Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots January 12, 2018 - Gameday Edition with Adam Kurkjian

Episode Date: January 12, 2018

Adam Kurkjian from the Boston Herald helps get you read for Saturday night.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome everybody to your game day edition of Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield here with you in the big chair for Friday, January 12th. We are now just hours away from the AFC Divisional Round. Your New England Patriots host in the Tennessee Titans, and perhaps no better person to come on with me for the game day edition than Adam Kirkshin, sports reporter for the Boston Herald, returns to the show. Adam, how are you doing, buddy?

I'm doing great, man. How are you? I am doing well. Everybody, if you don't follow Adam on Twitter, please do. You can find him on Twitter at Adam, A-D-A-M, Kirchhen, K-U-R-K-J-I-A-N. And, you know, Adam, I do have to start here. It's sort of the story of stories over the past week or so around the New England Patriots, but I'm going to take it in a quickly different direction because I don't want to spend too much time on it.

But obviously, the Seth Wickersham ESPN story, there's gotten a lot of buzz. But where I'm concerned here is this. Is there any chance it has impact with respect to the Patriots on the field tomorrow night? Or is this just going to be something that perhaps even motivates them as they look ahead to play in the Titans? I think it's more the latter. From the times that we've seen stuff like this happen, it tends to force them to close ranks and really focus on the next game and and and sort of push that stuff outside and you know the the phrase of ignoring the noise is something that they really take pride in and you know of course there's always

the chance where you know things could sort of fall apart in that regard. But we haven't seen that happen when it comes to that. So it is a concern, I would say. It's something that you can look at and say, well, this could happen. But just based on what we've seen before, I don't think it will. Looking ahead to tomorrow night, obviously Patriots had the bye week chance to get some guys rested up. Is there any sort of news on the injury front with some of the guys that have been out the past couple of weeks or so?

I don't have any inside info because I think they really want people to keep guessing on this. But I do think if I'm just going off what I would guess, I think a guy like James White is going to play. I think you can see Chris Hogan on the field. From the likes of what we saw in the locker room, in terms of how he was talking to us, it seemed like Rex Burkhead was going to be ready. So I'm not sure about Calvin Noy.

I don't know. And even those guys that I mentioned before, I'm not sure about. But I think that you're going to see more weapons on the field for Brady. And that will be interesting. I feel like that part, the offensive guys getting back, is going to be very beneficial for them. I think it's going to be one of those deals where you're going to see an offense that is very different than the one we've seen towards the end of the season where Brady was struggling a lot. He's going to have a lot more options.

Just that's my sort of gut and my feel on it. You know, two guys that have been mentioned in the past couple of weeks as potentially being back, Malcolm Mitchell, wide receiver, Alan Branch, defensive lineman. Do you expect those guys to be active? Or do you think maybe it's a game-time decision? Or do you not even expect them to play? Do you have any gut feeling on those guys?

You know, I'm not sure if either one will play. Mitchell could, but it's more of a long shot, in my opinion. And Branch, I feel like they don't really – I think Branch, they've gotten on just fine without him. So even if he's healthy enough, I can see him being inactive. But, I mean, obviously in a game like this you want all hands on deck. But, you know, I feel like some of the guys in place of Branch have done just fine. So, you know, it'll be interesting.

You know, maybe Branch is – I mean, Branch talked in the locker room the other day. So, you know, that's always a sign that always a sign that he's healthier and stuff like that. I believe that Allen will be healthy enough to play. Whether or not he's activated or a healthy scratch or not, that's the question. Whether or not Bill feels like he wants to use him. Mark Schofield, Adam Kirchhan from the Boston Herald doing a little game day edition of Locked On Patriots.

Adam, let's sort of look now to the on-the-field stuff. You know, the first question I always have when I sit down and sort of look ahead to a game is, you know, how is the opposing defense going to deal with Rob Gronkowski? And I'll put that question to you. What do you think the Titans do to sort of slow down number 87? I honestly don't think they can. You know, I think –

Fair point, fair point. I just feel like I was watching the Kansas City game, you know, and they – you know, Kelsey was getting open consistently before he got hurt. You know, I don't think they can – Gronkowski is somebody who can be covered in man-to-man coverage unless you put a bracket on him. I thought the Jets had a nice little way of dealing with him in terms of sort of knowing where he was at all times

and having good coverage on him. But I don't feel like the Patriots were going to force it his way anyway just because it was the last game of the regular season and they didn't want him to get hurt. But when I look at what the Titans can do, you know, they have – oh, shoot, I'm blanking on the guy's name, the safety that I wrote about. Oh, Bayard. Bayard, yeah.

