Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots January 2, 2019 - Tape Wednesday

Episode Date: January 2, 2019

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey there everybody, welcome on into a tape Wednesday installment of the Locked On Patriots podcast. Mark Schofield, the back of the big chair for this Wednesday, January 2nd, 2019 edition of the Locked On Patriots podcast. Different schedule this week because we have the New Year's holiday. We don't have a game to get ready for, so we're sliding things back, doing a little tape Wednesday action. We're going to talk about three players in particular, two on the defensive side of the
Starting point is 00:00:35 ball, one on the offensive side of the ball. Also going to take care of a little business here at the outset. We are bringing back the Locked On Patriots phone line for you for this postseason and draft season. I'd gotten away from it a little bit during the regular season. We were relying on the Locked On Patriots Slack channel. But it's time to bring the phone number back. That number, 240-670-6016. Call, text, leave a message.
Starting point is 00:01:01 Let me know your thoughts in New England. We'd love to hear from you for a Take Thursday installment in an episode of the Locked on Patriots podcast to drop tomorrow. But today, Tape Wednesday. And yes, I guess I should declare, admit that today is my birthday. Happy Hatchie birthday to me. And the thing about the January 2nd birthday, and I alluded to this earlier, it tended to fall on the day that you go back to school, and so everybody's back to school,
Starting point is 00:01:30 back to work after the holidays, winter breaks are over. Now that I'm doing what I'm doing, it's not too bad, but I actually put out a tweet on New Year's Eve that this used to be the toughest day of the year because you're back to work, you're back to school. It was always kind of a difficult day for me, and I talk about mental health and things like that a day of the year because you're back to work, you're back to school. It was always kind of a difficult day for me. And I talk about mental health and things like that a lot on the show. And this was always a tough day for me. But now doing what I do, it's just another day. I can actually enjoy it a little bit more.
Starting point is 00:01:55 So thanks to all of you for making that possible. Okay, so tape Wednesday today. We're going to talk two players on the defensive side of the ball. We're going to talk Danny Shelton and Landon Roberts. We're going to do them a little bit later and there is going to be a little bit of overlap in what we talk about when we talk about the two of them because we're going to talk about some of the same play so there will be a little bit of overlap but I'll try to split it up as best as I can. But first, I do sort of want to start with Tom Brady, Josh McDaniels, the day that they had together because, you know,
Starting point is 00:02:28 when we talked about Brady's afternoon, the glorious victory edition episode of the Locked on Patriots podcast, I did kind of say, look, this is statistically one of the better games that he put up this year. And from a production standpoint, the numbers sort of bore that out. And then going back and looking on, All-22 angle and seeing sort of what they did in this game, you do have to give a lot of credit to Brady. He had a fantastic day.
Starting point is 00:02:54 You have to give a lot of credit to the offensive line. But you also sort of have to talk about Josh McDaniels and what the Patriots might miss in him as a play caller, as a play designer, if he is to move on to another team. And I want to start with a play, the touchdown to James White comes at the 523 mark of the first quarter. And what's beautiful about this play is one of the things that we talk about so often with Josh McDaniels, the ability to dictate a mismatch to the defense and how they do it is this. Patriots come up with Brady in the shock and they go open
Starting point is 00:03:30 trade to the left. So you've got the tight end as one of the three receivers to the left side of the formation. And they've got 21 offensive personnel on the field. So you've got James White and James Devlin both in the game. Gronkowski in a wing to the left in a two-point stance. Julian Edelman is the middle receiver. And James Devlin, their fullback, is split out wide to the left. Who covers James Devlin? Safety Jamal Adams.
