Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots May 24, 2018 - Media Cuts, Anthems, Eric Lee and "Knute Rockne: All-American"

Episode Date: May 24, 2018

Mark Schofield talks about changes at Cox Media, the NFL's new Anthem policy, Eric Lee's interception against the Bills and "winning one for the Gipper." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Good morning and welcome into Lockdown Patriots for Thursday, May 24th, 2018. Mark Schofield back to close out this week here. Our last show of the week, doing four a week right now. Reminder to follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. Follow the work over at InsideThePylon.com where i'm grateful to be one of the head writers over there you can follow my work over at profootballweekly.com contributing over there right now grateful to be doing that got a piece in the works looking at carson wentz and deshaun watson how we can expect them to look in the 2018-2019 season. You can also check out the video work over at youtube.com slash insidethepylon.

Grateful to have that platform as well to show sort of my insights on quarterback evaluation and analysis. And you probably heard me use the word grateful three times as I was teeing that all up. And that's for a reason. Recording this, you know, later on Wednesday. And it's been a tough day in the sports media world. I'm grateful to have this platform, you know, this podcast, the LockedOnPatriots.com website, Inside the Pylon, Pro Football Weekly, Bleacher Report, where I'm the quarterback scout for the NFL 1000 Project.

But a lot of good friends in the media world lost jobs today. Cox Media, which was the overall overarching company under which you had sites like Land of 10, Diehards, SEC Country, they decided that they're going to close those as of June 30th. A lot of people I've gotten to know in this industry and now facing unemployment. And I've said often that this is an incredible time to be a football fan or even a sports fan in general, because you have so many outlets doing such great work. And obviously I have a bias towards insidethepylon.com because we have a group of people that have been doing this now for a couple of years, doing it for love, basically. We're not making a ton of money, but it's all born out of love. And we're just one of many. We're just one of a dozen sites of sites like that.

And while it's a great time to be a football fan because there are so many different resources and outlets that you can find places to consume content from. It makes it tough for people on the media side of it, the content creation side, because it's very competitive. You're competing all the time with people at big sites like ESPN, people at small sites like ITP. And where they sort of shift towards the revenue generation model of subscription sites, it's tough because people still have to be paid for their work. And to see friends now facing unemployment and uncertainty, it's tough. Guys like Olly Conley, who's been on this show over at SEC Country now, you know, facing an uncertain future. It's difficult. It's been a difficult day.

So if I could leave you all with sort of a message or a charge or, you know, a rallying cry or something. Support good work. I've often believed that the quality of work will still win out in the end, and people that do good work are going to continue to get opportunities. Maybe I have to believe that because as somebody that left the legal world to come to this new career, I've got to believe that in the end, the opportunities will keep coming and the good work will keep being rewarded. Because if I don't know what I've been doing for the past the end, the opportunities will keep coming and the good work will keep being rewarded. Because if I don't, then what have I been doing for the past four years? And I want to believe that for my friends now, too, that are facing this uncertainty right now.

And so, you know, support good work. Share good work. If you read something and you enjoy it, share it out. You might think, oh, you know, it's not going to make it. It does make a big deal. You know, every time somebody like retweets a piece of mine, I notice it, I see it, and I appreciate it. I genuinely do. You know, I'm somebody that, you know, when I say at the beginning of the show, hit me up on Twitter at Mark Schofield, I mean it because every single little interaction means something to me. I genuinely appreciate it. And you might think, oh, I've got like 15 followers on, it doesn't matter.

The fact that one person would take their time to retweet an article and to share something out that I created, I genuinely enjoy it. I genuinely appreciate it. It means the world. You know, just that one person one day might read something I did. I love seeing that. So support good work. If you have a site that you like, subscribe to it. You know, it helps. Every little bit will help people. And days like this are tough. I'm lucky in the sense that, you sense that if the writing career goes south, I've got the legal career to fall back on. Other people don't have that.

And if you can, before June 30th, go over to Land of Ten. Go over to SEC Country. Go over to Diehards. Check out their work. Share some of that stuff around. It might help somebody get noticed by somebody else and they can turn it into a new opportunity. Twitter can sometimes be disappointing and disheartening,

but we can use it for some good in a situation like this. So if you're on Twitter, share some stuff around. Share it on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, although Rihanna basically killed Snapchat, but try to help some people. That would be a good thing. The other thing I want to talk about briefly is the new anthem policy,

and I don't want to dwell on it too much. I think like many situations, catch rules, targeting rules, things like that, the NFL has just seemingly made this worse because of the requirement that if you are on the sideline for the playing of the national anthem, you have to stand and show respect. And it's those words, show respect, which I have a little bit of a problem with because who is going to determine what is respectful? Art Rudy, the owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, has already come out and basically said that the linking of arms or raising of fists during the anthem, in his opinion, would be something that was disrespectful to the flag and to the anthem

during the playing of the national anthem. And if you remember when all of this blew up last season, a lot of teams made the decision to stand, to link arms. A couple of guys might have raised fists, but to all do it together as a team rather than kneeling and things like that. And now we're going to say that that's not respectful to the flag and to the anthem. I just feel like that's a sort of loophole type situation that is going to generate problems. Do I have an answer for this situation? Not really. It just seems like so many things that the NFL does that they just seem to make it worse.

It just seems like, without getting too far afield here, life in 2018, it's just a gray, it's a continual gray area. And, you know, the NFL, just in my opinion, seems to have made this a bigger problem now. And I'm already seeing people on Twitter and elsewhere basically saying, that's it, I'm done. I'm done. I can't continue watching this league. And that's disheartening in a sense

because having, you know, trying to make a career out of cover in this league, people are walking away from it. And the NFL still continues to do great numbers. Just recently, you saw the top 20 most watched, you know, television programs of the past year. I think 16 or 17 or 15,

somewhere in that range, were football games, whether pro or college. People still want to consume football, but let me say this, and then we'll get out. I love the game of football. I love the game of football.

It's meant so much to me over my 41 years of life. It's meant, you know, it's gotten me to where I am right now. I owe so much in my life to the sport. There are times when I just feel like the NFL and the NCAA are just making it harder and harder to enjoy what at its core is such an incredible, incredible game. Fun start to this show. Hey, yeah, guys, go tell a friend about this great podcast you listen to because it's so uplifted, so enjoyable, all full of laughs. Oh, and I just remember what movie we were going to talk about today too. Man, you know what? I almost want to just re-rack and start over or just not even do a show today. But look, I'm now almost nine minutes in, so I'm not going to turn my back on it. But look, today's been a tough day. Okay. And that's part of the drawback in a sense of doing a, basically a daily podcast is that there are going to be days like this. Mama always said, they're going to be days like this. Mama always said there are going to be days like this. There'll be days like this, my mama said. But the show must go on. Man, two divergent lyrics quoted there. And the show

will go on. Up next, we're going to talk play nine in our countdown of the top 10 defensive plays of the 2017-2018 Patriots season. And then Newt Rockne, All-American. That's our next film in our football and film series. That's all ahead with me, Mark Schofield, in Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you right now for this Thursday edition of Locked on Patriots. And as I said, look, tough, tough start to the show.

I understand. Tough day Wednesday with some friends in the industry getting some bad news. The new anthem policy, which is, again, causing a lot of consternation on the Twitter timeline. It's just, what are you going to do? Let's move on now. We're going to talk defense, continuing our countdown of the Patriots' top 10 defensive plays of the 2017-2018 NFL season. And we're going to talk Bill's Patriots from early December. This was a game in Buffalo. Patriots the week Enter the game with a 9-2 record

The Bills sort of handing around In that sort of playoff mix But Patriots and Bills hadn't squared off yet And this game Got off to a pretty good start For the Buffalo Bills They get the ball first They basically

They just drive right down the field There's a sack of Tyrod Taylor On the first play of the drive For basically no gain the ball first. They basically, they just drive right down the field. You know, there's a sack of Tyrod Taylor on the first play of the drive for basically no gain. And then they just sort of, you know, matriculate the ball down the field. There's a completion for nine yards. There's a LaShawn McCoy run around left hand for 18 yards.

Another couple of short passes. Before you know it, you know, it's midway through the quarter. The first quarter, the Bills have had the ball the entire game so far. The Bills have a first and goal at the Patriots' six-yard line. But then, recent addition to the team, Eric Lee, one of the many sort of unsung players for the Patriots throughout the regular season, steps up and makes a play.

First and goal, tailored. Time, throws, picked off. Dreadful throw, and makes a play. First and goal, Taylor. Time, throws, picked off. Dreadful throw, and it's picked off by his former practice squad teammate, Eric Lee, signed by the Patriots just a week ago. Are you kidding me? Eric Lee comes last week, gets a sack this week, starts the game perfectly.

Interception, New England. Jim Nance, Tony Romo there on the call for CBS. And yes, it was a dreadful throw by Tyron Taylor. No question about that. But it was also a very good play by Eric Lee because what happens on this play is this. Patriots have Lee basically down on the defensive line when the play begins. And as the play begins, Lee starts to rush for a second and then drops off. Bale is underneath the slant route and Taylor takes the shotgun snap, opens to his right. He looks that way the entire way and And he never sees the backpedal in Lee, who just gets himself into the throwing lane. And to make matters worse, Taylor gets hit as he's throwing

the ball. So the pass comes out with basically no velocity on it whatsoever. He's getting pressure sort of from the backside by Malcolm Brown and what looks to be Dietrich Wise. They get some pressure on him. They force a bad throw, and Lee is just in the right spot at the right time. He does a fantastic job showing that quick rush, then get him back, get him under that slant route, into that throwing lane.

It's a tremendous play call at the moment. You do get that pressure both from Brown and Dietrich Wise, which influenced the pass as well. And Eric Lee in the right spot at the right time. And obviously the Buffalo Bills didn't put up a ton of points that day. But if they go down the field and score in the open drive at home against the Patriots in front of a rabid Buffalo Bills crowd, that game could have taken a different turn against the Patriots, you know, in front of a rabid, you know, Buffalo Bills crowd. That game could have taken a different turn. The Patriots probably would have still won, but maybe not. We don't know. And at that moment, it was a very big play. And, you know, in a year when the Patriots defense, you know, wasn't the Patriots defense we might have hoped it would

have been, that play is good enough to make it on my countdown. So there it is, play number nine, Eric Lee's interception of Tyrod Taylor when the Bills and the Patriots squared off up in Buffalo. Ahead, we're going to talk Newt Rockne, George Gipper, Ronald Reagan, and Notre Dame football. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots. Boys, this is Mr. George Gipper, freshman from Calumet High School. school field and locked on Patriots. Watch this, I'll be good. 48, 15, 72, hike! Here we go. Come on, Jack. I guess the boys are just tired. What you heard right there was Pat O'Brien as Newt Rockne and Ronald Reagan as George Gipp.

That from the 1940 biographical film, Newt Rockne, All-American. And what that scene there covers is when George Gipp, a new running back to the team, is introduced to the team by Newt Rockne, the Notre Dame head coach. And they let him run one play against the starting defense. And what does Gipp do? Runs right through it for an easy touchdown. And you heard Ronald Reagan there, as George Gipp say, I guess the boys are tired. But then they build the Notre Dame football team around him.

And George Gipp helps lead that team to sort of new heights as a football program. And the movie is basically the biography of Newt Rockne, who came to America with his family from Norway in the late 1900s. I mean, in the late 1800s, excuse me, and enrolls at Notre Dame where he plays football there. And after graduation, he gets married. He stays on campus as an assistant coach and sort of works his way up. And when you hear about Newt Rockne and George Gipp,

obviously, obviously, this is what you think about next. George. Yes, Rock. George, this telegram just arrived from Warwick Camp. You've been named fullback on his All-American team. Me? You wouldn't kid me, Rock. No, it's on the level.

You're gonna be alright, kid. I haven't got a complaint in the world, Rock. I'm not afraid. What's tough about this. Rock, someday when the team's up against it, the Brakes are beating the boys. Ask them to go in there with all they've got. Win just one for the Kipper.

I don't know where I'll be then, but I'll know about it and I'll be happy Pat O'Brien again as Newt Rockne and Ronald Reagan there as George Gipp that scene, the win one for the Gipper scene that you've probably heard about George Gipp stricken with a fatal illness on his deathbed, telling his coach that at some point in the future, I don't know where I'll be,

but you'll be with a team that's up against it. And if you need to motivate them, tell them to win one for me, win one for the Gipper. And Rockne did. Rockne used that line in a game when Notre Dame was playing Army in 1928. They went on to win 12-6. And so historical accuracy there, you know, motivating his players, Newt Rockne did, using that moment. But this moment also became something of American history. When Ronald Reagan became ex-actor, now politician, he used it in a number of campaign speeches, you know, win one for the Gipper, go out there, win one for the Gipper. His vice president, George H.W. Bush, was running for president in 1988. Reagan, at the Republican National Convention, you know,

in a speech, he told George H.W. Bush, go out there, win one for the Gipper. Robert Dole used it in the 1996 convention. George W. Bush used it in the 2004 convention. And so it became part of sort of American history again. And speaking of American history, this movie, Newt Rockne, All-American, it was deemed, quote, culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in their National Film Registry. The American Film Institute, you know, it lists it on, you know, the top 100 quotes, number 89, you know, tell them to go out there with all they've got and just one for the Gipper. You know, it was nominated as one of the top sports films of all time, nominated as one of the top 100 or top 10 sports films of all time.

And with the sort of later in life, American historical significances as well, it's an incredible, incredible movie. And Luke Rockne himself, he has an early demise. He dies in a plane crash in 1931, but

because it's sort of a biographical film, because it has some great moments, it is a great, great football movie. And it tells a true story about one of Notre Dame's most legendary coaches. And so for a number of reasons, Newt Rockne, All-American, is up there on my list of the

top 20 football movies of all time. But again, this will all be determined by you, the listeners to the Locked On Patriots podcast. At the end, when I'm done nominating 20 or so movies, I'm starting to fudge on this because there are a couple that I want to sneak in here and I'm going back and forth on it. But at the end, you guys will be determined in our top 20.

So that will be fun or not, whatever. Who knows? It's summer. We're trying different stuff. What can I say? That will do it for this week here at Locked On Patriots. I'll be back Monday. Monday is Memorial Day, but I will have a show up for Memorial Day.

So if you're out and about with friends, barbecuing in the car, driving to or from the beach or something like that, you need something to put on for 20 minutes, you will have a fresh new episode of Locked On Patriots just for you. Until then, have a wonderful, wonderful Memorial Day weekend, everybody. And just remember, remember what this day is about. It's not just a day off from work. It's a day to commemorate and remember. So please, please, please, please, please take some time, pause, reflect, pray about those that gave the ultimate sacrifice. Please do that.

Please do that. You know, as someone whose father served and whose both of his grandparents served, that would mean a lot to, you know, those that served, those who have loved ones who lost their lives. So please take a moment and do that. Remember what this day is all about and what this weekend is all about. Until then, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Papers.