He's a guy that I feel like they can shade his way. He's somebody who is good on the ball. You know, he has eight interceptions this year. Now, you know, they could try to use him, but, I mean, again, Bayard's 5'11 listed on the roster. So, yeah, I don't know exactly how well any of that's going to work. So, really when it comes down to it, I feel like the Titans are going to have a, you know, a unique team approach when it comes to this thing. They're going to try

to, uh, commit as many guys to him as possible. And when you do that, I think that just sort of opens things up to other guys. And, um, I think if the Titans want, they're going to try to make those other guys beat them. And then that's sort of, if I were the Titans, that would be my strategy. Say, you know, do everything, two, three guys, as many guys as possible, to try and take away Gronkowski and see if, you know, Brennan Cooks and whoever else is out there can beat them. You know, Adam, speaking of other guys, a name that I think might factor in to the passing game,

been talking about for a couple weeks now, is Deion Lewis. And the Titans, they're stout against the run, but they've been vulnerable against running backs in the pass game. Third in DVOA against running backs and receivers, something your colleague Karen Gergen pointed out in a piece yesterday in the Herald. Do you think New England looks to

spread it out and get Lewis involved in the pass game given some of those numbers? Yeah, I do. And I think that if James White

comes back, he'll be factored into that too. Rex Burkhead as well. I feel like also all these Dick LeBeau defenses sort of are susceptible to that aspect of the passing game.

So, you know, when you look at what the Patriots can do and, you know, what the Titans have, both from a personnel standpoint and from a scheme standpoint, what the Titans do best doesn't really translate well to covering these backs. I mean, if the Titans want to blitz, if the Titans want to, you know, bring extra guys in towards Brady, then that's going to open things up for those guys and you know i really feel like the patriots didn't sort of do that against almost any team they face um there's not really a lot of teams that are built to stop but that type of passing attack and uh even the ones that are eventually sort of wear down if the Patriots keep going to it. I mean, we all remember the Super Bowl.

I felt like the Falcons had the types of linebackers that, you know, could best stand with, you know, a James White coming out of the backfield. But eventually they got tired just with how the game went. So I feel like this is going to be one of those times where they could go to it early and often, and by the end of the game, it'll be just sort of there for the taking. You know, Adam, it seems like a sort of cottage industry has grown out of the past couple of seasons with you know this desire this sort of almost need to be first on declaring tom brady sort of over the hill or off the cliff

whatever you want to call it and you know during that five game stretch at the end of the season where he threw interceptions in five straight games, some of that discussion has sort of resurfaced. There was a piece on 538 just yesterday trying to compare Brady's recent slide and his numbers to Peyton Manning's 2014 season where Manning started the slide. In that five-game stretch, Tennessee played a lot of man coverage, and I think that did have some impact. Obviously, Patriots were missing some guys as well. Also, Tom Brady dealing with the Achilles issues. Do you think there is a cause for concern here?

Do you think Tennessee shows more man coverage? Do you think it was the injury? Sort of what's your take on where Brady is right now? Yeah, I think those numbers at the end you can't really ignore. I do feel like it's all relative. I feel like, you know, this bye week is going to help Brady's, you know, just sort of approach towards everything. You know, at his age, you can't ignore it. You know, every little bit of rest helps.

And the fact that he'll probably be getting guys back is also going to be a really big plus for him. You know, on the grand scheme of things, if we're taking sort of a step back you know i'm sure that there is some uh you know slide being uh you know being done with him but i i i don't really see it as clearly as maybe some other people might uh i don't think, you know, I don't think he's, like, falling off this cliff yet. I do feel like, you know, those interceptions towards the end of the season, there were a lot of bad decisions. But, I mean, the guy really is still, in my opinion, the best guy in the league for,

you know, if you want to lead a team to the super bowl you got the guy's hand uh ball you got the ball in his hands uh in the fourth quarter needing a touchdown he's the guy i would want to you know have in there you know just to you know finish it off i i uh i i still feel confident in his abilities, but, you know, but like you said, it's sort of a cottage industry. Like, you know, hey, you know, this is, we're getting close to the end with this guy. So, you know, is there a slide?

Is he being affected by the injury? Yeah, I think there's a lot of truth to certain things like that, but I honestly feel like, you know, he can come out this weekend and really sort of silence a lot of those doubters because he really is, you know, still quite good. Right. It's not like he's, you know, been in those games and they're throwing five interceptions and stuff um so you know i'm not sure exactly you

know how to quantify it you know um with numbers and anything like that but he he still seems he still seems pretty good to me yeah i mean we're sitting here and we're talking about a guy that you know pro football focus just released their qb you know year end thin and he was their highest graded quarterback. When I did quarterbacks over at Bleacher Report this year and ranked them, you know, at the end of the year, he was my highest rated guy. We're talking about the guy that was pretty much everybody's top quarterback in the 2017 season.

Yeah, exactly. And when you look at that and, you know, it's one of those deals where, like you said, it's a sort of a popular thing now to look at, you know, him and sort of pick apart and say, all right, well, this is the moment where he starts fading. And I feel like there's been moments like that throughout his career where, you uh people want to say okay well this is it you know i mean we'll you know you go back to 2014 yeah with the kansas city game and people said the same thing so um i'm very hesitant to be the one that says all right yeah to hop on that sort of bandwagon uh because i just don't you know i don't see a true um you know i don't see a true indicator yet of you know uh and or just enough of a sample size i'd say uh where you'd say okay this this is it he's done uh because i don't i think it would be too hasty to sort of do that.

And the stats may back it up to some people. I'm not really as much of an analytics guy as some of these other people, but just eyeballing it, he's still a very good quarterback. Adam, one last question sort of on this side of the football. What are your expectations for this offensive line against the Tennessee defense that got to Alex Smith four times, only lost eight yards on those sacks, but still they got Smith pressured, and Smith started to sort of drop his eyes in the second half.

It led to some scramble situations when he missed guys downfield. But what are your expectations for this offensive line group on Saturday? Yeah, I think all season long they've had a few breakdowns in every game. So I don't think it's going to be perfect. I think the line is going to be able to protect to a certain point. And there's going to be times when it feels like Joe Tooney's been having trouble with these bigger guys. I mean, it is a smaller line in certain respects. A lot of times it depends on how well these receivers are getting open. Brady does a really good job, obviously, of stepping up in the pocket and extending plays a little bit while not extending know, not extending plays by scrambling,

but extending plays by, you know, just sort of moving in the pocket where other guys would sort of fade into the rush. So, you know, I feel like if we're talking about their pass protection, you know, I do expect there to be like, you know, a two, three, four sacks. I don't expect him to be totally you know a two three four sacks um i don't expect him to be totally under fire the entire game i still feel like it's uh on the whole as the strong a strong front in that regard i feel like they're really good run blocking right now um so you know as far as the line is concerned i i don't look at it and think they're going to be overwhelmed by this front.

It is a good front. I think they'll get to Brady a few times. The question is whether or not they can affect his passing on the times where he's not being sacked. If a few sacks here or there can force him to think twice about taking a shot where he can find an open guy or not. It goes back to that Broncos game from a couple years ago in the championship round. If he starts hearing those footsteps every time he drops back just because he got hit a few times,

then I think that's where you see the real danger. But he's always been pretty good at not letting that really affect him too badly. Mark Schofield, Adam Kirchhen, doing a little Locked On Patriots game day edition, getting you guys ready for Saturday evening's divisional game between the Tennessee Titans and the New England Patriots. Let's dive into sort of our expectations when Tennessee has the ball. And, you know, Adam, you know full well sort of the catchphrase, the modus operandi surrounding Bill Belichick from a defensive standpoint is he wants to take away what an offense does best.

And given that, do you think the focus on Saturday night is going to be stopping Tennessee's run game? Yes, absolutely. I think 100 percent. You know, Henry is the guy I think that worries you the most if you're the Pats. He's somebody that we were talking about on our podcast, the naked bootleg earlier. Just getting to the edge and securing it for the Patriots has been something that has been an issue a lot of times this year, all the way going back to when they lost Dante Hightower, it's been a very difficult thing for them in terms of, you know, just making sure

that guys, when they run around to the outside, don't, you know, don't get to that point and turn it upfield because I feel like it's a pretty consistent problem. So Henry is a guy, if he turns the corner, I mean, not only is he 6'3", 250-something, 240-something, he's got real burst, he's got real speed, and you don't want that guy having to be tackled by a defensive back right so um i think that's the number one issue so you know whether it means bringing an extra guy into the box or not i don't feel like the tennessee titans have you know great uh

downfield options i feel like their passing game is is a short and intermediate one. So I think the Patriots are going to try to force them to have somebody else beat them other than Henry. I think they'll allow maybe the underneath stuff to some of the receivers so long as they can keep Henry from really battering them you know adam sort of one of the things that's been talked about recently particularly two games against tyrod taylor this year is perhaps the patriots have some trouble facing mobile quarterbacks and i know rich hill over pat's pulpit as a piece of today sort of talking about that whether it's true or not but look it up markers mario do you think the patriots sort of take a spy or a pocket-contained type approach to him?