Starting point is 00:03:59 Arguably the New York Jets' best all-around defensive player. Perhaps a bit of a liability when it comes to coverage, say, against a Rob Gronkowski. Arguably, the New York Jets' best all-around defensive player, perhaps a bit of a liability when it comes to coverage, say, against a Rob Gronkowski. But still, they have Jamal Adams across from James Devlin. And that will trickle down throughout the rest of this play because it leaves a situation where you've got a linebacker on James White and that's a mismatch. I mean, think about that for a second. The New York Jets have their best all-around defensive player, a captain, a guy that is going to be a stud in this league for years,
Starting point is 00:04:40 covering your fullback who is split wide to the left outside of the numbers. You've already won because you're certain to get a mismatch at another level of the field. And yes, Brady takes advantage of the mismatch he has with White on a linebacker. And part of the reason that he's able to do that is what else the Jets do. They have another linebacker to cover Gronkowski, but the safety jumps him as well because it's a cover one type look. The free safety in the middle of the field jumps Gronkowski on his post route. So you get a double there. You get Jamal Adams covering James Devlin on a fade. All of the receivers sort of go deep. They basically run four verticals out of a three by one. And with all four of the vertical routes covered, the underneath is wide open for this
Starting point is 00:05:35 option route by James White. It's such a beautifully designed, simplistic play. Four verts out of a three by one with a running back running an option route, it's not something Josh McDaniels dreamed up on his own. I mean, that's something you're seeing on Friday nights. But it's the way that he gut-whitethat space. By putting Devlin outside, you get the mismatch. They take advantage of it. Easy read, easy throw, touchdown.
Starting point is 00:06:05 Another play I want to talk about is a play that I said might have been Tom Brady's best throw of this season. This comes at the 52-second mark. Second attempt with 52 seconds left in the first quarter. And if you remember back to last year's show, I did an entire episode before they played the Jets dedicated to what we call the levels concept, which is a route design where you have inside receiver, usually the tight end, run in, say, an eight to 10-yard dig route, and then another crossing route from a deeper receiver aligned to the outside run of the deeper crossing route. So you've got receivers at two different levels.
Starting point is 00:06:47 There you go. That's what they run on this play. You have Gronkowski sort of inside. He runs sort of that 8 to 10-yard dig. Edelman outside of him running that that 12 to 15 yard Crosser And James White out of the backfield Runs a quick little out route off of a play action Fake And what's beautiful about the design
Starting point is 00:07:16 And the execution here Is that the timing The route structure And a little bit of manipulation from the quarterback Open up the throwing lane For Breda to find Edelman on this dig. Because the Jets run basically zone coverage here. It basically looks to be cover six, I'd say. We've got a hard quarter to one side of the field,
Starting point is 00:07:38 so it looks like cover two to one side, cover four. We've got quarters coverage to the other side. That's what they're running to the Gronkowski-Edelman side. The safety, because of Brady checking Gronkowski as well as one linebacker, they both collapse on Gronkowski. So again, you get sort of a, it's not a true double team, but you do get that double action. And the last receiver, the last defender that Brady has to worry about underneath is the other linebacker who's in an underneath zone, who is in the throw-in
Starting point is 00:08:10 lane where Brady wants to put this throw to Edelman. But at the last second, the receiver out of the backfield, James White, starts breaking to the flat which forces that linebacker to widen just a bit. As he widens, Edelman comes across.
Starting point is 00:08:28 Brady rips this throw in. It's timed up so well. The route structure, what the route concept does to the defense, how Brady widens one linebacker with his eyes by checking Gronkowski. The other widebacker widens because of the flat route from White. Creates the throwing lane. Perfect throw. Perfect catch.
Starting point is 00:08:52 Next play I want to talk about quickly is the touchdown to Burkhead. This is another example of getting the mismatch because the Patriots, what they do on this play, they go Y-ISO. So you've got Gronkowski flexed to the left side of the formation by himself. And there's confusion pre-snap by the Jets. Guys don't know where they're supposed to be lined up. The linebacker who eventually covers Burkhead, who's part of three receivers split to the right,
Starting point is 00:09:21 and Edelman, Dorsett, and Burkhead in the middle, is a linebacker. And again, it happens that way because Jamal Adams, he now flexes outside away from all of this to cover Gronkowski. So now you're left with somebody's got to cover Burkhead. It's not going to be Jamal Adams. You've got a free safety who can't do it. And because you've got two running safety who can't do it and because you've got you know two running backs in the game
Starting point is 00:09:46 the other running back in this play being want to double check this James Devlin you know they've got sort of a base personnel package out there you know it's not like they were at 11 personnel and they've got a wide receiver somewhere else they've got James Devlin in the backfield
Starting point is 00:10:04 so because you've got a wide receiver somewhere else, they've got James Devlin in the backfield. So because you've got that 21 personnel package with two running backs, including James Devlin, they stay in a base look. So they're forced to, okay, somebody's going to cover Rex Burkhead. We're out of defensive backs, so it's going to be a linebacker. That's a mismatch. Linebacker doesn't have a chance. He gets there lined late anyway. He's slow to react to Burkhead's release.
Starting point is 00:10:31 Brady knows he has a touchdown before the ball is snapped. It's just another example of the great design and execution. Now the touchdown to Phillip Dorsett, or should I say Darnell Jefferson, as we'll talk about in a second, that was more Brady. Because they want to throw this weak side. This is a play that comes at the 11-12 mark of the second quarter. It's a 30-goal situation. We know how that drive-in kind of stalled a little bit after the scoop by Devin McCourty.
Starting point is 00:11:03 And they want to work this weak side. They've got Hogan, and they've split to the left below the numbers, and they've got James White as the running back flanked to the left of the quarterback in the backfield. And then you've got Gronkowski, Edelman, Dorsett on the right. They want to work this weak side. They want to run basically a smash option concept, where Hogan comes inside and then breaks back to the corner on the corner route. And then Edelman's got sort of an option route here. He can break to the outside or the inside. This time they double him between the linebacker.
Starting point is 00:11:36 Actually, it's both linebackers. They work a two-on-one here. And White actually slips. So that's covered. And the corner does a good job on staying on Hogan's corner route. By the time Brady sees that, the pocket starts to break down so he starts to work back to the right.
Starting point is 00:11:51 And the route concept that they've got on that side is basically two sort of option routes as well with both Gronkowski and Edelman sort of hooking at the goal line, trying to see where the coverage is and then working one way or the other. And Dorsett's going to run a deep dig route over the top of them. Because they really want to work this thing to the left side.
Starting point is 00:12:08 But Brady now, he gets flushed back to the right. And Dorsett sees it, stops on a dime, and breaks back away from the middle of the field down along the end line. Brady sees him, hits him,
Starting point is 00:12:24 touchdown. And why I said Darnell Jefferson, this reminded me a lot of that play at the end of the program where Darnell Jefferson is covered. He says see you to the defensive back, stops and breaks back to the outside. Joe Kane, after dropping the ball, is rolling to his right, makes the throw. They time it up perfectly. Very reminiscent of that play. Last three plays I'm going to talk about ever so briefly you remember that stretch of the early third quarter where Brady just
Starting point is 00:12:50 uncorked three deep balls I'm gonna tell you why he did that the first one they get sort of a cover for look so you've got quarter coverage whatever you want to call it for defensive backs each with a deep quarter of the field and they run something kind of similar to the book we call the dino concept, which is double post. And you've got Edelman in the middle, on the inside guy, running the inside post.
Starting point is 00:13:10 Hogan running the outside post. And Edelman occupies the two safeties, which leaves you one-on-one coverage on the outside, that outside post route from Chris Hogan. Brady just takes a shot. And he kind of overthrows it. The coverage is good.
Starting point is 00:13:24 So that's the first incompletion. The second, they go Yankee concept with Hogan on the deep post route, Edelman coming underneath him a little bit. We talk about the Yankee concept a ton. It's covered. Brady starts to slide to his right, away from where Edelman's going because he's working right to left on this crossing route. Edelman sees it breaks vertically, takes a shot on the scramble drill.
