Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots May 29, 2018 - NFC North Storylines, Malcolm Butler Against the Jets, and "The Longest Yard (1974)"

Episode Date: May 29, 2018

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Good morning, welcome into Lockdown Patriots for Tuesday, May 29th, 2018. Mark Schofield back in the big chair after the Lawn Memorial Day weekend. I hope you had a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend. I do hope you took some time out to reflect on the day. Reminder to follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. Please follow the work over at InsideThePylon.com where I'm one of the lead writers. You can follow the work over at Pro Football Weekly. You can follow the video work I'm doing both on Twitter at Mark Schofield as well as YouTube.com slash InsideThePylon.

I'm going to do a couple of different things today. We're going to continue our storyline series, looking at the NFC North. We're going to talk play seven on our countdown of the 2017-2018 top ten defensive plays from the New England Patriots. And we're going to talk more football and film. We're going to talk an original, not a remake, but the original of the longest yard. But we're going to start with that storyline series. We're going to move to the NFC North, some movement,

some new coaching changes in the NFC North. We do wonder about Aaron Rodgers. I want to start with the Detroit Lions. And there are actually, I think, two sort of main storylines you can look at for the Detroit Lions. But I'm going to really focus on one. The other that I won't really dive into is the run game. You know, Kerryon Johnson's the addition there. Can they sort of figure out what they're doing running the football? Can they take some of the pressure off Matthew Stafford? But I think the main storyline for the Detroit Lions

is with the addition of Matthew Patricia, with Matt Patricia coming over as their new head coach, obviously a defensive-minded head coach, can they sort of solidify the issues that they've had on the defensive side of the ball for a long time now? I mean, you look at the Detroit Lions last year. This was a bottom-10 unit in terms of pass defense. It was a mid-pack unit in terms of run defense. And this has been an issue for a while.

You know, when you look at since Nadal and Kinsu left, you know, they gave up 25 points per game in 2015, which was 23rd overall in the NFL. 2016, they gave up 22.4 points per game, which is, I'll move them all the way up to 13th. Last year, 23.5 points per game, which dropped them down to 21st. And meanwhile, Matt Patricia's coming over.

All the defenses he coordinated in New England every single year, the Patriots were in the top 10 in points per game allowed. And you'd love, if you're a Detroit Lions fan, to see that defense sort of improve on those numbers. Can they sort of become a mid-tier or better scoring defense? Can they make some improvements there? They don't have to be a top 5, top 10 scoring defense.

If they could get into the 12 range, get back closer to where they were, say in 2016, maybe a little improvement on that. Maybe get to 10. That would be a huge improvement for them. So the Detroit Lions defense, can they fix out some of the issues that they've had? Will Matt Patricia be able to fix some of the issues that they've had over the past couple of seasons? Let's look at the green bay packers now you could at the outset aaron rogers the health the status the collie bone you know is he going to be back to 100 obviously you you anticipate that he would be

but i sort of want to look at the secondary similar to detroit i want to look at the secondary. Similar to Detroit, I want to look at this secondary. Do they finally have the pieces in place now? You look at this starting secondary. Young unit, free safety, ha-ha, Clinton Dix, a first round pick in 2014. You've got one quarter, Kevin

King, who is a second round pick. He was the first pick of the second round in 2017. And then Josh Jones, another second round pick. He was the first pick of the second round in 2017. And then Josh Jones, another second round pick from 2017. Now you add Jair Alexander, who was a corner that I loved out of Louisville. So you've got four secondary players that were all first or second round picks,

slotted to start. With the amount of draft capital they've spent addressing the secondary you have to think they believe that they've got the secondary finally locked down right now but do they you know that's the bigger question and you know the Packers when you think about you know the schedule that they have obviously you've got Matthew Stafford twice. You've got to deal with him two times a year. You've got Mitchell Trubisky, who we're going to get to under a new head coach, an offensive-minded head coach.

So, I mean, that's something. You've got the addition of Kirk Cousins, which, again, we're going to get to. So, I mean, those are three potentially potent offenses that you're going to be facing in the 2018 season. Plus, you look at the rest of their schedule. They've got the 49ers coming to Green Bay mid-October. They make a trip to New England early November for a primetime game.

They make a trip to Seattle for another primetime game. They host the Falcons. So they're going to be going up against some pretty good offenses. Oh, and they make a trip to L.A. to see the Rams as well at the end of October. So those are some tough offenses that the Packers are going to be facing in 2018. So they do need to have that secondary sorted out. With the draft capital that they've spent, you'd anticipate that they've done so, but that remains to be seen.

The other two teams obviously have some changes, either the coaching spot or the quarterback spot in the NFC North. Let's start with the change of quarterback. The Minnesota Vikings, fresh off a run to the NFC Championship game, out Case Keenum in Kirk Cousins. And I've said before, I've said a couple of times this show and elsewhere, that when you look at both the moves that the Broncos and the Vikings made, I think both teams in a strange way sort of upgraded at the quarterback position. I look at, obviously, Denver since they lost Peyton Manning to retirement and even in Manning's last season.

Quarterback play has been sort of a weak spot for them. Brock Osweiler didn't pan out. Trevor Simeon didn't pan out. Paxton Lynch seems to be still a question mark. Now there are people wondering about whether Chad Kelly's going to actually beat him out for the backup job. So they bring in Case Keenum, who I think gives them at least some stability there. And then you look at Minnesota while you might say, wait, but if Keenum's an upgrade over in Denver, how can Kirk Cousins be an upgrade over Case Keenum?

That doesn't make sense. Well, I think it does because you do wonder if Keenum can sort of duplicate, replicate the kind of season he had. But then when you look at Kirk Cousins and his body of work, I think he's a very solid quarterback who got let down at times. Jordan Reed couldn't stay on the field. There were some drop issues with Doxon and with Jamon Crowder at times. And so I think you drop him into an offense, number one, that has some really nice weapons for him in Adam Thielen, Stephon Diggs, Kyle Rudolph as well. They're going to get Dalvin Cook back.

And then now he's going to be playing with a defense that is one of the better defenses in the NFL, not just the NFC. And so I think it's going to, similarly to what Keenum does for Denver, bring some sort of stability, but a bit of an upgrade in terms of overall production as well. And so I think, can Cousins live up to that contract? That's the big question mark. I think he can. I think it is an upgrade, but that's the big question mark. And finally, Matt Nagy, Mitchell Trubisky, can they replicate the Sean McVay, Jared Goff year two that we saw from the Rams last year? You know, this is a copycat league. A lot of organizations with young quarterbacks look to what the Rams did with Sean McVay,

and they want to try to duplicate that. They want that for themselves. And so what do the Bears do? They go out and they get Matt Nagy, an offensive-minded head coach. They bring in Mark Helfrich as well as an offensive coordinator who's got some experience with spread-type quarterbacks, which is what Mitchell Trubisky was doing when he was at UNC. They don't even need to match that level of success,

but can they get some improvement? Can they get that developmental leap? I did a piece over at pro football weekly talking about what we can possibly see from a schematic standpoint from the bears this season which rubitsky i think you're going to see obviously some west coast stuff the west coast andy reed influence is going to be part of matt nagy what he did you know his entire coaching career has been you know sort of under Andy Reid. But then you look at Mark Helfrich, his background at Oregon, obviously the spread style offense,

but when you look back at what he was doing with Marcus Mariota in particular, there were a lot of quarterback-friendly passing concepts, mirrored passing concepts, things like that, that helped the quarterback simplify his Reid structure. And now you put that all together, and I think you'll even see some air raid stuff. That's what Trubisky was running at UNC under Larry Fedora. You know, I think it can work, but whether it does remains to be seen.

That's your sort of big storyline. So those are some NFC North storylines ahead. We're going to look at play 700 countdown of the 2017-2018 New England Patriots top defensive plays. But first, a shout out to the listeners here. And those listeners, the loyal listeners to the Locked on Patriots podcast know that I'm very much on team help each other, help your guys. You know, I talk about it when we talk about Tom Brady and how Josh McDaniels does things to help him,

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Up next, we're going to get into play seven of our countdown of the Patriots' top ten defensive plays. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, in Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now, and we're going to continue our countdown of the Patriots' top 10 defensive plays the 2017 season. And we're going to look back now at Week 6. This was the meeting between the Patriots and the Jets, their first meeting. And remember, this was a situation where the teams come in with a matching 3-2 record,

and nobody really expected the Jets and the Patriots to be both sitting at 3-2 and playing in Week 6 for first place in the AFC East on the line in that game. But the Jets get off to a good start. Patriots don't get off to the start that many expected. And that was the situation we found ourselves in. And speaking of situations, this game was 14-7 Jets late in the first half. And it or not i'm looking back

at pro football reference right now their page for this game and with 46 seconds left in the first half scores jets 14 patriots 7 there the jets win probability at this point of the game at least according to pro football reference was 66.2%. Reason being was, not only did the Jets have the lead, but they had the ball. They were driving. You know, they had taken over on their own 37 after Steven Kostowski missed a field goal.

You know, Josh McCown hit Austin Safarian-Jenkins for a six-yard gain. And then after an incompletion on second down, he hit Austin Safarian-Jenakins again for 10 yards, getting it into New England territory. There's a penalty on Brandon Schell that negates a play that brings it back to first and 20, but Josh McCown hits Matt Forte for eight yards,

getting it back into New England territory. So the Jets at this point with 40 seconds left in the half, they have a second and 12 on the Patriots 49 yard line. There's 40 seconds left. They've got two timeouts left. And so they're in pretty good shape. They get three here and it's 17-7 at half. You're looking good if you're the New York Jets. That's why you've got that 66.2% win probability. But... Second and 12. McCown.

Downfield. Intercepted. Malcolm Butler steps in front for the pick. Teeth time in the last 14 games. I'm not sure why the Jets continue to go after Butler trying to get it to Robbie Anderson. Saw early in the game that Anderson was the target but that's a beautiful read by Butler and he secures the catch before going out of bounds. Kevin Harlan, Dan Fouts there on the call for CBS and there's the big play. Malcolm Butler steps in front of a pass intended

for Robbie Anderson on that second and 12. Gets in front of it, makes the interception, gets both feet down. And what happens, it gives the Patriots the football on their own 37-yard line, but they've got two timeouts. They've got 35 seconds to work with. And what do you think happens? Later in the drive, with 12 seconds left, Tom Brady could pass complete. Short left to Rob Gronkowski for two yards and a touchdown.

The big play on that drive, the 42-yard pass from Tom Brady to Brandon Cook. So there's the big swing in that game. You're thinking worst case scenario if you're a Jets fan, if you're the Jets themselves. You at least get into the locker room 14-7 at the half. Maybe you miss a field goal. Maybe you turn it over on downs.

That's worst-case scenario. A little bit better than that would be at least getting a field goal, so it's 17-7 at the halftime. Maybe you put it in the end zone, 21-7 at the half against the Patriots. You're looking good there. But not only do you turn it over, then you give them a touchdown on the other end. That's quite the swin of points. And as we know, the second half begins with the Patriots getting

the football. Kind of your double dip situation. They score before the half. They score in their open and drive. And so what could have been a 21-7 lead for the Jets is now 21-14 Patriots with 11-17 left in the third quarter. And that touchdown pass from Brady to Gronkowski on the open and drive of the second half was one of the plays on our countdown of the top 10 offensive plays. But here, Malcolm Butler, great job reading Josh McGowan's eyes, takes him to the football, makes the big play, and delivers a huge swing for the Patriots. So, for all of those reasons, this Malcolm Butler interception playsth on our countdown of the Patriots' top 10 defensive plays.

And unfortunately, it's the only time we're going to list Butler. Don't want to go down the road of wondering what could have been. Up next, the longest yard. Not the remake, the original. I just want to make that clear. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots. Paul Crew. Hi. Hi. I hear you play some football. A little bit. Yeah, good. Where?

Oklahoma State. Oklahoma State, you? Prison. Yeah. Well, first thing we got to do is get you transferred out of here and on the football field. How? That right there, the voice of Burt Reynolds as Paul Crew, disgraced quarterback turned prison inmate in the 1974 film The Longest Yard. And this film tells the story of the aforementioned Mr. Crew, who was a star NFL quarterback kicked out of the league for point shaving.

His fall from grace accelerates when, after a fight and a physical altercation with his rich girlfriend, he takes her high-end sports car and leads police on a nice long car chase that ends up with him arrested and then soon sentenced to 18 months in jail. While in prison, he comes under the care of Rudolf Hazel, the warden-slash-football fanatic who manages a semi-pro team consistent of the prison guards. Hazel sees an opportunity, sees a chance to get Crew, a former NFL quarterback, to coach and help his team win a championship. So he asks him to come on, coach the team, coach the guards, make sure we can win a championship. Crew initially says no, but after pressure from the guards, agrees and thinks that the best way to do this is a nice exhibition tune-up type game between the prisoners and the guards. And of course, there are twists and turns along the way. The game begins and at halftime, it's 15-13 guards, but crew is approached by Hazen

in the locker rooms. Basically, the warden threatened to pin a sort of murder on crew if the guards don't win by 21 points or more, basically asking him to do what he did in the first place, to shave some points, to throw the game. Crew initially agrees, wants his prisoners not to be hurt during the rest of the game, wants his teammates not to be hurt, but of course the warden goes back on his word. Once the guards get up by 21 points, they just unleash havoc on the poor team consistent of the inmates.

Crew, despondent, asks to get back in the game at first. His teammates don't trust him, but then they finally relent when they see him coming around. And of course, it ends happily with a nice win for the inmates. There's also a great scene, sort of the ball busting scene, where Crew has a linebacker come in, one of the guards blitzing, and he basically throws the football right at his midsection, which sort of sparked a similar scene in The Replacements. If you remember in that movie, there's a scene where Keanu Reeves tells the team in the huddle, don't block their best defensive player, San Diego's best defensive player. Let him come free.

He then drills him in the head with the football. It deflects in the air, and the sumo wrestler turned offensive lineman picks it up, runs it into Danzo for a touchdown. It sort of sparks the turnaround, and the sumo wrestler turned offensive lineman picks it up, runs it into the end zone for a touchdown. It sort of sparks the turnaround and the comeback in that game. So you can see sort of the way that a scene in one football movie then gets sort of duplicated in another. And the football scene, even though it was a movie from the 1970s, were actually pretty well done. This was filmed at a prison in the state of Georgia. At the time, Governor Jimmy Carter had to give permission for that scene, you know, for that movie to be filmed there.

There were actual prison riots that sometimes delayed the filming. Ray Nitschke played a huge role in this movie, and they literally had to tell him to take it easy on some of the stars. He was really sort of beating those guys up. But The Longest Yard, the original, very good football movie, you know, very interesting story. The remake, I think, did a pretty good job. Stayed true in many elements to it. But still, I'm an old school guy. Wouldn't go with the original. The Longest Yard from 1974.

One of the top 20 football movies. Where will it end up in our final rankings? Well, that's going to be up to you. Because again, once these are all sort of out there, I'm going to put it up on LockedOnPatriots.com and let you, the loyal listeners, determine the top 20 football movies of all time as ranked by you. That will

do it for today's show. I will be back tomorrow. Might do some more storylines. Might talk quarterback rankings. I've got a buddy, John Ledyard, at Ledyard Draft, at Ledyard NFL Draft on Twitter. He actually, on Memorial Day itself, asked people to rank their top five quarterbacks. Some of the responses have been interesting, so I might even chime in with some thoughts

on that. Until then, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots. you