Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots November 28, 2018 - Crossover with Andy Carlson

Episode Date: November 28, 2018

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Hello everybody, welcome on into a Wednesday installment of the Lockdown Patriots podcast. Mark Schofield sliding into the big chair on this Wednesday, November 28th, 2018. In a few minutes, we're going to have my conversation with Andy Carlson from Purple for the Win, 1500 Minnesota, ESPN Minnesota, Zone Coverage Minnesota. Andy does fantastic, fantastic work covering the Minnesota Vikings. Always a blast to chat with him. One of the more enjoyable people in all of football media to be around. Also one of the hardest working people in football media.

He's always, always, always grounded. As I say during the conversation, follow him on Instagram at Andy Carlson Show. Why? I'll tell you why. Every morning around 7.30 when I wake up, I do my sort of spin through the social media world. I check Twitter. I see what people are talking about. I start to get my mind right for what I'm going to be talking about during the day and then I check the gram. And sure enough, it's 7.30 where I'm at and I've already seen an Instagram story from Andy, usually just to focus on his watch

or sometimes he does a little video from like 4.30 in the morning, getting himself up and ready to go. The guy is just tremendously hard, great work, hardworking guy, so he's definitely worth your follow. My conversation with him was enjoyable as always. At the start, we're gonna talk about the calendar.

You'll see where I'm going with this in a minute. But first, a reminder to follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. Check out the work of 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, I've said it before, I'll say it again. If there's an outlet that is covering this game that we all love, chances are they've got me doing some work for them. Now, as I said, any constant conversation coming up in a minute. But first, I want to talk about the calendar. I know this is a football show, but we're going to talk about

the calendar, specifically the fact that in a couple of days, the calendar will flip from November to December. And December is when things get a little bit dicey for opponents of Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. And I'll tell you why here. This was actually started and spurred in part by my conversation with Andy for his show talking about whether a win in Gillette for Kirk Cousins would be his sort of statement victory as a starting quarterback in the National Football League. And he and I both sort of agreed that it would be. And off the top of my head, again, I hadn't sort of prepped for this question,

but off the top of my head, I said, look, you know, you go into Gillette and you beat Tom Brady, you know, in Gillette in December. That's something that not too many people can say. And then I decided to sort of check the numbers. And Patriots fans who might be a little bit still underwhelmed or a little bit unsure or apprehensive of where this team is, need to remember that the Patriots over the years have always become a better team come the month of December. Whether it's the holiday season, whether it's the weeks and months and hours of film work and practice

finally paying off, whether it's just your dumb luck, although I probably dissuade you from believing it was luck given how this has gone over the years, the patriots are a better team come december and look tom brady's record by month this is according to patriots dynasty.info which is a new site that i've discovered and i'm a big fan but i've checked this out as well the numbers they're right patriots and tom Tom Brady 37 and 16 in the month of September for a winning

percentage of 0.698 so 69.8 percent in October is 60 and 15 that's 80 percent of their games that they've won in November 44 and 15 so 74.6 percent of their games. We'll skip to January, 27 and 10, that's 73%. And February, where they are, as we know, 5 and 3, so 62.5%. Now December, 58 and 11, 84.1%. Under Tom Brady, the Patriots' best record by winning percentage for a month is in the month of December. And let's look at Tom Brady's stats because statistically, there is a bit of a draw. Tom Brady completes 64.7% of his passes in September and October.

It drops to 64.07% in November, and it drops to 62.46. But given that you're playing some of these games in Gillette in December, that's not too bad at all. 114 touchdowns against 45 interceptions, quarterback rating of 92.1 in the month of December. Again, playing some of these games in some difficult conditions. And still, adjusted yards per attempt of 7.26.

Which, if you were to put him amongst league leaders right now, 7.26 is a top 25 quarterback in the National Football League. Oh wait, no, I'm looking at the wrong thing. Yeah, same thing. Top 20 quarterback in the National Football League.