Starting point is 00:13:43 They didn't connect, but I like the thinking there. Third one, they again go sort of a smash concept to the left with a corner route and Gronkowski in the flat. And they go verticals, just two vertical routes along the outside. And they get a cover two, Tampa two look. Brady tries to hit that sort of turkey hole shot along the sideline to Hogan. It's kind of covered, and it falls incomplete. When I saw those three plays live, I was like, what are they doing?
Starting point is 00:14:11 Seeing them now, I kind of understand it. So there you go. There's kind of a look at Tom Brady's day. Kind of went into that a little bit in depth. Up next, we're going to talk Danny Shelton. Kind of been a forgotten man up front for the Patriots defensive line, but we're going to talk about him a little bit later. Landon Roberts. We're going to talk a little bit of run fits,
Starting point is 00:14:28 run stuff, and good stuff like that. That's ahead on this tape Wednesday installment of Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now on this tape Wednesday installment of the Locked on Patriots podcast. We're going to talk Danny Shelton in a minute, but first reminder that look, bring the
Starting point is 00:14:43 Locked on Patriots phone line back, 240-670-6016. Text, leave a message, call with your thoughts, get me in, get some thoughts in for that Take Thursday show, which I'm going to be doing a little bit later. Also, as we are into the postseason now, I know there are fans of other teams, not the New England Patriots that listen to the show. You got to make sure you're listening to Locked On NFL Draft with Trevor Sycamore, John Ledger. They're going to be doing everything they can to get fans of all 32 teams ready for the NFL Draft. I know they got some big stuff planned.
Starting point is 00:15:13 Those guys from the Draft Network, they are doing the double dip this year, Shrine Game and Senior Bowl. I will be down at the Senior Bowl. I will be covering quarterbacks for Pro Football Weekly, but I will be also keeping an eye on players, obviously, for the New England Patriots. They're going to be doing shows all week. They're going to do it up this year. Last year, it kind of took it off. Not this year. Again, resolution, be better.
Starting point is 00:15:33 What we're going to talk about now, Danny Shelton. What was interesting about Danny Shelton is you look at him from sort of a snap count perspective. And Shelton had kind of been in person missing in action during a critical stretch in the New England Patriots season he would did not play coach's decision weeks 13 14 and 15 but he was back for week 16 and he was back and kind of in back in a big way in week 17 saw 23 defensive snaps 41 percent of the team's defensive snaps. That was his highest number since all the way back in week six when he saw, number just skips me here, 33 snaps or 61% of the team's snaps back in week six.
Starting point is 00:16:17 And so, you know, big jump for him. And it kind of paid off because when you're looking at what the Patriots did defensively against the run, Shelton had a very good game. We're going to talk about a play, first quarter, 444 mark. This is a first intense situation. Shelton aligns himself as basically a one-tack. He's on the outside, the left shoulder of the center.
Starting point is 00:16:46 And what he does on this play, he's not going to show up in the stat sheet, but he's aligned on the outside shoulder, that left shoulder of the left center. He's basically, you can almost say he's a little bit outside of that. So he's in the A-gap between the left guard and the center. And he takes on both the left guard and the center on this play at the point of attack. It's an inside run, basically power run to the right side of the offense. But he doesn't let that center get to the linebacker. So that's the first thing. This center is trying to get to the second level to get to the linebacker, but Shelton fights so hard through this double team, doesn't let either player come off of him. And so that's important for a couple of reasons. One, that will allow Hightower
Starting point is 00:17:25 to flow to the football if necessary. Now Hightower gets sucked up on some misdirection, so it doesn't happen. But Shelton does his job at the point of attack. The other player that does his job, Lawrence Guy, he's going up against the right guard. He's on the right shoulder, a little bit outside of the right guard. He fights him with his half. He half mans him with the right side, comes off of him with that left arm, and he's able to wrap up McGuire in the backfield. McGuire falls forward for no gain, but it's a great play by Guy, and it's a great play by Shelton, who, like I said, he wins that double team at the point of attack. Next play comes with a 3-17 mark. This is a second