Absolutely. That's my opinion. I think if Mark Eastflower is there, I expect him to play. Obviously, he missed that one practice, but I think he'll definitely be there. But I think the approach they took to Taylor in that second game with Flowers is something that will work fine against Mariota. I won't speculate on exactly how well it's going to work, but I feel like Flowers, they found something in him

in terms of a guy who's got the speed to chase somebody down like that um and you know Mariota's most dangerous in my opinion when he's got that option to run or throw and keeps his eyes downfield really well and he finds guys very well so um if you can sort of take that aspect out of this game that's that's what the Patriots want to do. And I think it would be smart to do so. You know, you sort of mentioned New England trying to get other guys other than Derrick Henry to beat them. And a name that pops into my mind in the passing game is Delaney Walker. Do you think this is a Patrick Chun type situation?

We're going to see a lot of Chun on Walker to try to slow down what might be Mariota's favorite target absolutely and I think that's really the guy like you said because when the Chiefs game they were really having in the Chiefs game the Titans were really having a very difficult time moving the ball at first. And the only really way they started to get going was, you know, those little dump-offs to Walker in the middle of the field. And they weren't really, you know, they weren't really anything fancy or new. They were just, hey, you know, Walker is just a release valve. And, you know, we're going to find him, you find him just for five, six yards down the field. And I think that's something that's very comfortable for Marcus Mariota.

And if you can take that away and Henry at the same time, then you're forcing their offense to be really out of their comfort zone. So, you know, look at that and say, all right, well, if Patrick Chung can do that against Walker and sort of force him to be, you know, a non-factor, then that's another sort of check in the box for the Pats. You know, one sort of thing that I have a concern about right now, you know, and part of it is from watching that game against Kansas City, you know one sort of thing that i have a concern about right now you know and part of it is from watching that game against kansas city you know the titans did some stuff in the rpo game against man coverage looks well they had chances for big plays and they hit on one they might have missed some others you know do you think that's a concern going into this game or do you think

the patriots going to be able to sort of slow down henry take away walker and force mario to win this as a drop back passer yeah i feel like the rpo stuff is is tennessee's one of tennessee's best chances at really making this interesting because you know i think that if you if if mario is a pure drop back passer and they're just he's just sort of scanning the field and all that and more plays into the Patriots hands uh you know the RPO stuff is hard to defend as it is uh really with anybody but when uh when you've got the pieces that the the Titans have including a quarterback who can take off and run, then that really makes those types of calls a lot more dangerous. So I feel like when you're looking at Tennessee and their offense, the more doubt that they can put in the Patriots' head

and the more they can keep them on their heels is beneficial for them you know and one way you can do that is the RPOs and you know I I don't feel like Tennessee can just straight up go into this game and line up and and and beat the Patriots without some sort of hesitancy into the Patriots' game plan. And, you know, will the Patriots be able to take it away? I think if eventually, you know, maybe. I feel like the same thing sort of happens every game with the Pats is that the first half and the first maybe three quarters, they sort of struggle maybe to get a handle on what the other team is doing. And then by the second half of the fourth quarter, they figure it out.

And I kind of feel like the same thing is going to happen this Saturday. OK, Adam, speaking of Saturday, time to sort of get you on the record here. What's your prediction for Saturday and how this game turns out? I think it's going to be 30-16. I feel like they're just going to cover. Right. And I feel like it's going to be one of those deals like what I was just saying. I feel like the Titans are good enough to make this interesting for a little while.

But, you know, the Pats always find a way to make adjustments. You know, Patricia will, you know, do the bend but don't break stuff. And, you know, I feel like if the Patriots do have their full complement, maybe not full complement but close to it on offense and Gronkowski is is is out there and uh you know playing at his best and he doesn't get injured like Kelsey did um I really don't see how Tennessee can adequately defend them for four quarters and keep them off the scoreboard now you know you look at what they did against the chiefs i really still feel like a big part of that was kelsey coming out and uh you know it it takes so much out of your offense when a weapon like that is taken off the field you know providing everybody on the patriots stays healthy you You know, I don't think they'll score 50 or anything, but that, you know, they'll get theirs and they'll be in control and they'll have the lead for most

of the game. And then they'll just, you know, pop in that one last touchdown that sort of puts it away. And I feel like the, I think that next week will be, will be a much tougher game, obviously, but you. But this one will be sort of a little bit tense for a little bit on the Patriots side, and then they'll find a way to make it a two-score game at least. Yeah, I mean, that's kind of where I am on it. It feels like one of those sort of quintessential Patriots division around games where it's kind of close. It never really gets

to a true blowout, but it's never really in doubt like one of those type of games, sort of like they had against Houston last year. And, you know, speaking of next week, obviously the Sunday the game between Pittsburgh and Jacksonville, we assume the Patriots will get past Tennessee. Who do you think they see in the AFC championship game? Well, I mean, I know this is sort of,

