Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots December 30, 2018 - Sunday Morning Tailgate

Episode Date: December 30, 2018

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Hey there everybody, welcome on in to a Sunday morning tailgate edition of the Lockdown Patriots Podcast. Mark Schofield sliding into the big chair for today, Sunday, December 30th, 2018. We are just counting down the hours until 2019, but more than anything else, what we are doing is counting down the hours to week 17, the final week of the 2018 regular season. What we're going to do today, our typical Sunday morning tailgate edition content. We're going to talk last minute news and notes. We're going to kind of work our way through the NFL schedule today, working our way up to the big playoff, play-in game, whatever you want to call that is tonight between the Colts and the Titans. We're going to do some DFS recommendations in the second segment.

In the third segment, a little bit later, we're going to talk about the two college football playoff games that we saw yesterday afternoon, yesterday evening, before we get to 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, friends. If there is an outlet that is covering the game of football, chances are I am doing some work for them. Now, look, I already locked and loaded for you the playoff scenarios for week 17. If you forget, just listen to the Friday morning, the Friday game day edition show. Basically, I spell out all of the scenarios for every single team, AFC, NFC, what is at stake,

what is on the line when these games kick off on Sunday. Now, speaking of when these games kick off, there's only a couple of games, really only two, that have any sort of playoff implication in that one o'clock Eastern hour. The one o'clock Eastern games, for the most part, they don't mean much. You've got the Cowboys and the Giants and the Cowboys. They are locked into the four seed. Jason Garrett says, look, we're going to play our guys, but you can't imagine that they're going to really roll those guys out there long and hard. Ezekiel Elliott is not going to get a ton of carries against this Giants team, this Giants team that basically doesn't have much to play for except for pride.

So that game, not a lot on the line. Panthers Saints, Cam Newton is out. Taylor Heineke is out. Kyle Allen getting the start for the Panthers against Teddy Bridgewater for the Saints, who are locked into the number one overall seed in the NFC. So that game doesn't matter too much. Falcons-Bucks, teams playing for pride and draft position. Same thing with that Packers-Lions game. Not a lot on the line there. Same thing with that Dolphins-Bills game. The thing to watch there, Ryan Tannehill, Adam Gase, are they going to sort of keep their jobs or does the Dolphins organization move in a different direction? There are two games in the 1 o'clock hour that matter, particularly to listeners to this show.

You've got Jags-Texans down in Houston. That game matters because, well, the Texans still got a shot at at least a first round bye. They need to win and then get a little bit of help. Now for the Texans, DeAndre Hopkins, he was not listed on the Texans final injury report for week 17. He looks to be full go. He practiced on a limited basis this week. They were going to run him out there. There was never any doubt that he was going to go out there. Kiki Coutinho, however, he is questionable. He's missed the last four games for the Texans. They might sit him and run DeAndre Carter out there, a former undrafted free agent. Running back Lamar Miller, Coach Bill O'Brien has confirmed that Miller is good to go for week 17

against Jacksonville. And speaking of those Jaguars, you are going to see, yet again, Blake Bortles under center for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He is going to get the start. Might be his last time in the teal, black, and gold. So maybe DVR that one if he can. Letted Fournette, he did not practice Thursday or Friday. He is doubtful. Doubtful.

As is running back Carlos Hyde, who is questionable. So those two running backs, iffy status for them headed into this game against the Texans. It could be TJ Yeldon and David Williams. The other game that matters in that one o'clock hour. Yes, Patriots hosting the New York Jets. As for the Patriots, the name to watch, Patterson. He is still sort of iffy status up in the air for this game New York Jets. As for the Patriots, the name to watch, Patterson, he is still sort of iffy status up in the air for this game against the Jets.

We are going to hopefully get Patterson back. He's got that knee injury that he suffered on a kickoff. He is questionable. He was, quote, notably limited in practice on Friday. That's according to Patriots.com. Hope to see him. More than anything else, though, we are probably going to see a heavy, heavy, heavy dose of Sonny Michel against a Jets front that with misdirection and stuff like we've talked about, the Patriots can do some damage against. They had over 200 yards rushing against them

back in November. So that game matters, obviously. Why? Patriots win. They lock down at least the two seed. Then they might need a little help. Then the calendar gets very excited, or at least shall we say the time gets very excited because in that 425 hour, there are playoff implications for almost every single game. A couple of them don't really have playoff implications that 49ers, Rams game. We'll put that aside. Actually, you know what? All of these games really have something on the line. For example, Bears-Vikings. That game in Minnesota. Bears, they win this game, they bounce the Vikings from the playoffs, and they lock in the fact that they'll be playing the Philadelphia Eagles, provided the Philadelphia

Eagles win, who are playing in the 425 hour against the Washington Redskins. As for those games, Matt Nagy has said, look, we are going to play our guys at least at the start. I will check the score of the Rams, 49ers games at halftime, see what's going on there. But there are still some players that are question marks for this game. Allen Robinson, he is listed as doubtful for week 17 against the Vikings, but he's probably not going to go. He's got rib injuries that he's dealing with. He missed practice throughout the week. Eddie Jackson with an ankle, he's also doubtful for week 17, but they aren't getting a big name back. Kyle Long, their right guard, activated from injured reserve. He

was carted off the field in week eight, was expected to miss six to eight weeks, but he's coming back just in time. So, you know, look for him to get some playing time just to get his wind back, to get ready to go in the wild card or perhaps, perhaps the divisional round. As for the Minnesota Vikings and what is a must-win game for them, they've got really one big question mark. Xavier Rhodes did not practice Wednesday or Thursday. He is officially questionable for this game against Chicago. He returned to practice on Friday, so he should at least suit up. That will be something to watch in that game.

Other big game to watch, like we mentioned, that Eagles-Redskins game. Eagles need to win this game to get in. They've obviously got the one main injury that we know of, Carson Wentz. It was still going to be the Nick Foles show. Another injury to watch, Mike Wallace. He returned from a broken leg to practice this week. They pulled him off the injured reserve list. He was limited in practice on Wednesday and Thursday.

But he was ruled out on Friday. So he will not go. They will not have that weapon back in the lineup. Otherwise, look, it's the Nick Foles show. So we will see what they do. As for Washington, they've been dealing with some injuries. We know Josh Johnson, he is going to go again at the quarterback spot for the Washington Redskins.

Other injuries that the Redskins are dealing with, well, Josh Doxson is now questionable. He had an illness that came in midweek. He hasn't really made an impact too much, but it might give you some targets for, say, Jamison Crowder downfield. Crowder has thrived with Josh Johnson under center. We're going to talk about that in a minute. Vernon Davis, he is doubtful with a concussion.

Jordan Reed placed on injury reserve with a toe. It's all kind of up in the air. What was interesting, though, late Saturday night, Redskins coach Jay Gruden expected to return. That is according to the NFL Network. The Redskins have tanks. It's losing Alex Smith. We know that. Losing five of their last six.

His coaching was criticized. DJ Swearinger, Josh Norman calling him out. But they don't have much choice but to give Gruden another year given the fact that, look, the quarterback situation really sort of went against them. So that's something to watch in that game. Another game to watch. Kansas City Chiefs, they have a chance to lock down home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Players to watch there, a couple of them. Sammy Watkins, he has been ruled out for this game against the Oakland Raiders. Eric Berry with his heel injury. He is questionable against the Raiders. He did not practice on Friday, which is raising some concern about his status. They might just shut him down to make sure he is fully healthy for the postseason run. Also for the Chiefs, Kendall Fuller with his thumb injury. He

is questionable for this game against the Raiders. He was a full go at all three practices this week. He should be ready to go. Tremont Smith is a name to watch. He filled in for Fuller at slot corner in last week's loss to Seattle. As for the Oakland Raiders, who we're looking to perhaps play a little bit of a role of spoiler. Maybe see if they can ruin Kansas City's shot at home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Jalen Rashard, he is upgraded to ready to go. He was full in Thursday's practice. Jared Cook was limited on Thursday, but he should be ready to go. He was full in Thursday's practice. Jared Cook was limited on Thursday, but he should be ready to go. Those are two names to watch. I'm going to be talking about

Jared Cook a little bit later. Let's keep rolling through these games now. Next one we want to talk about briefly, Cardinals at Seahawks. And this game does matter a little bit for the Seattle Seahawks. You know, chances are they are the five seed. There's a slight chance they could drop down to the six. If they lose to the Cardinals and the Vikings beat the Bears, the Seahawks drop to six, you know, then the Vikings move to five. You know, and if that's the situation, then look, you know, the Bears would be locked into the three. And in which case scenario, you know, the Seahawks would be making a trip to Chicago

in the first round. But if the Seattle Seahawks win, they are the five, boom, done. And so that's kind of what's on the line there in that game, Cardinals and Seahawks. You know, speaking of the Cardinals, the question is, will Steve Wilks get another year? You know, that's still up in the air. It seems like he's going to be one and done. You know, as for the Seattle, Rashad Penny is questionable for Week 17. Doug Baldwin with

his shoulder. He will play against the Cardinals. He was limited in practice on Thursday after sitting out Wednesday. Penny, he was practicing fully this week, so that's something to watch there. Browns at Ravens. The Browns can do some damage here. They can knock the Steelers out of the playoffs. The Steelers can get either the four or the six. If the Steelers win and the Ravens lose, the Steelers win the North, it would be the four seed. They would also get the four seed if the Steelers tie the Bengals and the Ravens lose. But the Steelers need the Ravens to lose. And the Browns can obviously play the big role of spoiler and keeping their rivals out of the playoffs you know that that's a motivation and hey look if baker mayfield can find a way to motivate himself he's going to do

it you know he's going to love to sort of bounce pittsburgh out of the playoffs as for the browns now denzel ward he is out for week 17 with a concussion that's the major injury they are dealing with also with the browns interest in the report came out on Saturday night. Ian Rappaport telling listeners and viewers on NFL Network that interim coach Greg Williams is not considered anything close to a frontrunner for the Browns' full-time job. If it were me, I think you give Williams a shot. I think you look at how this team has played. You leave Williams in place.

You have Freddie Kitchens in place. You have're offensive coordinator. You roll that bunch out there. I'm hesitant to make any more changes, but I'm not the man in charge in Cleveland, so there you go. As for the Baltimore Ravens, we know it is going to be, again, Lamar Jackson under center. It is their team right now. John Brown with his hamstring. He is questionable for Week 17 against the Browns. Also in the 425 hour. Chargers and Broncos. Chargers, look, they get a chance to get the number one overall seed. There's basically two spots where they can end up. They can end up the five if they win and get a bunch of help. I mean, excuse me, they can end up the one if they win and get a bunch of help, or they end up the five. So that's what's going to be interesting in that game.

Chargers, Broncos, in terms of injuries, you're looking at a Chargers team that, for the most part, is pretty healthy. They might even get Hunter Henry back for the first round of the playoffs. Stephen A. Smith, very excited to hear that. Austin Eckler, he was not listed on the final injury report for Week 17. Kaden Allen was also removed from the final injury report. Anthony Lin is saying he's going to be playing the starters. So look, this team, pretty healthy rolling into this game. That's pretty interesting to watch. Also in that 425 hour we mentioned, 49ers and the Rams. Matt Nagy is going to be keeping an eye on this one. The big name there,

Todd Gurley, he is not going to go. That's a big name to watch for the Rams. Looks like it's going to be C.J. Anderson again carrying the football. Bengals Steelers in the 425 hour. Really interesting sort of late week injury that popped up. It's never a good sign when injuries pop up mid to late week and the Steelers are dealing with one of those situations. Antonio Brown listed as questionable for this game against the Bengals. He was held out of practice this week, said to be undergoing tests on an injured knee. It doesn't sound promising, but you've got to imagine they're going to find a way to get him in the lineup. James Conner listed as questionable, but he was a full participant in practice throughout the week. They fully expect him to return on Sunday.

Another big name there, Chris Boswell. Their kicker placed on injured reserve. No mention of the injury. He's just on injured reserve. Now, Matt McCrane signed off the golf course. He is going to be their kicker now. His rookie season went sideways fast with Oakland just 5 of 9 on field goals. Made up 5 of his extra points. He's got that going for him, which is nice.

Obviously, look, Steelers need to win and get some help to get into the dance. And finally, Colts, Titans, that's the big one on Sunday night. Everything to play for, for both of these teams. As for the Colts who are making the trip to Nashville, Dontrell Inman, he is questionable for Week 17 against the Titans. He should be fine. Got enough full practice on Friday. T.Y. Hilton, he is also questionable. He's going to go. Don't worry about that. Eric Ebron, he was in concussion protocol went full go on practice on friday he's probably he hasn't cleared out of the concussion protocol yet but he's apparently in the final stages i'd imagine he goes ryan kelly their center however

he is out for this game against the titans speaking of the titans the big name to watch there is marcus mariota he is still officially listed as questionable with the standard, which basically they said put his entire right side of his body numb. Coach Mike Vrabel saying we want to make sure he can go out there and do his job at a high level. He did practice on Friday. He did practice on Thursday, so there's a chance he can go. Otherwise, it's sort of the Blaine Gabbert show. Corey Davis was not listed on the final injury report for Week 17, so it looks like they'll have the wide receiver back and ready to go as well. So, look, when the NFL decided back in 2010 to make divisional round games

a focus in the final weeks, especially in Week 17, they were hoping for days like this when you've got a 425 slate of games and an 820 play-in game that all have basic playoff implications for one or both teams so going to be fascinating to watch this play out i will be breaking it down all of it down for you at least from the patriots perspective later tonight and probably we'll do a tape tuesday show hopefully we don't have to get ready for a wild card game if you do we'll do go in. If not, we can break some other of this stuff down. Anyway, that was a full, loaded, huge segment to get you going here on this Sunday.

Almost 16 minutes of football talk. Get you going. Hopefully, you get your breakfast in and you're ready to roll. Up next, we're going to talk some DFS stuff. Then a little bit later, recap some of the college football playoff action. That is ahead on this Sunday morning tailgate installment of Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now on this Sunday morning tailgate installment of the Locked On Patriots podcast. And just so quickly, we are going to take a look back at last week, the recommendations

that I made from a DFS slate. Again, doing this all over at DraftKins.com. You can use promo code LOCKEDON, sign up, get yourself some bonus money when you do. The entry I had actually won. I actually won a little bit of money over at DraftKings. So I'm excited about that. The entry I had. Baker Mayfield got me 24.96

points. Christian McCaffrey, that was a big one, got me 32.8 points. I was excited about that. Marlon Mack, just 10.8. Amari Cooper let me down a little bit. Just 6 points from him. Jarvis Landry, 11.82. Alan Robinson, 14.4. David Njoku with a big game, 16.30.

And Equimania St. Brown, 14.4. And that Bears defense got me seven points. So I was pretty excited about that. But hey, we look ahead now. Here's my entry for this week. Again, if you go to DraftKings.com, you can see the games that I'm in. I've got a couple of different things that I'm doing this week again if you go to draftkins.com you can see the games that i'm in um get a couple of different things that i'm doing this week my entry right now i am rolling with matthew stafford five thousand two hundred dollars over at draftkins against the packers defense which right now

ranks 31st on draftkins in terms of what they're allowing quarterbacks to do expecting him to put up some big points tevinvin Coleman, rolling with him against the Tampa Bay Bucs. Another run defense which has struggled. They're ranked 29th over in draft games. I am rolling with Rod Smith. He's just $5,500. Look, he only had two carries last week against Tampa Bay. It's been a mediocre season for him.

But I am banking on the fact that they are going to give Ezekiel Elliott a much, much, much reduced workload, more so than usual. It's week 17. They're locked into the four. I am banking that Jason Garrett does the smart thing, so I know I'm going to get burned, but anyway, that's where I'm going. I'm going with Rod Smith there. Wide receivers. We're going with Jamison Crowder. Like we mentioned earlier, him and Josh Johnson seem to have a connection going up against an Eagles defense which is banged up in the secondary, ranked 30th. Ahmad's, you know,

what defenses are doing against wide receivers, so we're going there. Kenny Galladay, I know he is listed as questionable. We're going to keep the fingers crossed there. And Juju Smith-Schuster, he's sort of my big money player, 8,300 over at DraftKings,

but we're going to roll the dice there. Jared Cook. I've loved some of the numbers he's put up this year. Chiefs are dead last against tight ends this year. Jared Cook has been doing some great stuff. We talked about Jared Cook a lot this year and, you know, seeing what teams, for example, what he did against the Steelers. We thought Gronk might have a big Gronk-type game against the Steelers.

He did it. Jared Cook did. However, I'm expecting him to have a pretty decent game against his Chiefs defense. At the flex, I'm going Robbie Anderson. I know the Patriots defense has been stingy at times, but when you watch this Jets team on tape, they love to get him involved early and often. He had a huge, huge week last week. I picked him up in one of my two fantasy leagues just on a whim, on a flyer, and he basically almost, almost pulled off a championship for me. So I'm going to reward him this week. And then finally, the Seattle Seahawks, that Arizona offense is lost right now. That is my entry over at DraftKings. If you want to check it out, go to DraftKings.com,

use promo code LOCKEDON when you sign up. Maybe I'll tweet out some of the links of the leagues that I'm in if I remember to do that sometime this morning. If I don't, well, I apologize. Look, Sunday mornings get busy. We have a loaded slate of football. We've got play dates going on. Celebrating my birthday, you know, Sunday night with my family. So look, it's a big, big busy day.

Hopefully I remember to tweet out the links. But if I don't, I do apologize. Up next, we had college football playoff action. Were we going to get some good games or were we going to get let down by the decision makers? That's ahead on this Sunday morning tailgate edition of the Locked On Patriots podcast. Mark Schofield back with you now on this Sunday morning tailgate installment of the Locked On Patriots podcast. And let's sort of set the stage for you this way. We had our college football playoff games.

We had the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic early on Saturday with number two Clemson, number three Notre Dame, and then your Capital One Orange Bowl, your number one Alabama Crimson Tide, your number four Oklahoma Sooners. At the end of the first quarter of the Cotton Bowl game, you probably would have thought, look, man, we are in for some fun. We're in for some fun. It's 3-3 Notre Dame-Clemson. This is fantastic. We're going to get two really, really, really good games.

This is awesome. And Notre Dame, you know, Clemson, they scored. Field goal first. Notre Dame ties it up. You're thinking, oh, this is going to be great. Then Clemson gets the ball. They punt. Notre Dame, they go 10 plays.

They get it down to 34. They go forward on fourth and three. Well, they don't get it, but you're thinking, all right. Okay. to the 34. They go forward on fourth and three. Well, they don't get it, but you're thinking, all right, okay. This is still a competitive game. We're early into the second now. Clemson touchdown, Notre Dame punt. Clemson missed field goal, Notre Dame punt. Clemson touchdown, Notre Dame punt. Clemson touchdown, end of half. 23-3 at the half. Final score, 30-3. Notre Dame just kind of gets run off the field. And the big difference between these two teams, and you could say, I'm not going to bite my tongue. I'll talk about Notre Dame for a second.

You could say, look, Notre Dame, look, they were 12-0 coming in. They couldn't handle the Clemson defensive line. That was issue one. And this was an undermanned Clemson defensive line. Obviously, they had some suspensions that they were going to deal with. Notre Dame fans, if you're listening, I understand the prestige of the Golden Dome. I understand the prestige of being an independent. I understand the academic standards.

I understand the fact that you've got the NBC deal. I understand all of it. I think you've got to consider,, you got to consider joining a conference, please. I beg of you. Because look, it will help you from a number of different perspectives. It will help you from a recruiting standpoint. Because look, you're going to be able to, I know people can say look notre dame it's a university that recruits for itself in this absolutely loaded era of college football i think the ability to sort of let's say they don't let's say they get they put themselves

into the big 10 somehow okay let's say they that. Then you're talking about playing games in the DMV all the time. Playing at Navy, it's Annapolis, okay? It's not the same as playing at College Park, getting you into that sort of DMV area where you can recruit into D.C., Maryland, Virginia, which is kind of a hotbed of recruiting action right now. I know you have ties in the Chicago area because you're close to Chicago. Even deeper ties playing against Northwestern. It will get you into areas like deeper into Illinois. You can really sort of extend your reach. And that's just going Big 10. You could go ACC. Just find a way to get into a conference. I really think you got to do it.

That's all I'm saying. But anyway, Clemson, they look great. Trevor Lawrence is a reason why they made the change to him over Kelly Bryant. You could see why. The kid is a stud. People are already saying, look, he's QB1 in 2020. Don't get ahead of yourselves. He looks great. Don't start saying, look, we need to be able to change the rules so he can come out now. Let him be a kid in college for at least another year before we start going down the road. Okay right then there was a nightcap as we said the capital one orange ball between the alabama crimson tide and the oklahoma sooners and heisman trophy winning quarterback kyler murray and let's face it look this one got off to a start that you thought, look, well, I guess I'm going to be doing something else tonight because Oklahoma got down early, they got down big early,

and it really seemed like this game was going to go away from it. And for the most part, it kind of did. Look, Alabama, they go on, they win, they punch their ticket for the national championship game, they take care of business against Oklahoma you know 45 34 they're up 21 nothing they were up 28 at one point in this game it's 31 10 and a half time Oklahoma scores 10 on answering in the third quarter so this so they kind of cut into it but what I thought was interesting about this game

there were like a couple of segments of this game that I thought Oklahoma maybe missed some opportunities. You look at the end of the first half, they get a field goal to make it 28-10, and Alabama takes over with 7.30 left in the first half. And they go on a 12-play, 55-yard drive. It takes off seven minutes and five seconds. And they only get a field goal. And Saban lost his mind near the end of this drive. Jedrick Willis had a false start, an illegal formation. He had a false start on Damian Hammerson on a fourth and one. They had a couple of short yardage plays where they had penalties on them. Saban broke a headset, spiking it after the final false start by Damian Harris

where he was trying to clap his hands to get the ball snapped. So they come away just with three to make it 31-10 at the half. Oklahoma had some time, but they couldn't do much with the football. But I thought that drive there was so pivotal because you work a ton of clock You really sort of don't give Oklahoma a chance To really put any more points on the board

Oklahoma's looking for a double dip What was interesting Oklahoma's first possession of the third quarter First possession from both teams of the third quarter They go 14 plays, 66 yards They face a 4th and 6 six at the Alabama nine. Now you're down 31-10. They kicked a field goal. I thought that was a conservative decision by Lincoln Riley. It reminds me a little bit of last year in that game in the Rose Bowl against Georgia. They

kind of get conservative in the second half. You saw it there, but look, it kind of worked. They forced a punt. They get the punt. Defense gets the stop. They get a touchdown from Kyler Murray. Beautiful throw on the move. 31-20. You're thinking, okay, maybe it's a game. No, not so much.

Alabama goes right down the field and scores with 13-08 left in the fourth quarter. Then the teams kind of traded touchdowns to close this one out. And Oklahoma couldn't get any closer. So I did think it was a curious decision there by Lincoln Riley, but I understand you needed the points. But still, you know, Hollywood Brown hampered by a foot injury. He wasn't himself, had some drops. Kyler Marley, look, guy's a talent. Whatever he's going to do, whether it's baseball, football,

I think he could be successful at it. Very curious to see the decision he makes. But now it sets the stage. Look, Alabama, Clelemson National Championship. Third time in four years, I think, these two teams scoring off for a national title. Going to be a fun game to watch. But that will do it for today.

We got more football coming our way. Obviously, a huge, huge NFL Sunday. Hopefully, I am back later tonight with a glorious victory edition of the Locked On Patriots podcast that will mean the Patriots secure at least the two seed. Maybe, fingers crossed

they get themselves the one. That remains to be seen. Let's hope for a fantastic day of football. Until we talk again, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots. Thank you. Thanks for watching!