Starting point is 00:18:02 and 10. This is when the Jets bring Dozier in as an extra lineman, so they've got an extra offensive lineman up front. And this is a great example of all-around run defense from everybody. You know, Shelton, he lines up in the A-gap between the center and the right guard. And he gets penetration. McGuire is trying to run this inside. But because of Shelton's penetration initially He's forced
Starting point is 00:18:28 It's sort of a split zone type play He's forced to sort of try to bounce this And he wants to bounce it from one A gap Sort of that The offense's right A gap Where Shelton gets that penetration To the next A gap But when he does,
Starting point is 00:18:46 he sees the big white number 52, which is Landon Roberts, who reads this play perfectly, sees him trying to bounce it and fills that hole. So now McGuire, he's looking for someplace else to go. The problem is the two guys on the other side, Malcolm Brown, Lawrence Guy, they're winning their one versus ones here up front. So there's nowhere for him to go. Kyle Van Noy has set the edge, so he really can't bounce this to the outside. It'll be a long distance to go if he tries to bounce it. And the other player that's now come down and stuck his nose in it as well is Patrick Chun. They're trying to crack Chun with a linebacker, but Chun gets inside of that. I mean, excuse me, trying to crack Chun with a wide receiver,
Starting point is 00:19:29 but Chun gets inside of that as well. And so McGuire has nowhere to go. Every escape route is occupied by a Patriots defender. He just sort of tucks the ball up, puts his head down, and gets no game. That is fantastic run defense. All across the board from the New England Patriots on this play. And it starts with Shelton who gets the initial penetration which forces that sort of initial bounce in the backfield. Similar play comes a few plays later at the 149 mark of the first quarter.
Starting point is 00:19:57 This is a first and 10. And the Patriots, again, get great run fits, great reading recognition across the board. It starts with Shelton. He's now in the A gap between the center and the left guard. But he's only facing the center on this play, but he overwhelms them at the point of attack. It's going to be another inside zone run and play. McGuire is going to try to read this into Shelton's gap. But Shelton wins at the point of attack, so he's covered.
Starting point is 00:20:27 He has to bounce it again. Now he's going to try to bounce this to the right. He tries to get to the right A gap. He sees a Landon Roberts. And now he tries to bounce it more to the outside. And he sees Trey Flowers, who was working down the line of scrimmage, as well as a Landon Roberts, who was doing a great job of mirroring him. Flowers gets to him, makes the tackle, but Roberts was there. If he can't scrape,
Starting point is 00:20:50 if he's able to work free from this tackle attempt from Trey Flowers, Roberts is right there as well. That's another great job of the Patriots with initial penetration from Shelton, forcing the running back to try to bounce from gap to gap to gap, but every gap he looks at there's a Patriots defender staring back at him. Finally, a play at the 5-20 mark of the second quarter. This is a third
Starting point is 00:21:16 and three at the Patriots' five yard line. They bring Dozier in again. They're going jumbo. They've got him in the backfield as a fullback, but they stuff this for no gain. They're going jumbo. They've got him in the backfield as a fullback. But they stuff this for no gain. Why? Well, it starts again with Danny Shelton.
Starting point is 00:21:33 He's in the right A gap. He gets quick penetration off the snap of the ball. They're trying to go sort of stretch zone, outside zone to the left. He's looking, the running back, McGuire, is looking to get to the outside but Shelton gets such good penetration that he forces him to cut he tries to cut this underneath him and as he does this, he's thinking he has a crease but it's immediately erased
Starting point is 00:22:01 by whom? a Landon Roberts and Lawrence Guy. Guy does a great job fighting down the line of scrimmage here. This is a player that's working away from him, but he doesn't give up. Sort of rides the right tackle down the line of scrimmage and rides him right into the gap where he tries to cut this back. A Landon Roberts. He sees this zone action going to his right.
Starting point is 00:22:24 But what's great about Roberts, and we're going to talk about this some more, Roberts was fantastic sees this zone action going to his right. But what's great about Roberts, and we're going to talk about this some more, Roberts was fantastic in this game at being a step ahead of the running back. He reads this cutback hole and starts attacking downhill into it before McGuire does. You see him put his foot in the ground and start reading this downhill just as McGuire is doing it. And so Roberts is basically a step ahead of the running back here in identifying that cutback hole and making the tackle. But what's it start with? It starts with Danny Shelton at the point of attack, reading, getting penetration,
Starting point is 00:23:00 getting into the backfield, forcing that quick cut. So I thought it was a fantastic game from Danny Shelton. These are the types of plays the Patriots envisioned when they acquired him this offseason. Maybe, just maybe, if they go into a game where they're going to have to stop a run game, say against Baltimore, maybe against Houston, you're going to need plays like this. And they got him from Danny Shelton in a big way on Sunday. Up next, we're going to talk a little bit more about Landon Roberts. We covered some of his next, we're going to talk a little bit more about Landon Roberts. We covered some of his plays. We're going to talk about a few more. That's ahead on this tape
Starting point is 00:23:29 Wednesday installment of Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now on this tape Wednesday installment of Locked On Patriots. And don't forget, friends, the Locked On Patriots phone line is back up and running 240-670-6016. Get your thoughts in.
Starting point is 00:23:45 Call, text, leave me a message. Let me know your thoughts on New England. We'd love to hear from you for a Take Thursday installment. Up next, we're going to talk about Alandon Roberts. And we're going to do this briefly. We already talked about two of his plays, those plays at the end of the first quarter. Let's move ahead to the second quarter. And what I do want to mention, sort of with with Roberts is it's not like he played a ton.
Starting point is 00:24:09 You know, he only saw 18 defensive snaps, just 32% of New England snaps. And he's been in anywhere from the 13% range where he saw, you know, just against the Steelers, he only saw eight defensive snaps. You know, his season high this year in terms of percentage was 57. That was back in week four. He saw 41 snaps and then 48 snaps was his game high. Okay, so 59. That was in week seven.
Starting point is 00:24:41 And so that gives you sort of a sense of where Landon Roberts has been this year he's kind of been bouncing around in terms of you know snap counts and things like that that seventh game was against the Bears and that kind of makes sense team that's going to run the ball a little bit um but Landon Roberts I thought had a very very impressive game given the snaps that he saw and we talked about two of his plays. Let's talk about some more. This is a second and two play at the 8.59 mark of the second quarter. This is another play with a Brennan Dozier as an extra offensive weapon here. They put three people out of the bunch.
Starting point is 00:25:21 He's in that, the apex player in the bunch there on the left side. Roberts, your Mike linebacker, basically in the middle of the field, right over the football. And what's great about this play is it's another example, yes, of the Patriots doing everything up front to stop the run. And you get the guys on the inside, Shelton and Brown, they clog the interior, the center of the right guard. They're trying to work a combination block where one of them can hopefully get up. Actually, it's the center of the right guard they're trying to sort of work a combination block where one of them can hopefully get up actually it's the center of the right tackle because the right tackle blocks down one of them is trying to get up to Roberts
Starting point is 00:25:54 probably the left tackle is going to try to get up to there but he can't because there's a great job by the interior guys Shelton and Brown clogging the interior they run toss sweep to the left he's just left unblocked and. They run toss sweep to the left. He's just left unblocked.
Starting point is 00:26:09 And they can't get it to the edge and bounce it outside. Why? Kyle Van Nooy does a great job working outside, setting the edge. McGuire's forced to bounce back, and the hole he tries to bounce it into is technically there. And if the left tackle had been able to get up to the second level, maybe Roberts wouldn't have been there. But Roberts, like we were just talking about, does a fantastic job diagnosing where this cutback attempt is going to be,
Starting point is 00:26:28 and he fills it perfectly and chops him down for a two-yard loss. It's just a fantastic, fantastic play all around, from Kyle Van Noy setting the edge to two guys, Shelton Brown on the inside, and then Landon Roberts flowing to the football. Now we're going to talk play at the 11.44 mark of the third quarter.
Starting point is 00:26:49 This is another example of him sort of diagnosing what he wants to do in terms of cutting this back. Because McGuire is going to try to run this play. He's going to try to run this sort of another zone play to the right. And he puts his foot in the ground and tries to work this on a backside cut. Because what happens is Lawrence Guy splits the zone blocking perfectly. He's lined up head up on the left guard. And as these offensive linemen flow in unison to the left edge of the defense,
Starting point is 00:27:26 Guy just gets upfield penetration between the left tackle and the left guard. And what that does is, you know, the handoff is worked away from Guy getting upfield. And Guy basically takes himself out of the play and creates this cutback lane because he explodes upfield so well. Trey Flowers does a fantastic job of setting the edge. Dante Hightower's kind of filling that hole where McGuire might want to go. So he cuts back into that spot
Starting point is 00:27:55 vacated by Lawrence Guy. The problem is you've got a Landon Roberts who basically runs through that hole. He sees what McGuire is going to do. He anticipates the cutback, fills the hole perfectly, stops it. Fantastic play. Again, he's so decisive in terms of reading what the running back is going to do
Starting point is 00:28:15 and sort of IDing the cutback lane, the other lane, the other hole that he's going to try to bounce this into, and filling it perfectly. Last play we'll talk about today, 4th and 1, that 4th and one, that fourth and one stop that the Patriots had at the 5-14 mark of the third quarter. Another example, they bring in the extra body. They bring in Dozier. They put him in the backfield. They're just trying to run power football. This is a gap power play to the inside. Landon Roberts is lined
Starting point is 00:28:40 off the bubble here. He's basically in the C-gap between the right tackle and the first tight end because they've got two tight ends in the field. And he just is shot out of a cannon here. Jets try to run power. And I'm reminded of my freshman year in college when we played Williams and Williams blew us out.
Starting point is 00:29:00 But we had a safety that ended up trying out for the arena team. Arena League. He was really good. And just what an aggressive kid. And I remember in film session that monday and our defensive coordinator was we were doing some team stuff highlighting a few good plays that we had and he basically took that red light pointer was just like circling our guy he was like look at this guy look at the fire it is well i won't say where the fire was coming from but it was below the belt let's put it that way and he said, just look at the fire in this guy.
Starting point is 00:29:25 Watch him explode downhill. And Mark did on that play. Same thing here for Melandon Roberts. He sees this hole coming, and I got to tell you, he is back at the line of scrimmage. Again, he's lined up one, two, three, four, five, maybe six yards off the ball. But he's at the line of scrimmage when McGuire is taking the handoff
Starting point is 00:29:46 because he knows exactly what is coming. Could he have gotten beaten had they gone play action here? Sure. But it's fourth and one with a rookie quarterback. You probably think they're going to run the ball. Explodes downhill. Fills the hole.
Starting point is 00:29:57 Slams into him. Malcolm Brown scrapes over as well. Stops him on fourth and one. You get fourth and one stops as a defense in your own red zone, you're doing a good job. Patriots defense, run defense, they did a fantastic fantastic job.
Starting point is 00:30:11 It was just well done all around. Shelton, Roberts, great games from them. That will do it for today's show. I will be back tomorrow with a little Take Thursday installment. We'll probably talk some playoff stuff. Again, we'd love to hear from you. Many ways you can get in touch with me, be a part of the show, at Mark Schofield on Twitter,
Starting point is 00:30:27 mark.schofield at insidethepylon.com. You can join the Locked on Patriots Slack channel. You can hit me up for an invite at either of those ways, via Twitter DMs, which are always open, by the way, as well as email. Or if you want to just call, text, leave a message,
Starting point is 00:30:42 240-670-6016. The Locked on Patriots phone line is back up and running for the postseason and beyond. That will do it for today. I will be back on Thursday. Keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots. Thank you.

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