance. But more than anything else, if you're a fan of any AFC team, you probably feel like, look, we got a shot.

We're in. Patriots now on the cusp, on the cusp of being, again, 5-0 against teams in the dance. Remember, if your record truly speaks to who you are, that might be the thing to cling to as this era of unbridled optimism washes over us. That will do it for today. I will be back with a quick show at some point tomorrow. I know it's New Year's Eve. I'm going to try to get something out quick for you. Might just be a couple of minutes to sort of cap off the year, the calendar year at least. And then I will get something out for, I guess, a tape Tuesday type show, even though it will be New Year's Day. Things might be a little crazy out here.

I'll do what I can. I might be recording an episode as the ball drops. But I don't want to let you down. So until next time, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on P.A. you