Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots July 30, 2018 - Brady Speaks, Bills Training Camp and Over/Under, and the 2015 Draft Revisited

Episode Date: July 30, 2018

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Good morning, welcome into Lockdown Patriots for Monday, July 30th, 2018. Mark Schofield back in the big chair for this Monday installment of your favorite daily Patriots podcast. Reminder to follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. Check out the work at a variety of places. InsideThePylon.com, where I'm one of the head writers. The Matt Waldman RSP, mattwaldmanrsp.com, where I'm a contributor.

Pro Football Weekly, going to be doing more stuff for them this season. SB Nation's giant site, Big Blue View. Got a piece that came out that I talked about last week on DavisWeb. You can check that out over at BigBlueView.com. Loaded show for you today, which is brought to you

by our great friends over at NordicTrack.com. Our great friends over at NordicTrack helping you get ready for the year ahead. More on them in a bit. We're going to talk bills over unders with some insight from guys on the ground over at Training Camp letting me know their thoughts on how the Buffalo Bills are looking so far

this training camp. We're going to talk to 2015 Patriots draft, continuing our series looking at past Patriots drafts here this summer. And when you get into 2015 now, we're into that stretch where it's almost, almost, almost a little bit too early, 2015, probably the cusp of where you can start to make definitive statements on guys. So, jury will still be out on some of these guys we're going to talk about too early to make definitive calls on at least some of the guys we'll be talking about from that

draft class. But first, obviously, Patriots training camp is rolling on and the man himself number 12 TB12 Tom terrific Tom Brady took to the microphone this weekend and we're gonna have to talk about it because he addressed the media for about five minutes or so and 95% of the stuff was fantastic football talk I loved it I was soaking it up it was tom brady's mind he was talking about footwork he was talking about how football is humble and he was talking about his relationship with josh mcdaniels he was talking about balance and football and family and all sorts of great stuff so here's tb12 here's the bulk of his comments courtesy the nfl network

it's all really really really good. Let's take that in right now. After not being here for most of the offseason, just what has this last week been like for you, just integrating back into the mix with the team? Good. Yeah, it's been good to be out here and get to work. So we've got a lot of work to do. It's just the beginning. And obviously not a lot of things are perfect at this point.

So just trying to focus on one day and try to get better and improve certain things. And we talked about the things that need to be corrected and try to improve in the next practice. So it's kind of the start of the year for everyone. It's exciting and hopefully we can make the most of it. Tom, what was your take on any of the turmoil or the rumor of turmoil that you guys had

in the off season between yourself and the crowd? I have no thoughts. Was this off season any different for you, Tom, with the approach that you took? Well, yeah, I mean, I had more time with my family, but I also spent a lot of time doing football, so yeah. You had talked about filling up your bucket. The idea to fill it up so that when you come here,

you can be the best you for your team. Do you feel like you filled up the bucket? Yeah, I mean, I've, you know, there's a lot of commitment, a lot of sacrifice from a lot of people to play the game. And our families, you know, they work just as hard just like every working family, you know, shares the burden at different times and, you know, it's a full-time commitment for this team and, you know, everyone's got to, you know, do whatever it takes to help us win. So I feel good, ready and trying to, you know,

improve like everybody else and It's a daily process. Football is a very humbling sport. You never have it quite figured out. Every year there's different things, challenges, plays, schemes, opponents, conditions, situations. It's just about adapting to what you have in the situation. It's never perfect. Hopefully there's a lot more good than bad.

But you just work at it every day and try to do better each day. Tom, as you were in here for the off-season workouts, are you maybe behind where you would normally be with your receivers right now? I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. We have a long time. We've got a lot of work to do.

We do the best we can every day to get the work in where we can and try to go out there and have a great year. Tom, you talked about doing something different to improve. Work on this, footwork one year, one offseason. Was there anything in particular you wanted to improve on this offseason? There's a lot of things. It's really everything. I think after every season, you're trying to maintain certain things.