I know everybody kind of expects the stealers but uh you know what you look at back at that jacksonville game as earlier in the year um jacksonville really dominated them and i still feel like they have the guys who who can sort of make that happen again now it is it going to be um you know another blowout i don't think so but i really feel pretty confident in jacksonville's defense i think it's you know if not the best of one of the best defenses in football um i feel like they can turn roethlisberger over again uh i you do have doubts, obviously, about Blake Bortles and his ability to make something happen if they really need him to.

But I don't feel like they should be as huge underdogs as people are making them out to be. And I really like what they can do. And I do like the fact that when, you know, that they have the ability to make these games sloppy and make other teams play their game rather than the other way around. So, you know, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Steelers win. But on the record, I'm going to go with the Jacksonville Jaguars and be upset there, and as far as the score, I'm not sure. I think they're going to make it low scoring.

It's funny. We were doing our podcast the other day, and Jeff wrote in marker because I was doing it right next to him in the media workroom, and he put up Jaguars 1918. Oh, boy. Exactly. So I think that's a pretty good thing. I'm just going to pocket his one because he seemed to feel pretty strongly about it. But as far as the score, I'm not sure.

But I do think the Jaguars can move on here. And, you know, the Steelers, the other thing about the Steelers is I don't know, you know, who plays and who doesn't, but it always feels like one of those guys is going to get hurt, like one of their big dudes is going to get hurt. I don't like to posit it that way because you never want to see that, but it feels like Pittsburgh never is able to stay healthy in a big game like this,

which is really too bad because when they are healthy and when you've got Brown, Bell, and Roethlisberger on the field at the same time, their offense is so fun to watch. But I kind of have the feeling that the Jaguars are going to pull it off. So there you go, folks. You heard it here. Adam Kirchhen sort of called for a rematch of that 96-97 AFC championship game between the Patriots and the Jaguars.

Jaguars did lose that AFC Championship game. Patriots advanced to Super Bowl XXXI where they met the Green Bay Packers and we don't have to go any further than that. Adam, tremendous job as always. Microphone is yours. Plug some stuff. Let some people know where they can find you, your work, the podcast, which

I love. I listen to. It's great stuff. Let the people know where they can find everything. Yeah,, Mark. It was so much fun. I, um, yeah, just, just by the Herald, uh, you know, I'll be on my Twitter pages as you said, as you plugged before. Um, I don't have anything going really on Saturday, uh, other than just, um, covering the game. I don't have a feature this week, but, um, I say your breakdowns of quarterbacks and stuff like that have been really, that, that stuff is insanely fun to watch for me because, uh, they're just like these nice little, um, uh, you know, breakdowns of, of guys. And, uh, it's, they're pretty illuminating too, in terms of, uh, you know, what what you what you see out of these guys and what uh you know uh what their strengths and weaknesses are so you know even you know not when the draft comes around

but just these guys who are already in the league uh taking a look at what they're they're good at what they're not it's uh it's so much fun to watch and so if for any of my followers who don't follow you uh you know if you if you can if you can follow mark here and if you have any interest in these in these quarterbacks coming up through the draft and i know a lot of you guys will you have really have to follow mark and and check these things out and i say the same thing about any of the current quarterbacks that are in the league. You know, I have a huge interest in this, in Patrick Mahomes and your breakdowns of his play in that first game,

the last regular season was also pretty, you know, badass. So, you know, plugging my stuff, you know, fine. You know, that's whatever. But I really love reading your stuff as well. It's one of the reasons why I like coming on here so much. Well, thank you, buddy. I do appreciate that. And, you know, Mahomes is fun, man.

Oh, my goodness. Is he fun to watch? I mean, wow. Yeah. He's just insanely, insanely good. And we both know, speaking of quarterbacks, you and I both know, you wrote a piece earlier

back in October. Patriots are going to be in on a quarterback, so it's going to be a fun, fun draft season. Adam, thanks again so much. I'm looking forward to your work again after this game, hopefully covering another Super Bowl and on and on and on. Folks, that will do it for your game day edition of Locked on Patriots.

I will be back late, late, late Saturday night with a reaction show, hopefully another glorious victory edition of Locked on Patriots. Until then, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, at Locked on Patriots. Thank you.