Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots July 25, 2018 - Belichick, AFC North Over/Unders, and the Garoppolo Draft

Episode Date: July 25, 2018

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Good morning, welcome on into Lockdown Patriots for Wednesday, July 25th, 2018. Mark Schofield back in the big chair for your favorite daily Patriots podcast. Reminder to follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. Check out the work over at InsideThePylon.com where I'm one of the head writers. You can check out the work over at the Matt Waldman RSP, MattWaldmanRSP.com. Get a piece up there right now on Dak Prescott and some of the things that he does well. You can also check out the work over at BigBlueView.com, Pro Football Weekly, as well as some other places I'll be rolling out over the next couple of days. Big show for you today, NFC North over-unders 2014 Patriots draft class,

which obviously will be remembered probably for one player and one player only, but we've got to look beyond that. But first, training camp is upon us. Patriots players reported today. And the best way that you can tell that football season is upon us is when Bill Belichick takes to the podium and does Bill Belichick things. Belichick opened in training camp today,

this morning, with his opening press conference. And while it is training camp, and while Belichick himself said at a couple of points during this press conference, to his credit, that he's trying to get better along with everybody else, that he hasn't coached a game since the Super Bowl, and he's going to work on some things. There's a lot that he himself can improve on from last season. If there's one thing he doesn't need to improve on, at least from his perspective, at least I'm sure how he feels about it, it's his way of handling the media. Belichick is in

mid-season form, and that was evident on this exchange right here between Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy and head coach Bill Belichick. Bill, I know you're all about this year, and we all understand that. That's right. And I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't ask about last year. Yeah, last year is last year. I'm not focused on last year.

What about the fact that everywhere we go, folks want to ask about Malcolm Butler? I mean, sports coaches, players, university, you're a sports fan. We talked about that. That's multiple months ago. Is there going to be any more explanation about why he didn't play? Focused on training camp. Would you do it any differently?

Training camp? Well, we're getting started. We're working on that right now. We'll do the best we can. And does it matter to you? Do you care that the fans want to know more about this? I'm focused on doing the best that I can for the 2018 New England Patriots. That's my job.

That's what I'm going to do. That's what I've always done in the past. Every day that I've coached here, I've done the best that I could for this football team, and I'll continue to do that. And right now my focus is on the 2018 season, not 2017, not 2014, not 2007, not 2004, not 2001, not 2000. I'm not focused on any of those seasons. They're done. And for this season's team, is it important for you to address the Malcolm Bunchell thing with your team? It's important for me to have a good season in 2018.

I'm going to do everything I can to do that, do the best that I can for our football team. That's my job and that's my responsibility. That's what I'm going to try to do. Hopefully you can respect that, but maybe not. Thank you. That media right there, I got it from Evan Lazar, good friend of the show, good friend of the Patriots family. You can check him out at Evan underscore Lazar on Twitter.

Just pulled that audio for us. And there you have it. Shaughnessy, as he puts it, trying to do his job by asking Belichick the Malcolm Butler question. And Belichick, again, trying to do his job and moving on to 2018. So we had more on to Cincinnati. I guess we now have more on to 2018. And were you surprised at all that Belichick didn't want to talk about this?

Were you surprised at all that Belichick basically sort of dodged the question? Didn't want to get into it. Not going to talk about it anymore. We're on to 2018. That's in the past. That's the way Belichick has always handled these things. We said it on this show. Other people said it at different other outlets that there was no way Belichick was going to open up about this. We will probably never know the full story. I think we just confirmed that this morning. All the things that people like myself and others were saying, that we'd never know the full story about the Malcolm Butler benching in Super Bowl 52,

there's your confirmation. We're not going to know. Belichick's not going to talk about it. Period. Full stop. End of story. Get on with your lives, everybody. Belichick also addressed some other aspects of the Patriots offseason, most notably the Julian Edelman suspension. He was asked about that. He said, Julian is a very hard working player, Belichick said. We're all disappointed, but it is what it is. He's disappointed. He's moved on. We've moved on. Just take what we have now and do the best we can with it. I know he's been here the last couple of days. He's got a good attitude. He'll make the most of the opportunities that he has, whatever those are. So that's it.

Belichick on Julian Edelman. They're disappointed. He was also asked about a story recently about Jimmy Garoppolo in Sports Illustrated. He was asked whether it's true that he was texting Garoppolo after every win. He said, similar to the Malcolm Butler comments, he wasn't going to talk about that. He wasn't going to talk about stuff in the past. And so there you go.

Bill Belichick in mid-season form already at this press conference. Feisty with Dan Shaughnessy. I hope you can respect that at the end of his comments there. Tight-lipped about the Edelman suspension for the most part. Tight-lipped about the Garoppolo stuff for the most part. Belichick just wants to get on the field, get the media out of the room, start coaching the guys up. That's what Belichick does. I know it rubs people the wrong way at times, particularly people in the media, like myself sometimes. We want to get more out of him, but this is the way he's always done it. This is the way he will continue to do

it. If Belichick was coaching a seven and eight year old T-ball team, he'd probably handle things the same way. This is just the way he is. And with a number of Super Bowl wins to show for it, we're just going to kind of have to handle it. So there you have it. Bill Belichick, he's back. Training camp is back. As I've told you people, my friends, my loyal listeners here, this is the last week of four days a week. Next week, we are back to five days a week. We'll be doing some training camp stuff. We'll be talking to people about training camp. As we get into preseason games, I'll be breaking them down. Hopefully, get into a couple of those. Fingers crossed on that. Stay tuned for more information on that front. But training camp is back. Football is back. We actually have a football

game to talk about for Monday's show, if you can believe it, because we've got Hall of Fame games. So we haven't fully made it there, okay? We haven't fully made it there, but it's close, closer and closer every single day. Up next, we're going to do some NFC North over-unders, but first, I made it to the gym yesterday. I know when I was talking during yesterday's show that, look, it was rainy.

I didn't want to get there. I made it. I struggled through the workout. Leg day, Tuesday leg day, that's a little rough. Added a little strict curl routine as well. Maybe I'll talk about that at some point down the road, the strict curl routine. Maybe. We'll see.

But I made it. But it was still tough. And what would have made it easier for me if I didn't have to go anywhere at all? Yesterday was one of those days where it's hard to find the motivation. It would have been so much easier if I could have just walked downstairs into the playroom and started the workout. It's one of those moments where you wish the gym could come to you. You know who can help you that?

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just working on my own, having a top personal trainer, it's unbeatable. NordicTrack can give you that. There's a special offer for Locked On listeners. You get $75 off your NordicTrack purchase by visiting NordicTrack.com slash Locked On and using the offer code locked on. Again, that's nordictrack, N-O-R-D-I-C-T-R-A-C-K.com slash locked on. Use that offer code locked on during checkout. Save $75 off your purchase and get yourself that much closer to realizing your fitness goals. Up next, NFC North over-unders.

A couple of different ways we can go with this division. It's going to be an interesting one to watch. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, in Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now on this Wednesday installment of Locked on Patriots. And before we go on, it is Wednesday, July 25th. I want to give a special shout-out, a birthday shout-out to my dad, Alden Schofield. Big listener of the show. Huge Patriots fan.

Dad, happy birthday. We'll be celebrating soon. Excited to do that. Next, we're going to talk AFC North over-unders. Fascinating division to watch unfold this season. Let's start rolling through it. Pittsburgh Steelers coming off a 13-win season. They're over under right now. What I'm seeing is 10.5 wins. When you look at them from a strength of schedule standpoint, they've got a fairly easy schedule. Tied for 25th

toughest in the National Football League. Teams they're playing this season had a combined winning percentage of.477. Again, just a benchmark. It's not really a be-all and end-all. It doesn't always pan out the way, but it's a fairly easy schedule on paper sitting here right now. But 10.5 is a big number. That's a pretty big number for a team that does have some question marks, does have some unease headed into the season,

the Le'Veon Bell situation. Roethlisberger rumbled a bit. Looking at their schedule, you know, they got a week seven bye. The schedule in the first six games, I think it's a pretty good one

for them. They open up at Cleveland, home against the Chiefs, at Tampa Bay, who will be without Winston for that game, home against Baltimore, home against Atlanta, and at Cincinnati. That's a pretty favorable start. Then they get the bye, they come out of the bye, and they host the Browns.

So those first eight weeks, I think, are pretty favorable for them. But then it gets tough. Their week 9 through 12 stretch might be season-defining. They have a game at Baltimore. They come on a short week and they host the Panthers. Then they go to Jacksonville and then to Denver, which while Denver looks to be perhaps a little bit down this year, coming off a bad year last year,

Denver always a tough place to play. Home game against the Chargers who look to be good at Oakland maybe Oakland's approved that's a primetime game then a late afternoon game against the Patriots in week 15 at New Orleans home against the Bengals to close it out that's a really tough stretch particularly that week 9 through 12 stretch so I look at 10 and a half I think this is a 10-win team. I think this is a team that makes the playoffs and probably wins the division. But I think it's a 10-win team. And so I'll go under there.

Then the Cincinnati Bengals, seven wins last year. Six and a half, the over-under there. Again, strength of schedule works in their favor. Only tied for the 29th toughest schedule, winning percentage of.473 last year. But when you look at this roster, you look at the questions about this roster, you look at the Marvin Lewis era, how that run has gone,

I still have serious questions about this Cincinnati Bengals team. I have questions about how good they will be. Tough week 3 and four stretch at Carolina, at Atlanta. That's going to be a tough little stretch for them. They play at the Chiefs this year, always a tough place to play. They play at the Chargers, which is going to be a tough place, tough team.

End their season at Pittsburgh. I think it's a favorable schedule, but I think from a roster standpoint, I have questions. So that over-under of six and a half, I'm going to go under there. And I'm going to go under also for the Baltimore Ravens, although I gave serious thought

to breaking this up to a, with Lamar Jackson and with Joe Flacco and breaking it down that way. My thoughts on Flacco have been well documented, coming off almost a historically poor season in terms of quarterback play last year. His adjusted net yards per attempt was anemic. Just awful. I mean, when you look at the guys he was basically grouped with, his adjusted net yards per attempt, 4.71.

That put him behind Jay Cutler, who's now a reality TV star, behind Brian Hoyer, and just ahead of guys like C.J. Beathard, Tom Savage, Trevor Simien, Brett Hudley, and Deshaun Kaiser. He was 29th overall in the league amongst qualified passers. He was behind guys like Jacoby Brissett, Eli Mann, and Mitch Trubisky, who apparently is QB 9 going into the season, according to some, which is, oh boy, that's all I'm going to say about that. So, again again question marks about

Joe Flacco question marks about the Ravens fairly easy schedule only 21st toughest in the league but it comes with some potential pitfalls weeks 4 through 6 at Pittsburgh at Cleveland at Tennessee

then you come back hosting the Saints, then at Carolina, then home against the Steelers. That's a tough stretch of games. Then they get a bye, come out with home games against Cincinnati and Oakland. Okay. Then at Atlanta, at Kansas City, home against Tampa Bay, and at the Chargers. They have two really tough stretches on their schedule. So I look at this, I look at the eight as an over-under. For Baltimore, I'm taking the under,

and I know I'm probably not going to make a lot of friends making that call, particularly living here in the Maryland area. But look, I don't lie to you guys. I call them as I see them. Which is why the only team I'm going out on a limb on, and I've alluded to this earlier this summer, in terms of an over-under in this division, is the Cleveland Browns, which is insanity. I know. No wins. Zero wins last year. None. Zip. Z zip. That's it, none. That's the list. But five and a half, is there over, under? I'm going to go out on a limb and say they're going to win six games.

And I know, look, their strength of schedule is the toughest in the division. Tied for the fifth toughest strength of schedule in the entire NFL. But I don't know. Maybe I'm drinking too much Kool-Aid. But when you look at the schedule, home against the Steelers to open it up at New Orleans, home against the Jets at Oakland, that home game is against the Ravens and the Chargers.

Those are tough teams, but they get some of those games at home. They play the Chiefs and the Falcons, but they get both of those games at home. They play the Chiefs and the Falcons, but they get both of those games at home. They play the Panthers, they get that at home. So they've got some tough games, but they get a lot of them at home. And so

I don't think they're going to challenge for the playoffs or anything crazy like that, but I think with this roster, the improvements that they've made, they're still a couple of years away, I think, from being a true contending team. But they can squeak out six wins. So, consider the Kool-Aid consumed. Up next, the 2014 Patriots draft, which will be remembered, of course, for one player, one player only, but there's more to talk about that as we close out this Wednesday edition of Locked On Patriots.

Mark Schofield back with you now. We're going to close out this show by talking about the 2014 Patriots draft. Patriots making nine selections in this draft. First round selection at 29. Dominique Easley, defensive tackle from Florida. We'll skip that second round pick for a second. Three picks in the fourth round. Brian Stork, center from Florida State.

James White, running back from Wisconsin. Cameron Fleming, offensive tackle from Stanford. Now, obviously, only one of those guys is still with the team. Brian Stork, no longer playing the game. Cameron Flem, he's now with the Dallas Cowboys. But all three of those guys were strong contributors to this team. Stork was a start and center on a Super Bowl winning team. James White scored the game winning touchdown in Super Bowl 51. Fleming, solid swing tackle for the New England Patriots while he

was here. Those are three really good picks. Three sixth round picks. John Halepo, offensive guard from Florida. Jamea Thomas, cornerback from Georgia Tech. And Zach Moore, defensive end from Concordia-St. Paul. Moore actually made the roster, and the other guys kind of bounced around a bit. Thomas is out of the game. Halepo, he's now with the Giants. As for Moore, he's with the Carolina Panthers,

but during his time with the New England Patriots he was active for 8 regular season games in the 2014 season, he didn't play in the playoffs he only recorded 3 tackles but did have a half sack and a forced fumble of Jay Cutler which was returned for a touchdown by Rob Nankovich in a regular season game so, you know

he did something and then 7th round, Jeremy Gallen, wide receiver out of Michigan, and I'm sure some of you remember the hype around Jeremy Gallen. It seems like we always get super, super excited in the New England area about late round or undrafted free agent wide receiver types. Maybe it's still part of the Julian Edelman experience. I mean, we're doing it right now with perhaps no bigger cheerleader than myself with respect to Braxton Berrios.

But let's get to the pick in the second round. Pick 62, Jimmy Garoppolo, quarterback, Eastern Illinois. And however the rest of James White's career turns out, Garoppolo will be the guy that everybody points to from this draft class and there will still be people that they shouldn't have traded Garoppolo that will always happen

particularly if Garoppolo goes on to have the kind of success that people are predicting for him because the hype is in overdrive right now now we're going to talk about Dominique Easley. Very explosive type player.

Got an interception in a win over the Minnesota Vikings in that 2014 season, but he was put on injured reserve. He began the 2015 season as one of their starting defensive tackles, but he was put on injured reserve yet again in December of that year. He only had 15 tackles and two sacks.

He had nine tackles, one sack, one pass defense, and one interception in his rookie year. And then he was released in April of 2016. So that pick didn't quite pan out the way people were hoping. Obviously, he had some knee injuries. And they picked him at 29. Some other guys that were on the board. Obviously they went quarterback this draft.

Teddy Bridgewater was at 32. Derek Carr was at 36. So they could have gone quarterback one of those guys. Demarcus Lawrence comes off the board at 34. That would have been interesting. Interestingly enough, Kyle Van Noy he comes off the board at 40 to the Lions. He's now a New England Patriot.

Devontae Adams wide receiver for Fresno State. He doesn't come off the board until the pick at 53. The Patriots went center, obviously, later in this draft with Brian Stork. But Weston Richburg, the center from Colorado State, now with the New York Giants, he was available. And the pick before Jimmy Garoppolo was Allen Robinson,

wide receiver out of Penn State. And so there were definitely some definitely some big time type players that were on the board that were available when they went with Dominique Easley. I think there was some excitement about Easley, some explosiveness off the snap of the football, but it just didn't pan out. And that sometimes happens.

As we've been learning this entire summer, as we've been going through this and doing this exercise, sometimes it just doesn't pan out. But what we hope pans out is the 2018 Patriots season, which is upon us. Training camp is here. Reminder, one more show this week.

Then we are back to five. Well, I'm thinking about it right now. I'm going to be out of town for a little bit. So I'm going to be doing some extra work in the early part of the week to get you guys caught up. But I made a promise. We're back to five days a week. And I'm sticking to it because that's what I do here at Locked on Patriots. I stick to my promises until they're really inconvenient.

Then I don't stick to them. And I hope you guys forget. But if you feel like calling me out on a skipped promise, as always, you can find me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. Until next time, everybody, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots.