Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots November 16, 2018 - SemiGameday Edition

Episode Date: November 16, 2018

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Hello there everybody, welcome on in to a semi-game day edition of the Locked On Patriots podcast. Mark Schofield sliding into the big chair on this Friday morning, November 16th, 2018. Patriots obviously on the bye this week, so we don't have a Pats game to get you ready for, but what we're going to do today, we're going to recap last night's Seahawks-Packers game. We're going to look ahead to some of the Sunday games and the Monday night game, particularly the one that everybody's excited to watch.

A little bit later, we're going to talk some college football action, the things I'm going to be watching for on Saturday if I get a chance to be near a TV. But in all likelihood, Saturday is going to be a day of grocery shopping. Kids, we are less than a week away from Thanksgiving. Got to be locked, loaded, ready to go. I'm a big believer in getting the grocery shopping or the bulk of it done the weekend, the Saturday night before. Believe it or not, Saturday night, it's going to be me and nobody else at a grocery store. I'm a huge fan of grocery shopping on Saturday night because there's nobody there. Who wants to be at a grocery store on a Saturday night? And look, when you've got little kids, the social life isn't as hopping as it used to be.

The kids are in bed. What you're pretty much looking forward to doing on a Saturday night is getting through Red Dead Redemption 2 or at least a couple more chapters of that game or possibly doing some Fallout 76. Man, I need a social life. But anyway, get your grocery shopping done on a Saturday night. It's perfect. So you get the bulk of it done Saturday. Then if you need to run out for a couple of last minute things or if you're like us, you're going to go pick up the turkey from the farm on Wednesday, which is a new family tradition.

You get that stuff done, but you get the bulk of it done on Saturday night. Big fan of that. But obviously going off track here, before we dive into all the topics we have on deck for today, I'm reminded to follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. Check out the work at places like InsideThePylon.com, Pro Football Weekly, The Score, Matt Waldman's Rookie Scouting Portfolio, Big Blue View, part of the SB Nation family of websites,

friends if they're covering football. Chances are I'm doing some work about the game we all love for them. Let's quickly dive into last night's Thursday night game. The Thursday night games have been good this year, guys. Girls, they've been good. They've arguably been better than the Monday night games. Hopefully, I don't think that that's going to hold true this week, but basically a must-win game for these two teams.

Seattle comes in at 4-5. Green Bay comes in at 4-4-1. These are teams that needed wins to stay alive. You could potentially look at the numbers. I know Cynthia Freeland and others put together the numbers. If either one of these teams lost, whichever team lost, look at the numbers. I know Cynthia Freeland and others put together the numbers. You know, if either one of these teams lost, whichever team lost, they were going to have a huge hit to their playoff chances. And it's the Seahawks that come out on top, 27-24. Russell Wilson, 21 of 31 for 225, two touchdown passes, no interceptions. And Rodgers, 21 of 30, 332,

averaging 11 yards per attempt, two touchdowns, no interceptions. Sacked five times, however, for a loss of 21 yards. What's been fascinating to sort of watch how this game is being played out post-game, if you were on Twitter Thursday night, you saw Packers Twitter in absolute, absolute meltdown. Meltdown. With two primary culprits. Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers. There were people that were pointed to some plays where Aaron Rodgers just missed throws.

I mean, you could argue, you could make the case that this play came down to what happened on Green Bay's final possession. They're down 27-24, 420 left in the game, 4th and 2 at their own 33. Why is it 4th and 2 at their own 33? Because on the play previous, Rodgers misses on a throw to MVS. And he just flat out missed it. You know, he says sort of post-game, the ball kind of gets stuck in his hand or something like that. He flat out missed the throw. And there were other instances where Rodgers either had guys open and didn't

make throws, but for whatever reason, Rodgers, even though he only had nine incompletions, people can point to some of those nines and say, bad night. Even though he made some Aaron Rodgers-type throws. Throw he made to Dickinson, rolling to his right, deep ball, touchdown. The dime he threw to Devontae Adams. While he still had some great throws, people say, look, Rodgers missed some stuff. But fourth and two, down three, your own 33-yard line. 4.20

left in the game. Mike McCarthy decides to punt. And now, while some coaches might say, look, you know, you've got to trust your defense in that situation. You've got to trust your defense to get some timeouts here. I mean, to get some stops

here. You've got the two-minute warning. The problem was they had already burned two timeouts. So you're only going to be able to stop the clock twice. A couple of things about that decision from where I sit. One, you've got Aaron Rodgers. You don't trust Aaron Rodgers to get

you two yards in that situation? I know he had just missed on the play previously, but come on. The other thing is this. Seattle had run the ball 35 times for 173 yards against your defense, averaging 4.9 yards per rushing attempt. Are you more confident in Aaron Rodgers or that defense getting a stop. You can only stop the clock twice. Yeah, if you get stopped

there, you lose the game. But, I'm a firm believer in, as a coach, doing a couple of things. One, doing things to put your players in the best position to win. And two, make a decision that maximizes the chance that your team in the best position to win, and two, make a decision that maximizes the chance that your team wins the football game.

Deciding between giving the ball back to Russell Wilson in that run offense and putting the ball back into Aaron Rodgers' hands for one more play is like a no-brainer to me. Your run defense hadn't stopped them. And what happened when Seattle gets the ball back? Well, let's go through the play-by-play because I think you

probably know how it all turns out. First run, Davis up the middle for 5 yards. Second down on 5, Russell Wilson left end for 8 yards. Green Bay takes their timeout. Now you've got 1st and 10 Seattle at their own 33. Davis up the middle for 4

on 1st and 10. 2nd and 6. Davis up the middle for 7. 2 minute warning. Kneel down, kneel down, kneel down. Thanks for coming Mike McCarthy. You had a good job there. Good job. Good effort. If coaching is basically boiled down to those two things,

putting your players in the best position to be successful and making decisions to maximize your team's chances to win a football game, Mike McCarthy had a bad night. Because he at least failed on the second part of that. And for those members of Packers Twitter who are out there saying, look, Rodgers missed some throws. Yeah. Okay.

Quarterbacks miss throws all the time. That doesn't mean you bail on them. It doesn't mean you give up on them. So for all those members of Packers Twitter perhaps out there listening, this one's on the McCarthy decisions. I'm not putting this one on Rodgers. Up next, we are going to talk about the slate of games that are in front of us, particularly that Monday night game,

and why I'm excited to watch Monday night football for a reason that may be an unpopular reason. That's ahead on this semi-game day edition of the Locked On Patriots podcast. Mark Schofield back with you now on this Saturday. Getting ahead of ourselves, kids, on this Friday morning semi-game day edition of the Locked On Patriots podcast. And we just talked about Seattle Green Bay. Now we're going to look ahead. Start with the early games on Sunday.

And not a lot that's really enticing. Kind of excited to see that Pittsburgh-Jacksonville game because it's a game down in Jacksonville. And look, Patriots fans, you want Jacksonville to pull. You're Jaguars fans. Sunday afternoon, early game. Got to be pulling for them. This is one of those games left.

I talked about this a little while ago on Wednesday's show. As we get into Pittsburgh's last stretch here, this two weeks late here where they've got this game at Jacksonville. The next week they go to Denver. Then they host the Los Angeles Chargers. That's a three-week stretch where if you're in New England and you're hoping to get back into position

for that number two overall seed, at least, you need Pittsburgh to drop a couple of these games and it starts here. So I think that's a fascinating one to watch. Maybe that Jacksonville defense, they figure enough stuff out. Remember, this is a Jacksonville team

that beat Pittsburgh twice last year. So maybe they've got their number. So as Patriots fans, they figure enough stuff out. Remember, this is a Jacksonville team that beat Pittsburgh twice last year. So maybe they've got their number. So as Patriots fans, you're pulling for that. Also in the early games, I know everybody's excited about that Tampa Bay Bucs-New York Giants game. I'm actually going to be right on a little bit of that for Big Blue View a little bit later today. Fitzpatrick, Eli Manning, the NFL. It's fantastic. Interesting, though, that Tampa Bay has decided to stick with Ryan Fitzpatrick after some struggles the past couple of weeks.

You look at Fitzpatrick over the past couple of games and, well, throws four touchdowns with two interceptions against Carolina, no touchdowns, two picks last week against Washington. The struggles are there. Giants coming off a victory Monday night against San Francisco. A bit of a short week for them. But I do think that, you know, either way, I think we're seeing the near, we're approaching the end of Eli Manning's time as a starting quarterback. I do think, I predicted this over at Big Blue View,

that Kyle Lallina is going to get probably the last three or four starts. Because I know it's an easy expression, but they got to figure out what they got. Especially if this quarterback class is not living up to the hype. So watching that in the early games. Another game that's going to be interesting,

Houston-Washington. Not too many people thought that we'd have two division leaders sort of coming into this game at this point in the season, but that's what we've got. We've got two division leaders. Houston, they come into this game atop the AFC South

6-3, one game ahead of the Tennessee Titans. Washington, two games ahead of both the Cowboys and the Eagles. This game down in Houston. Thankfully, oh wait, no. I take that back. This game's at FedEx Field. Got to wonder about the field conditions.

DC area got a little bit of freak early snow. I don't want to say storm. It was enough to cancel schools, but it doesn't qualify as a storm. But field conditions might be a little rough. Fascinating to watch that one play out. As we head sort of to the afternoon games, I know nobody's going to want to watch that Oakland-Arizona game. I was with my friends Sat and John yesterday, Sportsnet 650 up in Vancouver, Canada, and

they asked me every week, you know, what game are you most excited to watch? And I sort of teased it out. I said it was a game that everybody was waiting to see. It was the easiest question I've ever had from those guys. And it was that Oakland-Arizona game. Nobody's going to watch that. I don't think Josh Rosen's family is even going to watch that game. They're going to probably be tuning into the Eagles and the Saints,

a game that might see 40, 50 points put up on the board, maybe by just one team in the New Orleans Saints. The big thing to watch for me in that game, can the Eagles keep pace? I don't think we're expecting that Eagles defense to just bend up as they are to stop Drew Brees, Alvin Kamara, Mark Ingram, Michael Thomas, and the rest of that Saints offense.

Can they put up enough points to win this game? And again, get a chance to plug my own work here. Did a piece over at the score yesterday talking about how that Eagles offense, you watch that game against Dallas. They were so close to breaking out in that game. They had a drive early in the game. Down 3-0.

They had a chance to hit Nelson Aguilar on a wheel route. Protection just didn't hold up long enough. Wentz had to check it down. They end up going for it on fourth down on that drive. They get stopped. Come away, no points. Late in the first half, they're just outside the red zone. They get back-to-back plays where they just missed opportunities.

First was a screen pass that they had called up for, dialed up for Corey Clement along the left sideline. Defensive back for the Cowboys just gets his hand in there to break it up. Works himself around the convoy of offensive linemen that were out in front of Clement. If he doesn't, that play might go for six. That play was so wide open. They were just basically a fingertip away on that play.

Next play, out and up to Alshon Jeffrey. Wentz is pressured again, has to slide his feet, gets hit as he throws. Slightly underthrown, a little bit late. Defensive back rotates over, breaks it up at the last second. Two successive plays where they were this close to huge plays. Forced to kick a field goal. Then finally, later in the game, third quarter, they get a third goal at the 7. They get Jeffrey split the safeties into the two high safety looks. Slight hesitation from Wentz,

perhaps because Jeffrey sort of throttled down for a step. Pass broken up. They settle for a field goal. So there's three drives in or near the red zone so close on a number of plays. To pull it off big plays. And they have to settle for two field goals. And they lose by one score. And so I think this Eagles offense is close.

It's just a matter of. Can they score enough points down in that dome. Then we get two great primetime games. Sunday night. Vikings Bears in Chicago at Soldier Field. The Bears. They're top of the NFC North right now. And I'm fascinated at the matchup

between Mike Zimmer and his defense, Matt Nagy and what he's doing with that offense. You know, I cover the Bears and Mitchell Trubisky for Pro Football Weekly. I do a piece at the start of each week about that offense, about how Mitchell Trubisky is developing.

Michael Lombardi was basically saying that Trubisky is garbage. I've been in the other camp saying how his developmental path is great. I'm fine with where he is. You're seeing improvement week to week. Yeah, there are hiccups here and there, but I'm more in the pro-Trubisky camp. And remember, he was QB4 for me, so I wasn't high on him coming out, relatively speaking.

It was behind Kaiser and Mahomes, and Watson. But I've been impressed with what I've seen from him so far. And then we get to Monday night. Chiefs-Rams game was going to be down in Mexico City. They moved it to L.A. Points and bunches. I think that's the thing to watch, points and bunches. Patrick Mahomes added to the injury report with a foot injury,

so we'll be keeping an eye on that. But I think this one's going to live up to the hype. And I teased earlier that I'm excited to watch this game for what might be an unpopular reason. And I'm excited to watch this game for Jason Witten. And I know that might be a little bit of a head-scratcher for many because Witten has been taking a beating for how he's sort of adjusted to life as a color analyst for ESPN's Monday Night Football.

But he came out and took ownership of that recently. Basically said, look, you know, I need to do better. It's been an adjustment. And I think he was put into a bad situation at a bad time because people saw how quickly Tony Romo adjusted to it. How quickly Tony Romo sort of ejected a new and wildly interesting approach into being a color and has caught up plays pre-snap, getting on quarterbacks a little bit. Oh, you got to throw that route, things like that. I think for people like me, I loved seeing it.

I loved it because that's how I watch the games. That's the kind of stuff that I yell at the TV. Oh, you got to see that blitz coming. Come on. Oh, you got to see that safety rotation. You got to throw that post route. But I think Witten was put in a bad situation because having seen a four-cowboy do that, they expect, oh, he's going to do the same thing. And that's not kind of who Jason Witten is. So I know it's like subplot Z to this game, but I'm interested to see Jason Witten on Monday

night if he sort of ups his game a bit. So that's something I'm going to be watching there. So that's kind of the stuff that I'm looking at this weekend on Sunday and Monday night. Up ahead, what I'm going to be watching on Friday and Saturday. That's ahead on this semi-game day edition of Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now to quickly close out this semi-game day edition

of the Locked on Patriots podcast. Going to talk about a couple of the games I'm going to be watching. Starting with tonight, Boise State. Brett Rippon on the road at New Mexico. New Mexico, 3-8-7 on the season. Expecting a big game for Brett Rippon, who might have to sort of play his way into the Senior Bowl. I'm a little heated right now.

Senior Bowl invites are starting to come out. And our great friend, John Ledyard at Ledyard NFL Draft on Twitter tweeted this out yesterday. Senior Bowl quarterbacks. Invites confirmed. Clayton Thorson and Trace McSorley. Players probably invited Drew Locke, Jared Stidham, Ryan Finley, Will Greer, and Jones from Duke. Leaves one spot for Rippon, Schumer, Minishu, Stick, maybe Tamu, the kid from Mississippi. Now, I'm heated because of the McSorley invite

because I've mentioned it here, but I think Trace McSorley is a great, fantastic college quarterback. I'm not sure if he's an NFL prospect. I think the guys in that last group, Rippon, Stick, Minishu, maybe even Shermer, those guys are probably better pro prospects, I think, than McSorley. Now, Ledyard ended that tweet saying his money, if it is just one spot for those guys, is on ripping.

And I tend to agree with that. I've also heard from people around Boise State that the rumor mill is that NFL teams look at ripping like a sixth-round pick. And I just heard all sorts of Patriots fans' ears perk up at that one. Believe me. But I'll move on. Early slate on Saturday is not going to be great. You've got Citadel at Alabama.

Two is probably going to be done midway through the first quarter. Ohio State at Maryland. Idaho at Florida. Penn State at Rutgers. Maybe get your grocery shopping done for Thanksgiving. You probably want to be back at least by 2.30. Syracuse at, well, technically at Notre Dame, but it's at Yankee Stadium. Notre Dame wearing their pinstripe uniforms.

Probably get a lot of Red Sox fans that listen to the show, and you probably agree with me. Those Notre Dame pinstripe uniforms are not nice. Not nice at all. Eric Dungy, a player to watch for Syracuse. He's completed 138 of 303 passes, over 2,000 yards, 14 touchdowns. Sort of a dark horse, shrine game type invite for Dungy. Maybe a late round draft pick for him.

BC coming off their loss to Clemson. They make a trip down to Florida State. Winnable game for them. Even in slate, a couple of good games. You've got Cincinnati at UCF. Obviously excited to watch little Mackenzie Milton action. Iowa State, Texas. Obviously the Patriots aren't in the market for a running back,

but David Montgomery from Iowa State getting a lot of buzz. People are starting to get really excited about him. 169 carries, 765 yards, six touchdowns. So that's going to be an interesting game to watch. Arizona at Washington State. Gardner Minshew playing himself into the mix here at the quarterback spot a lot of people really talking about him does some fun things with the football

so interesting to watch that one as well as we sort of take a step back look at the FCS level a couple of games that we'll at least throw out there right now you know scrolling through it San Diego at Marist that's up at Poughkeepsie.

Anthony Lawrence playing for the Toreros. He was a player that I studied a little bit last year. Keep an eye on that one. The aforementioned Easton Stick. Obviously, whenever we talk FCS, we mention NDSU and what they're doing. North Dakota State this week. Trying to find it here. I know they're...

Where are they? Where are they? Where are they? Hosted Southern Illinois. Probably a game that North Dakota State is going to win rather handily. Southern Illinois just 2-8 on the season. But then there's the game.

I know a lot of people in the Boston area, a lot of listeners to the show, are probably going to be keeping an eye on this one, maybe even attending this one. That's right. You've got Yale. You've got Harvard. Both teams, 5-4 at Fenway. Yale-Harvard is one of those games.

I have a buddy that I played high school football with. Maybe he listens to the show. Who knows? But he and his buddies used to do this thing. I don't know if they're still doing it, but they tried to get to the show. Who knows? But he and his buddies used to do this thing. I don't know if they're still doing it, but they try to get to rivalry games. They went to Texas, Oklahoma, and Harvard-Yale was one that they went to.

Harvard-Yale, always a fun game to watch, especially one at Fenway. That's going to be fascinating to see those two teams. Rivalry there, even though both teams are just 5-4 this year, 3-3 in the Ivy, still, Harvard-Yale, there's not much like it out there. But that will do it for today's show. I will be back Sunday for your Sunday morning tailgate

installment of Locked on Patriots. And then, looking ahead to Thanksgiving week, we're still going to do five shows. No days off. No days off. So start thinking of questions now for your special Thanksgiving day take Thursday installment of Locked on Patriots.

Get some questions in. Thanksgiving stuff, recipes, how to handle, you know, the marathon that is Thanksgiving Day and evening. What games to watch, football stuff, whatever. And then Friday we'll have a game day show getting you ready for Pat's Jets. Until then, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Paper.