You know, I'm always working on my footwork, my mechanics. Spent a lot of time doing that this offseason. You know, trying to, you know, I think a lot of it is playing good football and staying healthy. That's what it comes down to, being a professional athlete. And it's being in good condition, being in good shape, making the right plays and reads, techniques, fundamentals for your position. I spent a lot of time doing that. And now it's got to transfer over to the field.

How does it characterize your focus right now? Would you say getting away from the game a little bit more is actually maybe going to benefit in terms of your focus, your readiness for the game? I mean, I've always – football is very, very important to me. It always has been. And I love being out here with my teammates. So it's great. As you get older, you have different responsibilities, you know, and I think that's just part of life,

and everyone's got to deal with those responsibilities differently and what works for them. And, you know, football is a huge part of my life. I love being here with my teammates and playing, and hopefully we can have a great season. Josh is back. Football is a huge part of my life. I love being here with my teammates and playing. Hopefully we can have a great season. Josh is back. Maybe that surprised some people.

How excited are you to have him back? Did you play any role in getting in his ear and saying, stick around? I think Josh and I have had a great relationship for 18 years. He's one of my best friends you know I love working with them and we've got a very special relationship that I cherish and it's kind of been that way for a long time I always talk to him about everything and and like I said, he's a great friend of mine. So, you know, I love him.

I love his family. We were very close. You work together with someone for that long, you have a great rapport and relationship, and, you know, I'm just happy he's on our team, happy he's coaching me, and, you know, I want to go out there and do well by him. Tom, you spent some time here. You spent some time where you missed the first four games of the season, and now Julian is going to be doing the same.

Would you at any point say this is what you kind of have to do to keep yourself ready for what I need you when you get back? Yeah. I haven't talked to him about that much. I mean, it's just for all of us, we're just at a certain point, and you're building to try to be the best you can be for this season. And everyone's going to have a different situation and a different role. And, you know, whether you're not out there for one reason or another, I mean, we've just got to

adapt and adjust and try to do the best we can. And the more good players we have out there, the better it is, the more productive it is for all of us. And, you know, everyone's working on something different. So everyone's got a little different situation, a little different role. And, you know, how we adapt to those situations and roles will determine how well we do. Now, if that was it, if that was everything, things would have been fantastic, right? Everybody would have been happy. People would have moved on. TB12, his mind is right.

And like I said, I loved some of the stuff he was talking about, focusing on footwork. If you've listened to the show, if you've read my work, if you've heard me on other shows, you know footwork, as I've said before, is the window to the mind of a quarterback. If the feet are unsettled, the mind is unsettled. So hearing Tom Brady talk about working on football, I get it. Talking about football and how humbling it is, yes, this is a man that is arguably the greatest quarterback of all time. This is a man that will go on the Mount Rushmore of quarterbacks whenever that is built. You have to have him in your top four.

If you don't, I seriously question. I question some things, okay, if you don't have him in your top four. You can say other guys are better. You can make the case that Aaron Rodgers is better right now, at least on a trait perspective. I might agree with that,

but he's one of the best quarterbacks of all time. So, bye. At the end, we get this question from Ben Volin of the Boston Globe. We'll drop it and we'll talk on the other side. Tom, when Julian tested positive, a lot of people connected it to Alex Guerrero. What's your reaction to that? Do you think it's fair? I have no comment. It's just ridiculous.

Tom. I'm out. See you guys. Thanks. See you. So there you have it. Ben Volan from the Boston Globe asking the question that maybe others wanted to ask. Maybe he's just doing his job similar to Dan Shaughnessy the other day when he was asking Bill Belichick about the Malcolm Butler situation.

Volan asking whether the Julian Edelman suspension has any sort of link, if there's anything to his connection with Tom Brady's trainer, Alex Guerrero. And I just want to say at the outset that those of you that listen to the show, that follow the show, I love each and every single one of you, and you know that this is usually the place where I try to stay away from all of that soap opera stuff. You know, I try to, there are other of that soap opera stuff. There are other places you can go, other shows you can listen to that cover all that stuff. If that's something you want, all the power to you. I appreciate that. I understand that. But here I try to focus on the

stuff on the field, try to focus on the schemes and the X's and O's and all the nuts and bolts that really go into what happens between the hash marks, between the lines on Sunday afternoons. But since Volan asked the question, we've got to at least address it. And I saw a little bit of blowback, a lot of people saying that Brady sort of ducked the situation, that he sort of ran away, that he couldn't handle the tough questions. I understand why Volan asked it. I wouldn't have. That's not the type of thing that I'm concerned with, as you all well know.

But I understand why he asked the question. The problem I sort of have with it is, at this point, it's all extremely speculative. There's nothing to really sort of make that connection. And there's a lot that we don't know on the outside about the Edelman situation. You know, what specific substance it was, if anything, if it was more a masking agent. Unless I've missed something, we don't know that. And so to try to make this link via a press conference type situation, I think is a tenuous one to make. I think this is a situation where you do more backstory type work.

And then three weeks down the road, if you've got something, then you can ask the question. But here, now, his first comments to the media during training, I'm just, I wouldn't have done it. And all this does, similar to the Shaughnessy stuff, it plays into that feeling of unease

around this team right now. It plays into that. And there's so much other stuff to be talking about. There's the wide receiver room. Malcolm Mitchell getting himself back onto the field. There's Sonny Michel looking like a solid contributor but might be struggling with fumbles at times.

That was something that he had a couple of fumbles at Georgia. It's something that merits watching. All reports, Isaiah Wynn is a standout guy on and off the field already. Trent Brown is the size of the Prudential Center, according to Jeff Howe, I believe it was, who said that about him, called him the Prudential Center with pads. So there's a lot of good stuff to talk about, but this is sort of a focus now. And who knows what's next around the corner?

I understand why Volan asked the question. It wouldn't be one that I would ask. I think this is a situation where you do a little bit more legwork, and then you come up with it. But TB12, at least until that moment, seemed in great spirits. You heard from him there, again, courtesy of the NFL Network. We're back to training camp. We're back to five days a week. It's super exciting to be back talking about football.

We are going five days a week. Yes, I said I'm going out of town, but it doesn't matter. I will have a show for you recorded live from Ocean City, Maryland, deep in the heart of Ravens country. I will have a show for you Thursday and Friday, even though I will be down there Wednesday. Even though I'm going to be there, the show rolls on because I promised you guys we're getting back to five days a week and I'm a man of my word. But I do need your help though. Hit me up with some questions. I know some people are already getting some questions rolling in. Got a question in about Danny Etlin. If you've got questions you want to hear answered, get a shout out to yourself on this show on Fridays, you know, back to training

camp installment of listener questions. Please send them in at Mark Schofield on Twitter, mark.schofield at insidethepylon.com. Let me know what you want me to talk about. Let me know what you want to have addressed by yours truly, and I'm happy to do it. I'm also happy to, and you all know this, I'm happy to be a man that tries to help you. And as somebody that has struggled from time to time in bits and spurts, getting himself back to the gym, trying to get himself into at least dad bod shape. I'm not even trying to get back to playing day shape, just legitimate dad bod shape. I know how tough that struggle can be to get to the gym. And there are times when, you know, whether it's late at night, when that's when you can go early in the morning, when that's your time

to go to the gym, you just wish you could just walk downstairs and get your workout in. And that's where our great friends over at NordicTrack come in. They have a series of training equipment to give you amazing workouts in the convenience of your home, including treadmills, exercise bikes, incline trainers, and their strength trainers, their Fusion CTS series. I've been checking those out, and I've got to tell you, Santa might be getting that on your boy's wish list come this holiday season. Because to be able to do your strength training workout, get it all done without leaving your house, this just sounds amazing to me. Plus, with their products, you can

join high-energy streamed workouts any time of the day without stepping out the door. Their streamed workouts are both studio environments or exotic destinations around the world. So if you like being in that classroom environment, great. But if you'd rather like wake up your day, you know, start your day with a run through the streets of Paris or wind down with cross training on the shores of Thailand or working out in the African safari, you can do that too. Their workouts are led by the world's top personal trainers to ensure you meet your fitness goals. So here's what you got to do. They've got a special offer for you, Locked On listeners. You get $75 off your NordicTrack purchase by visiting nordictrack.com

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let NordicTrack get you back into shape. Up next, some insight. We're going to do AFC East over-unders. We're going to roll through them one team at a time because these are our rivals. These are the guys we're playing twice this season, so we've got to know about them. I've got insight from my boys Eric Turner and Nate Gary, both of them from the fantastic website CoverOne.net. More from them from Bills Training Camp right after this. Mark Schofield back with you now here on this Monday installment of Locked On Patriots. And we're going to talk a little Bills over under right now.

As I said, we're going to focus on the AFC East teams one by one. We're going to start with the Buffalo Bills over under right now. As I said, we're going to focus on the AFC East teams one by one. We're going to start with the Buffalo Bills and first some insight from the guys on the ground. As I said, some great friends of mine, some great friends of the Locked On Podcast Network, my boys Nate Geary and Eric Turner

from Cover One. That is a fantastic, fantastic, fantastic website. Cover One is just, a fantastic, fantastic, fantastic website. Cover One is just, if you like Inside the Pylon and the stuff we do over there, then you love Cover One as well because they do a lot of fantastic work

with respect to breakdowns and things like that. CoverOne, the number one dot net. You can check them out. Eric Turner is the guy at Cover underscore one underscore on Twitter. He's a fantastic follow. He's also doing work for The Athletic out of Buffalo.

He's got some great videos right now where he sat down with Eric Wood, the recently retired player for the Buffalo Bills, to talk about the duties of an NFL center. It's highly recommended, the stuff that they put together. And both Eric and Nate have been at B's training camp for the past couple of days. Nate Gary is at Nate, N-A-T-E-G-E-A-R-Y-W-G-R, WGR up in Buffalo. Nate and I also did intentional scouting over the past last draft season talking about the Bill's quarterback prospects.

So here's what they're saying out of Bill's training camp so far. According to them, the defense is going to be solid. A lot of nickel from what they can tell will be their base. A lot of five defensive back type packages. Tremaine Edmonds, their first round draft pick, he's already running with the starters and seems to be making all the calls and the checks at the line of scrimmage already as a rookie. And Coach McDermott, he acknowledged over the weekend that it's a make or break season for Shaq Lawson. He could be an early trade or cut candidate, scrimmage already as a rookie. And Coach McDermott, he acknowledged over the weekend that, you know, it's a make or break season for Shaq Lawson. He could be an early trade or cut candidate,

so watch that. But as these guys told me, it's all about the offense. Brian Daybol is spitting fire out there. I had to edit out some profanity. These guys are excited from the notes that they gave me. They said it's a total 180 degree shift from the conservative play calling under Coach Dennison, who was their offensive coordinator last season. Tons and tons and tons of run-pass option stuff. They're using motion on every play pre-snap. They worked entirely out of empty. They'd send out 21 personnel sometimes, which is two running backs, one tight end, two receivers, and they used that in an empty set. And they were just ecstatic at seeing an offensive variety from a schematic standpoint.

On Saturday, Josh Allen had his best practice yet. They put the pads on and it looked like his game went to the next level. Nathan Peterman's game, however, did not. Some of his accuracy issues have been on display throughout camp, throwing a bit behind on guys who were wide open, but he's been making full field reads and working the RPO game. Haven't really gotten a feel for Peterman's run ability yet either. Agent McCarron, he's sort of been flown with the twos.

It's been difficult to get a good feel for him. But in conclusion, what these guys say, Allen has a blueprint to start on week one. Their main thing is will he be able to string together the two, three, or four practices in a row. But to these guys, he's been starting with the last team portion with the ones, he's been running with the ones. He's heading heels better than the other two, and it's alarmingly obvious. So that's some insight right from Bill's training camp from two great guys, Nate Geary, Eric Turner, who you should follow.

Again, Nate is at Nate Geary, WGR, and Eric Turner is at cover underscore one, the number one underscore. Those guys do great work over at coverone.net. Please check them out. They also do Locked on Bills as well. So there you sort of have a look at the Bills training camp and how it's going right now. But let's talk Bills over under, shall we? Because that's what we're here to do.

Bills last year made it to the playoffs. Climactic finish thanks to the Cincinnati Bengals. I'm sure you've seen the video set to the Titanic music and Celine Dion of them watching the Cincinnati Bengals pull out a victory to beat the Baltimore Ravens and send the Bills into the playoffs. Nine wins last year. Six and a half is the over under for the Bills this season. Now, let's go to the strength of schedule as well as their schedule itself to see how it matches up. In terms of strength of schedule, Bills, fairly easy schedule, kind of middle of the pack, 18th toughest schedule.

Teams that they're playing this year had a combined sub 500 record, 0.496 last year. The teams they were playing this year had a combined record of 127 and 129 a year prior. But as I've reminded everybody, that doesn't always play out from year to year. But when you look at that schedule, you see some pitfalls. It's a tough schedule early. Let's talk about these first four games. And I was on WGR about a week or so ago, and they were asking me during their afternoon drive time show when I expected to see Josh Allen on the field. And I know I just told you that Nate and Eric were really excited about how Josh Allen looks right now.

But let me tell you their first four games. You ready for this? At Baltimore, home against the Chargers, at Minnesota, at Green Bay. Now, if Josh Allen is really head and shoulders above the other guys, then he's probably going to start week one. But if it's close, I don't want to run him out there during that stretch. You've got three road games, two of which back-to-back at teams that are potentially some of the best teams in the NFC, the Vikings and the Packers, although the Packers are probably more one of the better teams because of that bad man number 12. But that's a tough back-to-back. The Chargers, we know what that

defense can do. And starting the season on the road, the other team's home opener, that's a tough stretch too. It doesn't get that much easier. You might say after those first four games, maybe you bring them out to start week five. Well, that's Tennessee at home. Maybe. Then you get a trip to Houston, a trip to Indianapolis, and you might say, okay, well, then let's let him start that Indianapolis game. Then his next assignment, you know what that would be? A Monday night in Foxborough against New England. Then a home game against Chicago, then at the Jets. Then they get their bye in week 11.

The bye is often a time to look at making that kind of change. Well, who do they get coming out of the bye? Jacksonville and that defense. So I think it's tough to sit here right now and obviously we'll know more as Allen gets through sort of the preseason games. But maybe the ideal stretch would be early December, you get them on the field, a game at Miami, home game against the Jets, home game against the Lions. Yeah, you'd have to go. Oh, excuse me. So that Monday nighter

is home against the Patriots earlier in the season because they go to Foxborough in late December. And then finally, week 17, they finish up home against Miami. Maybe that's when you look to do it. I don't know if you want them starting on Monday night even though that game's at home against New England. But this segues into, this is a tough schedule on paper right now. Even though last year's strength of schedule is what it is, like I said, you can throw it out. This looks to be a tough schedule.

It looks difficult sitting here right now, late July, to identify the time to get Josh Allen on the field. But if he's up to snuff, and if he is everything that Nate and Eric have described so far, maybe they run him out here sooner rather than later. I still think it would be after week four, but I've been wrong before, and I'll be wrong again. But I'll tell you when I'm wrong, though. That's one of the things I vow to you guys, my friends. I will own up to my L's. I take my L's proudly. Others don't. I do. That's all I'm saying. And so the final verdict, Bills, six and a half. I'm taking the under. Up next, 2015 Patriots draft. Some guys that look to be big players as we head into the 2018 season. Some other misses. We'll

talk about them all. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now to quickly close out this Monday installment of your favorite daily Patriots podcast. Reminder friends, check out nordictrack.com slash locked on. Use that promo code

locked on to get yourselves that $75 off your next greatest piece of athletic to get you ready. Get you game ready this summer. Let's talk the Patriots draft class from 2015. Got some re-aims you will recognize. Pick one. 32 overall.

Malcolm Brown, defensive tackle from Texas. Their second round selection. Pick 64 overall. Malcolm Brown, defensive tackle from Texas. Their second round selection. Pick 64 overall. And this is probably where we're going to focus our last part of the show. Wondering about what could have been. Jordan Richards, strong safety from Stanford. Remember when the Patriots picked him? A lot of people said that is a massive reach.

This guy is a day three player. Patriots draft him 64th overall. One pick in the third round. A compensatory selection, Genio Grissom, defensive end from Oklahoma. Trey Flowers in the fourth round, defensive end Arkansas. Trey Jackson, also in the fourth round, 111 overall, guard from Florida State. Shaq Mason in the fourth round, 131 overall, guard from Georgia Tech.

Fifth round selection, Joe Cardona, a lawn snapper from Navy. So those picks all kind of, you know, we know where they are. Two sixth round picks, Matthew Wells from Mississippi State, a linebacker, and A.J. Derby, a tight end from Arkansas. Daryl Roberts and Xavier Dickinson, a corner and linebacker respectively. Those were your seventh round picks. Now the guys in the sixth round and the seventh round, Wells, Derby, Roberts, Dickinson, didn't really pan out. Let's start though at the top. We'll skip Jordan Richards from now because that's what we're going to wonder what could have been. But Malcolm Brown, yeah, they brought in Shelton, so he's facing potential contract year type situation here, but very core component of

that defensive line. Grissom, sort of a rotational type guy. You do kind of wonder with him, with some of the additions that the Patriots have made up front, he's a guy that has been released, brought back to the practice squad, kind of in a numbers game for him as a backup type guy. So you do wonder about his potential to make the team this year, but has been a contributor for this team. Trey Flowers, a guy that I'm calling my dark horse for MVP for this team, I think with some of the things he can do defensively, I think he's a name to watch. Trey Jackson, the first of the two guards they drafted in the fourth round,

he didn't pan out, but Shaq Mason certainly did. And then Joe Cardona is your long snapper, a guy from Navy, a guy that people everywhere in their mock drafts had go into the New England Patriots. But let's come back to Richards because that's the one where people perhaps rightly have focused. When you look back at this draft, what else could the Patriots have done at pick 64? Well, if you like wide receivers, Tyler Lockett, wide receiver from Kansas State, he comes off the board at 69 to the Seattle Seahawks. If they took two guards late on the draft,

they could have probably locked it down a little bit earlier. A.J. Kan, he was a potential pick there for the Patriots. He comes off the board at 67 to the Jacksonville Jaguars. If you would like running backs that put up big-time fantasy numbers, at pick 86 David Johnson and the Arizona Cardinals I mean this is

a guy that you know NFC offensive player of the week type player you know puts up big time numbers yeah so that could have happened. But I mean, it didn't. So there you go. Other potential guys that were on the board that maybe the Patriots could have used. I mean, looking through the rest of this draft, not a lot of guys that truly stand out. Quan Alexander, he comes off the board in the fourth round.

I think he's a nice, solid linebacker. Jay Ajayi, he comes off the board in the fifth round. But I think the one that kind of stands out, the guys that stand out are the ones that we've already talked about, particularly David Johnson. But c'est la vie. Life goes on. No loss going on.

The rest of this fantastic week of stuff ahead, we're going to talk more Patriots draft. We're going to talk more training camp stuff. We're going to do, again, listener questions. Get those in at Mark Schofield on Twitter, mark.schofield at insidethepylon.com if you want to email them in. We're going to do Jets over under.

We're going to do Dolphins over under. And finally on Thursday, we're going to get to the big one, the whole enchilada, my thoughts, looking ahead at the 2018 Patriots season. Friday will be that listener, locked on Patriots listener mailbag show, live from the beach. Until then, have a fantastic Monday, everybody. We will talk soon. Just keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield

and Locked on Patriots.