That's just him in the month of December in conditions. That's a pretty good quarterback. So Tom Brady perhaps plays, if not his best football. He plays very well in the month of December the team as a whole plays very well in the month of December and so as the calendar sort of flips for us as we get ourselves into December we start thinking Hanukkah again

starts this weekend happy Hanukkah early happy Hanukkah to all of our listeners of the Jewish faith as we start doing our Christmas shopping maybe you've already crushed Cyber Week this weekend. Happy Hanukkah, early Happy Hanukkah to all of our listeners of the Jewish faith. As we start doing our Christmas shopping, maybe you've already crushed Cyber Week. The Patriots seem to step up their

game as well. And the Patriots at home over the years have been almost unbeatable. You know, you look at the Patriots over the past, during the Brady-Belichick era, for example. over during the Brady-Belichick era, for example. And during the Brady-Belichick era,

of those 11 losses in the month of December, four have come at home. Four home losses in the month of December during the Brady-Belichick era. And here they are, 2002, week 16, 30-17 against the Jets. So the year after their first Super Bowl, they drop one at home in week 16 against the Jets. It really sort of put a dent in their playoff hopes.

Their next home December loss, 2012. Almost a decade later, like they missed it by a week. That Sunday night game against the 49ers where Colin Kaepernick balled out. He had some wet, raw conditions that night. That was their next December home loss. Following that, two sort of fluky games are the other two. First is 2014 Week 17 against the Bills. That was a game the Patriots really didn't need.

Sort of from a, you know, playoff seeding perspective. Jimmy Garoppolo got the second half to himself. Patriots lose to the Bills 17-9 in the season finale. You know, they had already sort of clinched home field throughout. So the Patriots didn't need that one. If I'm remembering correctly, now I want to double check that because I feel like maybe there was a chance

that they hadn't clinched it. Let me pull up the schedule here. And the other one though was the next year, 2015. That week 13 35 28 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles coached by Chip Kelly that was a weird one right you remember that one

Patriots just sort of laid an egg and right the Broncos had already sort of that 2014 game the Broncos the Patriots had already beaten them so they got in on a head to head you know even if the Broncos, the Patriots had already beaten them. So they got in on a head-to-head. Even if the Broncos won their season finale, the Patriots had already clinched it.

Because that's right, the Broncos had lost in Week 16 to the Bengals, ensuring that the Patriots would have home field advantage. So that's it. Those are the four. Those are the four home playoff losses in December. You've got a 2002 game back when a team didn't make the playoffs. You've got a decade until that game against Colin Kaepernick. You've got a week 17, which you didn't need, and then a fluke loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. That's it. This team is so good at home. This team is so good in December. This team is so good at home in December. So now looking ahead, let's look at the month of

December for the New England Patriots of the 2018 season. And you've got well, what do you have? You've got this week a game against the Minnesota Vikings which, as we're going to talk about in a minute with my friend Andy Carlson, is a game that should be very interesting.

The Vikings seem to be playing well of late. And then you've got two road games. You've got the Dolphins on the road, and you've got the Steelers on the road. But then your final two games are both in December against divisional foes in Buffalo and New York, two teams that you've already beaten, and now you get them at home. So if things hold to form, you're talking about a winning percentage of, in December, 85%, and you've got five home games,

numbers tell you you're probably going to drop one. Hopefully it's that week 17 game, and it doesn't matter if they lose one. Hopefully it's that week 17 game and it doesn't matter if they lose one. But as the numbers say, and they never lie, Patriots very good at home in the month of December. Very good overall in the month of December. And with five games left, they all happen in the month of December. And so that's why we wanted to talk about the calendar today. Up next, my conversation with the great Andy Carson from Purple for the View. Purple for the Win, excuse me, Purple for the View. Purple for the

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Mark Sofil back with you now on this Wednesday installment of the Locked On Patriots podcast, and I am overjoyed to be joined by our guest right now. He's one of the best people, one of the hardest working people in all of football media. I think he hosts about, at this point, 17 different podcasts, if I have that number right. You can follow him on Twitter at andy carlson show at a-n-d-y-c-e-r-l-s-o-n-s-h-o-w zone coverage minnesota uh purple for the win

uh 1500 espn podcast one andy did i miss anything see see here's the thing about coming up in the game you work multiple jobs and then you're just trying to like boil it down to one job. I mean, eventually that's when you know you made it. Right. You know, that's the, that's the career path that we're all sort of on. It's like, you know, your taxes are a mess. You don't know who you're writing for, who you're doing something for at a given moment. I've got like 15 different calendars and you're trying to keep it all together all with the hope of working for one man who yells at you all the time, right? Or yourself.

Or being that man. Yeah, but then if you want to succeed, you have to be that man who just completely chews your ass out every day. Yeah, exactly. And I always give people the shout out, follow this person on Twitter. I'm going to give for the first time ever on this Locked on Patriots podcast an Instagram recommendation. Follow Andy on Instagram, on the gram, Andy Carlson Schell. The reason being, it might be the most motivating tool you will ever find in his life.

This man is the Gary Vee of football media. I will wake up 7.30, bleary-eyed, do my scan through the Twitter feed, do my scan through the gram. Andy's already been up for like three hours. He's already posted like workout videos. He's already posted the screenshot he does every morning of the watch when it's like 4.30 in the morning. Andy, how do you do it? Once you get the body trained to like pass out at eight and then get up at four, it's like, yeah, it's pretty easy. And also, it's pretty nice for the day. It's like, oh, I have all my

work done by 8 a.m. It just feels good. That does feel good. And sometimes, though, the work continues beyond 8 a.m. because you've got the brisket on the Traeger, which is always crazy to follow. I've been sort of bummed with football season because I haven't had as much time to do the brisket because of various things on Saturday and, course having to you know focus on sunday but it's like yeah it is definitely worth the 12-hour investment even if you have to get up at three yeah see i feel like people don't understand the feeling of accomplishment you get when you pull the brisket off the smoker or off the grill and you just know that you've crushed it oh yeah like i think there's a reason why you know in in our digital age, we're doing throwback stuff like meat porn is such a big thing. Barbecue is such a big thing.

Hell, woodworking is something. Because there's something in the human brain that releases chemicals when you actually build or make something physical. Yeah, that feeling of accomplishment with your hands beyond you know typing out a blog post yeah it was like oh that was a great pod let me display this up on my mantle oh wait i can't do that but i i can i can put this you know piece of furniture that i've created with my hands on a you know on the living room floor anyway we're getting a little bit far afield here. The reason why we have Andy on is, of course, we're going to talk Vikings. We're going to talk Patriots.

We could talk about lifting and weight and stuff like that, but we won't. Andy, the big question I think we've got to start with is, Kirk Cousins, yes or no? I'm in. You're in. I'm in mainly because I have to be for the next two years and change but when free agency hit and Cousins was going to be available

and we knew he was going to be the highest paid free agent in NFL history and the Vikings were in the mix I knew it was the safe route if the largest contract blah blah blah couldn't be the safe route but Case Keenum I'm pretty pretty sure, was an optical illusion. Teddy really did not know with that knee.

It was a huge gamble. And this team, even though I hate the term Super Bowl window, the Vikings are still currently in one now. So Cousins, I mean, his time at Washington, from what I knew, is like he is going to make some amazing throws that make you say, wow. He's also going to make some amazing throws that make you say, wow. He's also going to make some amazing mistakes that make you say, wow. And the fact that Washington fans, team, weren't overly sad that he was leaving, that sort of stood out.

But the way that he's played so far with Diggs and Thielen and able to put up some points. Just like we're seeing the better part of Kirk Cousins. And, you know, sure, we're seeing the bad parts, too. I mean, they have pick sixes against the Saints and the Bears essentially cost the Vikings a game there. But, I mean, on a team that's been bereft of offensive talent, putting up points the past couple of years, it's nice. Has there been sort of a sense and you know we just did your show and we talked a little bit about sort of a parallel between

brady and cousins in this sense that you know you see some of the national media start to get down on your quarterback and it almost galvanizes the fan base around a player have you seen that sort of play out with cousins because you know guys like mike freeman and others were sort of saying look he's been a bust he's not not worth it. Have you seen that effect? A little bit because like every fan base, there's going to be a section that supports the QB

no matter what, but Vikings, this may be a little myopic or anecdotal, but I feel like the Vikings fan base is weird because there's still a sizable portion of the fan base that, you know, pines for Teddy,

a section that pines for Case Keenum, which is weird. A very, very small section that talks about Sam Bradford is like, Oh, if he only stayed healthy. But I think for the most part, especially with the,

the high highs and then like even in losses, like when you played the Rams and cousins was able to, you know, like he balled out and and was keeping the Vikings in that game. I think most of the fan base is behind Kirk. Like, we're still going to call balls and strikes, like, when he makes complete boner mistakes, which seems to happen, like, once or twice a game, we're going to call that out.

But, I mean, overall, so far, the experience has been pretty positive. I thought for a second there you're going to mention kyle slaughter because i know there's like a tiny sliver of people out there who still believe that he's the guy you know it's weird too we can't even pronounce his last name because uh initially coming in i was like oh sergeant slaughter this is awesome and then uh then uh we were correct it's like, oh, it's Sluder. Sluder? And then he pronounces it Slaughter or Sluder. It's like we can't even agree on that. I mean, that's where we're at.

That's where we're at with him. These two wide receivers, Stephon Giggs, Adam Phelan, they're terrifying to me. Tell me why they should be so terrifying. Well, they're terrifying in that it's different than you know Antonio Brown Juju it's different than Julio you know Ridley it's different than Nuke and whoever's wide receiver too is that I mean for my money you know of course I'm biased but they're the best duo in the league because they just feed off each other so well it isn't like a a one and a two it really is a 1a and a 1a situation here and you know digs got the big

money contract in the offseason he's you know extremely explosive he's a little bit on the streakier side whereas thielen he's the the very consistent guy that you know is always going to get you seven eight nine catches 100 yards he can operate from the slot and it's just it's just a matchup problem uh so far for most teams. And I think that's really helped Kirk Cousins' transition. First year, new OC, new team, blah, blah, blah. And thus far, you could easily say that they're two of the top 12-ish receivers in the league.

If anything has worked against them this year, whether it's schematic matchup, what is that? And can you please say it loudly enough? So Bill Belichick, here's it up in Foxborough. I think it's a little bit of a clash of styles where, you know, John deep love coming in,

you know, completely outside of the Zimmer tree. It was, it was a little bit of a, Hey, let's just steal from the Eagles. I think that was definitely part of it. But I mean, what we've seen was Zimmer. to the Zimmer tree. It was a little bit of, hey, let's just steal from the Eagles. I think that was definitely part of it.

But, I mean, what we've seen with Zimmer, and I think he does this a lot more than he leads on, is that he will lean on his OC to sort of build the offense in his image. He wants to be conservative. He wants to run the ball. He doesn't want turnovers. That's why I also thought, like, the marriage between marriage between him and cousins was a little bit interesting too um so i mean you've seen that at times this year where the o-line simply can't run block and they'll be stubborn the they'll run it straight up the gut on

first and 10 then also on second and 11 like the committing to the run against the bears was like hey let's just run straight at a Keem Hicks. Oh, that didn't work. Oh, it's third and nine. Oh, I guess we punt.

Yeah. And yeah, there's a reason why the Vikings are, I think they're still second in the league in terms of, uh, three and out percentage of drives. And it's just like, it really is feast or famine.

Like once Zimmer just sort of lets DFilippo do whatever he wants to do and Cousins is chucking it, the offense looks great. And as you know, throwing to run, it's what you do in today's NFL. But a great way to stop the Vikings is just sort of let Zimmer get in his own head. You know, you mentioned the run game, and that's sort of an interesting aspect of this Vikings offense because, like you said, they throw to set up the run. But you've got Latavius Murray, you've got Dalvin Cook getting worked in more and more.

Is the expectation that this run game is going to be something that they might want to lean on, that they do lean on as we get into sort of a playoff stretch, playoff run here? Or is that just going to be just a minor component of what they do? I think it'd be smart if they implemented um you know murray is what he is he's a great north south guy he's pretty solid in pass protection too but just using dalvin whose hammy is fully healthy ready to go using him stretch runs using him on tosses getting him outside and also in the passing game on screens and whatnot. Because, I mean, when DiFilippo came over, the thing that he gushed about the most was Dalvin Cook.

And also the way that you saw him use some running backs in Cleveland, his one-year OC there, as well as, you know, he was the de facto red zone coordinator in Philly. It's like, oh, he likes using running backs in multiple spots, split out wide in the slot. And it's like, oh, we're excited to see that with Dalvin. We haven't quite yet. But in the past couple of weeks, you are starting to see that open up a little bit more. So I think that the Vikings should lean a little bit more on the running game, but also

just a more diverse set of running game. I mean, you saw getting Dalvin on the outside, seeing a lot more jet sweeps, misdirection, blah, blah, blah. So if that's going to be the case going forward, down for it. You know, Andy, you mentioned the offensive line, and I think that's going to be one of the more fascinating aspects of this game, sort of the battle up front, because the Patriots and their fan base, they've always been clamoring for a pass rush.

They don't think it's there. Now you get an opportunity. We mentioned, you know, on your show, Brian O'Neill versus Trey Flowers. How do you see that sort of matchup pairing out this offensive line from Minnesota against this front from the New England Patriots well what's uh not too familiar with Flowers but uh like how's his bull rush um it's okay you know it's not the best of the league but it's passable it's serviceable yeah uh because that's still uh the the bugaboo with o'neill is that you know he's i think o'neill is going to be a very solid uh pro uh once he adds like 20 pounds uh to his frame uh but you know we knew that coming in where he's a fleek uh freak

athlete former tight end uh but he is definitely farther ahead than i expected uh o'neill to be coming into camp, coming into the season. Because, I mean, before the season, I was like, completely give the kid a red shirt. And if he sees the field, we're probably in trouble. But he's been, despite kind of having a meh game against Green Bay, he's been a revelation on that right side.

And I think that's going to be a pretty fun matchup to watch. You know, you mentioned Bryo Neal. And just quickly, one of the amazing things about the Senior Bowl is just being around these guys. And I remember at the Renaissance Hotel, which is kind of the headquarters of the Senior Bowl last year, walking into the restroom and walking out is Brian O'Neill. And I literally was like staring at the guy's belly because that's how big of a human being he is. And it's just one of those moments when you realize that, yet again, these are superhumans that we're talking about here on a daily basis. They're just – they are not like us.

Oh, yeah, for sure. Like if you get close to some of these guys or hell even for us, Brett Jones, who's a backup alignment now who's three 10, but he's like, Oh, he's too small to play in the interior. What? Right.

Yeah. That doesn't make sense, but we, we digress. We digress. We digress. Mark Schofield, Andy Cousin doing a little sort of crossover action here.

A little purple for the win, a little locked on Patriots. We just talked a little bit with Andy about the Vikings offenseikings offense gonna switch gears now talk about the vikings defense and speaking of things that are giving me a little bit of heartburn this week daniel hunter the arms the pass rush off the edge that's fearsome isn't it uh yeah i mean speaking of freak physical athletes that the scary thing about denille is that he's still learning to how to pass rush with a plan which is pretty uh amazing and you know the fact that the vikings were able to lock him up a year early and get a pretty good team

discount like he's not even the highest paid edge on the team that's still everson griffin he just uh pips him but the the fact that he's able to do what he does from the left side as well as the right side, he's an ambidextrous pass rusher and is so willing in the run game, doesn't have an ounce of ego to him. It's just like blessed for a third round pick. Yeah, Everson Griffin, you just mentioned him. Obviously an interesting story this year you know had an incident seems to be working himself back in how has he been

you know both sort of on the field and off you know coming off that incident uh off the field that's been a pretty you know tight lip tight sealed uh with uh everson and the teams like you know he he's under no obligation to talk about it. And if he wants to talk about eventually, I mean, that's definitely his prerogative. It's great, but it is good to see him back on the field because you know, maybe former Viking regimes really screw this up where it's like, Oh, let's just rush them back on the field.

And then something terrible happens either on the field or in the locker room. But I mean, he, he, he had to check so many boxes to get back on like him his family his doctors the team doctors the team uh etc so it's great having him back in a leadership type role and also it's like uh he he's definitely taking like a quarter step back like he's not the the old 97 but the current 97 is still pretty damn good too yeah and you know when you're looking at having him across from hunter the old 97 can certainly benefit from what hunter's doing on the other side right oh yeah like completely up and down the the d line where it's like who are you going to double that's always the the conundrum that faces a lot of offenses you know when you look at this linebacker group i think a guy that's always the the conundrum that faces a lot of offenses you know when you look at this linebacker group i think a guy that's it seems to be having a kind of i don't want to say

a breakout year but it's pretty solid year is anthony barb are my eyes lying to me or are you seeing the same thing well when he's been healthy and been on the field he's played very well in his unique you know strong side off ball linebacker role in the zimmer defense which is why which is why i feel like the contract negotiations between him and the team have hit an impasse where Spielman's pretty famous for taking care of his guys a year early. Barr's playing out his fifth-year option because I think he sees his value as an edge guy,

and the Vikings see his value because he really plays a very unique role specifically in this defense because he drafted a guy who had 25-plus sacks in two years at UCLA. It's like, oh, hey, we're going to make you a linebacker. And the fact that he's able to do that at his size just because he has freakish speed athletic ability, that's really a testament to him. And he's been really great at what he's been asked to do.

But also, I mean, fans just pick out a player or two here or there. Like when he ended up singled up in coverage against Robert Woods in the Rams game and he got toasted. So overall, I think he's been uh grading really well this season i i think he's definitely um a benefit to have would love to have him in the bears game but yeah it's yeah i i digress there so i think especially in a game where it's going to be michelle it's going to be a lot of james white having 55 out there is going to be really important what's interesting about this vikings defense and how they've been constructed you look at the secondary and you've

got a first rounder in trey way's a first rounder and Harrison Smith, the first rounder and Xavier Rhodes, the second rounder and Mackenzie Alexander, a lot of early round picks in the secondary, but it seems to start to, it seems to have started to pay off. I think. Yeah.

It's been, it's interesting secondary because it's either, you know, first or second round picks or like seventh rounders UDF is because I mean, you got anthony harris who's starting out over sandejo uh who's essentially been a healthy scratch the past couple weeks and you know jay ron who is going to be the the most important piece of this defense because he's going to be singled up against gronk a lot but i mean people got upset when the

vikings took mike hughes in the first round it It was like, oh, another cornerback over, say, Will Hernandez or Connor Williams or whoever offensive lineman you want to be. But it's pass or stop the pass or league. And Zimmer, I don't think it's an accident that there's so much capital invested in the secondary. Zimmer being a defensive back guy at heart where it's like he understands the importance of it. And then also you're seeing the

importance of depth because coming in this game without hughes also more than likely going to be without xavier rhodes so and you know the whole thing is like most teams i would sink him it's like oh you're gonna roll out a uh holden hill uh against the patriots and josh gordon is like although i feel kind of fine about that right you mentioned You mentioned J-Ron Curse against Gronk. Do you think that's going to be the matchup? Do you think there's any chance we see Harrison Smith trying to be the Gronk killer? I mean, how do you see that one playing out? The one chink in Harrison's game is man coverage.

And I think teams are starting to catch up to that. We've seen seen a couple times this year like you know he struggled uh against george kittle uh week one but also it's like jay ron has really stepped up in a very unique niche role where he's playing he's not playing like 10 15 snaps a game uh but he's basically playing slot corner uh against you know joker tight ends or even like inline uh tight ends being uh you know like a smaller weak side linebacker and he's sorry strong side linebacker he's been really great at what he's been asked to do and i i do think that's going to be the

matchup like sure he's going to get help i'm sure he's not going to be on the field you know probably 50 snaps a game uh for the game but yeah gronk is going to be a beast like even though he may not be like old Gronk he's still pretty damn good and it is going to take a village hopefully spearheaded by J-Ron Andy I'm going to sort of get you out of here on this one I'm not going to ask you for full-on prediction or anything like that but I want you to pitch your Sunday night you're sitting down to do your sort of post-game recap show and the Vikings have just won given that what would you think your sort of opener would be your sort given that what would you think your sort of opener would be your sort of a block would you think it would be cousins and company putting up

a ton of points the defense stifling brady what do you think would have to happen for you to open that show with a victory speech uh i do think it is going to be a relatively high scoring game i think it's going to mirror the the bears patriots game from a couple weeks ago where, yeah, you do have a great defense. Yeah, it is still Tom freaking Brady. But also, on the other side, you do have an offense that can put up some points. So, I mean, the Vikings do get it done in a shootout. We were talking about this the other day. I was like, if Kirk Cousins gets a win at Foxborough,

is that his signature win for his career? And I went through. I think it would be. Yeah. Yeah. I think it is. Also would be a great win for Zimmer and, frankly, just confidence. Because even though, you know, if you are going to lose a game like the road non-conference game, it's like it's whatever.

But also, like, so the Patriots and that would be that would be the one to put fans and the media on notice like oh this like this team could be legit but then they'll go out to Seattle traveling four time zones and then crap the bed on Monday night and then everything's terrible again so but whatever yeah I mean but you know the thing is beating the Patriots sort of at home in December, I mean, I'm looking back and I think this was from two years ago, 54-10 all-time at home in December. I mean, that would be a sort of statement win.

Yeah, we'd love to steal it if you guys are just willing to give away one. They've done crazier things before. Andy, fantastic stuff. Let everybody know what you got going on at the various outlets that you're doing. Great, great, great Vikings work. Where to find you and all that good stuff? Mainly right now, Purple for the Win podcast five days a week.

YouTube channels, we do a daily load of video, just whatever the topic du jour is. And yeah, it's basically where to hammer out some Vikings adjacent stuff if If you enjoy it. Fantastic stuff. And you please do follow him on Twitter at Andy Cousin show on the gram as well. Trust me,

it is great motivational stuff. Plus you get to see pictures of brisket, which is always good stuff that will do it for today's show. I will be back tomorrow doing take Thursday. Again, get your questions in via the Twitter machine at Mark Schofield, email mark. Schofield that inside the pylon.ield at insidethepylon.com.

Locked on Patriots Slack channel for all you Slackers out there. Please get some questions in. Until next time, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots.