Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots May 31, 2018 - NFC South Storylines, A Big Stop Against Houston and "All The Right Moves"

Episode Date: May 31, 2018

Mark Schofield talks about storylines in the NFC South, a big stop against the Texans and Tom Cruise in "All the Right Moves" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Good morning, welcome into Lockdown Patriots for Thursday, May 31st, 2018. Mark Schofield back in the big chair here for your Thursday edition. This is the last day of May, which means tomorrow, even though I won't be here, we're into June. And June is basically, ooh, it's tumbleweeds time here in the football world. But I will still be here four days a week, plugging away, giving you all the Patriots news, notes, analysis, covering some other stuff because, you know, June. It's June, friends. Reminder to follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. Follow the work over at InsideThePylon.com

where I'm one of the lead writers. Follow my work over at Pro Football Weekly. I'm going to talk briefly about one of the pieces, just ever so briefly about one of the recent pieces that I've done over there, doing some X's and O's, some scheme stuff, some offensive philosophy stuff. You can follow the video work over at YouTube.com slash InsideThePylon.

As always, always scouting quarterbacks. Working my way through my list of about 38 guys to watch for the 2019 draft. Because, like I said, the work never stops. Up tap for today. We're going to get back into storylines. We're going to do the NFC South today. We're going to talk our next play on our countdown of the top 10 defensive plays of the Patriots 2017-2018 season. We're going to go back to week three, a big play from that game against Houston. One more movie

to talk about as well at the end of the show. We're going to talk a little early days Tom Cruz, somewhat of a dark horse in our sort of look at the top football movies. But first, I want to start with a personal plea, not on my behalf, but on behalf of somebody else that has done wonders more for the fantasy football world than anything else. And that's Scott Fish, who you probably, unless you're a big fantasy player, you don't know who Scott Fish is. And that's okay, because I'm going to get to that in a second. But first, what I want to talk about is the Matthew Berry Game Changer Award. And this is something that's being done by the FSTA, the Fantasy Sports Trade Organization. I think that's right. Let me just

double check that. Yes, I was right. The Fantasy Sports Trade Association. Sort of a, you know, trade association that's geared towards fantasy sports. And, you know, the people that are members of it are in the media. You know, there are people that put out fantasy work, such as Matthew Berry. And what I want to talk about is, like I said, the Matthew Berry Game Changer Award. It's an award that they're going to start putting out. They will honor the moment to put fantasy sports on the path to where it is today. And nominations are open to the public. And what they're basically looking for is, you know, whether it's a company that brought live scoring to the forefront,

a site that was built around just mock drafting, or a fantasy player who organized a super league with hundreds of players and experts. Help us recognize those moments, people, companies, and players in our shared past that shape the industry as it stands today. And it's that part, a fantasy player who organized a super league with hundreds of players and experts, where I bring you to Scott Fish, who is at Twitter, at ScottFish24. And one of the things, one of the many things that Scott does is the SFB, the Scott Fish Bowl.

This year's rendition is the eighth installment of the Scott Fishbowl. This year's rendition is the eighth installment of the Scott Fishbowl. I've been a member and a player in the past two. It's basically a semi-pro best ball fantasy league where you have people like myself who are considered pros

and you have people that are more fans, just fantasy players, individuals that play fantasy and can win their way in through satellite tournaments and whatnot. And it's a 720 people event. At least that's how many were in it last year. And this is all done just for pride. People donate prizes and stuff that go to the winners. But it's really sort of a pride type thing.

But off of that, Scott does a ton of stuff, and he's created a hashtag, Fantasy Cares, where he creates sort of satellite tournaments and other kinds of tournaments where people donate money, and he raises a ton of money to give toys to needy kids at the holiday season. And if you go to his Twitter page, at ScottFish24, his pinned tweet is a news program, a news segment on his local Fox affiliate, talking about how he had, I think it was over $10,000

that were raised, that he raised, that he then used to buy toys for needy kids last December. And so from the Fantasy Cares to the Scott Fish Bowl, Scott Fish is certainly worthy of the Matthew Barry Game Changer Award. So if you can, go to fsta.org, search for the Matthew Barry Game Changer Award. Nominations are open to the public. You can nominate people through June 8th. Check Scott out. See the work that he does. He's well worth recognition for what he does.

This would be a great thing to do for Scott. And so check him out on Twitter at Scott Fish. Check out the Matthew Berry Game Changer Award. Get in a nomination for Scott if you can. Now, let's get to some storylines. We're going to go NFC South now. We're going to

work through these a little quickly here. We're going to start with the Atlanta Falcons who again, their fans don't like me right now. And that's okay. Not everybody has to like me. The main storyline for them, at least how I'm watching it, is this. Can their offense get back to what they were like in 2016? 2016, Matt Ryan was a pro bowler.

He was a first-team All-Pro. He had career highs in touchdown percentage, yards per attempt, adjusted yards per attempt, yards per completion, yards per, excuse me, passer rating, QBR, net yards per attempt, adjusted net yards per attempt. Career highs in all of those,

as well as approximate value, which is a pro football reference stat. It was a career season for him. And all of that stuff dropped dramatically last year. And when you watch that 2017 offense, it seemed to be an offense that was just out of sorts at times. They weren't getting the ball to Julio Jones as much as they should. And when you've got Julio Jones on your roster, you get him the ball as much as you can. They weren't getting the ball to Julio Jones as much as they should. And when you've got Julio Jones on your roster,

you get him the ball as much as you can. They weren't doing it. We saw it as Patriots fans, you know, that Sunday night game, that offense just seemed out of sorts. They add Calvin Ridley, so now you've got one more weapon for him to throw to. One of the questions people have about Atlanta is who's going to play fullback for them in short yardage situations. When that's a question facing you, that's a nice situation to have,

I think. But can they get back to that 2016 magic? Can Steve Sarkeesian do that? That's the biggest question facing Atlanta. Biggest question facing the Carolina Panthers, to me at least, who's Cam Newton throwing to? They add Torrey Smith. Okay. They draft DJ Moore. Great draft choice. They draft Ian Thomas. I talked about that pick after the draft. I really like that selection. Somebody behind Greg Olson. They still have Devin Funches, Curtis Samuels coming back from the injury.

If those guys all pan out, this could be a nice sort of set of weapons. You still have Christian McCaffrey as well. Although, when they get rid of Stewart, is McCaffrey going to be more every down back, not receiving type guy? That's a question. So the passing game, not in terms of Cam Newton. I'm a big Cam Newton fan, but the guys he's throwing to, can these guys develop into the type of offensive receiving weapons that the Panthers need if they're going to make another run here. Let's go to the New Orleans Saints now. Saints coming off a very, very impressive 2017 campaign.

The biggest question for them was the move for Marcus Davenport. Will that pan out? Will it be worth it? Because they gave up a lot to go get him. They gave up a future first rounder as well. He's considered by many to be a raw defensive talent. They're close.

They're close defensively. But they still need to get over that hump. They need help in the front now. They have Jordan Cameron. They have Sheldon Rankins. Alex Okafor. They have Jordan Cameron. They have Sheldon Rankins. Alex Okafor. They have some guys that can rush the passer. Is Marcus Davenport going to be worth it in the end?

Finally, next team we're going to talk about, last team in this division, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. You look at them offensively, they still have all those weapons that they had last year. And they added Ronald Jones as well. Offensively, this team looks to be set.

Adam Humphreys, Mike Evans, Deshaun Jackson, Chris Godwin. That and Justin Watson, wide receiver out of Penn that people really liked during the draft process. Jaquiz Rogers, Ronald Jones, they look to be pretty good at the running back spot as well. Cameron Bray and O.J. Howitt still two pretty good tight ends. Do they have the pieces defensively? Vitave, they add him, so they

get a nice defensive tackle. That defensive front should be pretty good. Jason Pierre-Paul, Gerald McCoy obviously is a beast. Curry at the other defensive end, Vitave, that's a pretty nice front. They get some good linebackers too. Kendall Beckwith, Kwon Alexander, Levante David. That's a good defensive front. The guys in the Quan Alexander, Levante David. That's a good defensive front.

The guys in the back half, guys in the secondary, that's the big question on the defensive side of the ball. They've added MJ Stewart in the draft. They added Carlton Davis in the draft. Good. They need help back there. Can they get enough from that secondary? Or is this going to be a situation where they try to do everything with the guys up front and hope they get enough pass rush to really force quick throws, get the ball out of the quarterback's hands quickly.

Guys in the secondary just have to rally and attack to the ball. So those are your NFC South storylines. Up next, play six on our countdown of the top 10 defensive plays. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked On. It's again. Stack up Miller. Texans feel like they got enough push. They did not get enough push. As you see the official come in right here, you see where they had to get to the ball. They're going to mark it about a half yard short. It's a huge stop for New England because a field goal puts Houston up by five. A lot of time left for Brady and company to come back and get a touchdown.

Although the Patriots use a timeout, they've got one remaining. The yellow first down line, not official, but gives you an idea of where he had to get to he's not close and a good job by Patrick Chung coming in late there to ensure Mark Schofield back with you and what you heard right there obviously Kevin Harlan Dan Fouts from CBS Sports that was one of the pivotal if not perhaps the most pivotal play, believe it or not, from the New England Patriots week three victory over the Houston Texans. And to set the stage for that play, you know, that play comes in the fourth quarter just before sort of the two-minute warning

and the Houston Texans have the ball. It's third and one. They're in Patriots territory, well within field goal range. Basically, it's a third and one situation just outside the 20-yard line or so. And the Patriots are now in a bind. It's a situation where if the Texans get one first down, they've got a two-point lead. If they get a first down there, Patriots are going to be hard-pressed to get one first down. They've got a two-point lead. If they get a first down there, the Patriots are going to be hard-pressed to get the ball back with enough time for Tom Brady to go down the field and score.

So the Patriots need a stop. And as you heard, they get it. They get it a big way from the guys up front. Malcolm Brown, Lawrence Guy. Those are the two guys that really sort of rush to the ball here. The Texans basically put Deshaun Watson in the shotgun, which I understand they run basically what looks to be a read option here. They've got Watson in the shotgun, Lamar Miller to his right.

Watson takes the snap. He reads the defensive end on his right. He sort of stays home, so he gives it to Miller, running up the inside, right behind the center. And the penetration is good up front from Malcolm Brown, who forces Miller to sort of make a cut right behind the line of scrimmage. And Brown is able to disengage off of the center, off that block, get him wrapped up. Guy rallies to the ball. And as you heard from Fouts there, Patrick Chun from his safety spot

rallies to the ball as well. They stop Miller short. They do give a measurement, but as you heard, it's not really needed. You know, this is a stop, period. The Patriots force the stop. They take a timeout. Bill O'Brien sends his field goal kicker,

Kai Fairbairn, onto the field. He makes it. So it's now 33-28 Houston, but the Patriots have the two-minute warning. They have one timeout, and they still are in a one-score game. If the Texans convert this, the situation changes. Maybe the Patriots still hold them to a field goal, but then you're probably looking at a no-timeout situation with probably under a minute or a minute to go because they probably have between the two-minute warning and the one-timeout or the two-timeouts. The Patriots would be able to sell the clock a couple of times,

but not that much. Houston would have at least one down to really drain the clock there. So this was a huge play. And given the miraculous ending, people always sort of point to the Brady to Cooks touchdown as, ooh, what a huge play in the Patriots season. And it was a very big play. Don't get me wrong.

But the stop on third down made that all possible. And for those reasons that's why this play right here this stop is our sixth biggest defensive play of the 2017-2018 Patriots season up next football and films we're going to talk some early day Tom Cruise

before Top Gun before Jerry Maguire before all the Mission Impossible movies he was just a small town football player in a mill town in Pennsylvania with a dream of getting out. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield. And Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now.

And I teed up there. All the right moves. A 1983 film starring Craig T. Nelson as the coach. Tom Cruise as the defensive back. Leah Thompson as his girlfriend. And normally when I've done these football and film segments, I've had clips from the movie. This movie, hard to find.

There were a couple of clips. The audio just really wasn't that good, so I couldn't get it worked in. But this is basically the story of Steph Dorshevich. That's played by Tom Cruise, who's a defensive back, smart kid, decent athlete, wants to get a college football scholarship to get out of town. He says it a number of times in the movie, he wants to use football as a way to get an education. He's in a mill town. His dad's working at the mill. His brother's working at the mill. He wants to be an engineer. But it's the 1980s.

Mill towns are struggling. People are getting laid off. So it's not the best time in this town for, you know, guys that are in that sort of school-to-mill pipeline. And this guy sees a way out. But he starts butting heads with his coach. They're playing Walnut Heights High School. That game comes early in the movie. They look like they're going to win a big game against an undefeated team.

But there's a fumbled handoff as well as a pass interference penalty from Dorsovich. That leads to a loss. Craig T. Nelson, the coach, rips the guy that fumbled the football in the locker room, telling him that he quit the game. Tom Cruise's character says, no, no, no, no, no, coach. It was you who quit on us. He gets kicked off the team.

There's a vandalization of the coach's house from all the fans. And Dorshevich is present. He doesn't really take part of it too much, but he's spotted by the coach. And that's pretty much the end of their relationship, right? College recruiters want to see film on him. They want to recruit this kid, but Craig T. Nelson, the coach, says, no, no, no. He's got an attitude problem.

Starts blackballing him. And so it looks bad. But in the end, we get sort of Leah Thompson, his girlfriend, approaches Craig T. Nelson, the coach's wife, asks him, can you give him another chance? Can you try to intervene here? There's a great scene sort of in the rain between Cruz and Nelson when they get into a shouting match in the middle of the street where they're just going back and forth against each other. But it ends with somewhat of a happy ending. The coach gets a new gig at Cal Poly, an engineering school. And who does he offer a full ride to? The guy he kicked off the team.

And so it has a nice little happy ending. You know, this is part football movie, part sort of almost economic anxiety type of movie. It covers life in a small mill town when mill towns were starting to die off. So there's a bit of that. You see some parallels to the true story of Rudy where this person's on that sort of school to mill type pipeline, but he sees football as a way to get out. And so I loved this movie when it first came out. Probably not a lot of people have watched it, heard of it, seen it. I think it's worth a rewatch. And, you know, maybe it's not the best football movie ever, but it's certainly, you know, in the mix and when you start to make

lists of like 20 or so. And so all the right moves, Tom Cruise, Craig T. Nelson, Lea Thompson, check it out when you can. That will do it for this week here at Locked On Patriots. I will be back Monday. We'll be doing some more storylines. Be doing some more football and film defensive countdowns. Going to keep rolling here through June. I don't even know if I'm going to take any time off the more and more I think about it. I just like talking to you guys so much.

Have a wonderful weekend. I will be back Monday. Until then, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots.