Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots November 30, 2017 - Crossover with Kevin Massare from Locked On Bills

Episode Date: November 30, 2017

Mark Schofield and Kevin Massare from Locked On Bills join forces for a crossover edition.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Good morning and welcome everybody to a special crossover episode of Locked On Bills and Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield here. I am joined by the one and only Kevin Masseri from Locked On Bills. Kevin, my friend, how are you doing today? Doing well today. How are you two? I'm doing well.

I'm doing well. I'm getting excited here. We got, it's the November 30th show. We're almost in December. It's crazy how fast the season is going. Absolutely. It's been a wild ride, especially here in Buffalo. Lots of ups, lots of downs.

So typical season here for us. Just another fun season up in upstate new york and i guess kevin why don't we start with the quarterback spot because nathan peterman gets benched didn't go too well for him out west you guys come home regroup a little bit tyron taylor comes back into the lineup then you guys pull out a victory over kansas city is it now tyron taylor's show for the rest of the season, you think? It absolutely has to be. And I mean, you had McDermott go up and won't commit to him past the Patriots game. I mean, it's still a little bit bizarre over here in this land. There's someone

up top pulling strings. I was on the fan in Toronto talking about it, and it's absolutely positive that someone from Terry Pagula on down is really pulling the strings on that quarterback move. It's still bizarre that they can't commit to him after a road win against Kansas City. Yeah, and watching that game, it felt to me like, again, it was another Tyron Taylor-type performance, what we've seen from him, where he can make plays in and out of the pocket, does enough in the passing game to keep the defense sort of off kilter at times. He's not going to be a downfield throw attack guy, but they have and they can win games with him. Absolutely. I mean, he's someone that is a winning quarterback.

He's an over 500 quarterback. He's pretty much related to a 9-7 type of guy, 10-6 if things go his way, 8-8 at the worst. But, I mean, grass isn't always greener. I mean, that's what the Bills have found out in the hard way that maybe going 9-7 in a year when the AFC is pretty bad and maybe taking a 10th win somewhere down the road like winning in Kansas City can do for you, maybe it's not the right year to bench Tyrod Taylor. And looking at sort of the Bills' big picture right now right now i mean this is a team that's

for the ups and downs still on the cusp of a playoff spot i mean they're right now in the seventh spot just because of a tiebreaker to baltimore i mean this is a team that is still very much in the playoff hunt so it's just weird to see the move made at least to me an outside guy looking in yeah it was a weird move even internally i mean you had some media members internationally hate it but locally try to justify it by i mean look at tyra taylor he's only gonna get you 200 yards passing might go 30 to 40 on the ground not going to turn over the ball but not going to get us in position to win um and quickly it's just the total opposite you go and you see the chargers blitz nathan peterman every play for the first

half for him to a to a record-breaking five interceptions. And Tyrod Taylor goes into that game and calms the whole down. I mean, it's tough to say down 30 what really is happening. But you're still in the early in the third quarter. Tyrod Taylor goes in and immediately takes command of the offense. You know, Kevin, I just want to get the sense, you know, watching the Bills from afar this year, that they're still trying to figure out, are they a contender this year or are they just going to be a contender next year? Obviously, they trade away defensive lineman to Jacksonville.

You had the Peterman move. I mean, as a guy that covers this team, do you think they're still looking at it as next year is going to be the year for them and they're just kind of in the mix because it's a down year in the AFC? Or do you think they're really still trying to get into the playoffs? Like, what's your sense on this team right now, this organization? So it's crazy. They absolutely were playing for next year after a big trade of Sammy Watkins, a big trade of Ronald Darby, giving away Radji Raglin for a fourth round pick, who looks to be coming on in Kansas City, you know, making a few other smaller moves,

trading away Darius, you know, right, you know. Talk about right before the Calvin Benjamin trade. I mean, you had the Bills pretty much go out and exceed expectations, go to 5-2, make a move. Brandon Bean basically said, you only make a move like this if you're trying to win now and make the playoffs. I mean, you traded a third-round pick, one of those coveted assets that you went and gave away for number one wide receiver. And it was my sense that they lucked into a 5-2 record. They really didn't think the AFC was as bad as it ended up being they're sitting there at five and two with a barely favorable schedule outside of two Patriots games and a game against Kansas City and a game against the Saints the other games are very manageable at that point for them so they went

out made the move they I think it took them to go to five and two to say you know we can we can win this thing they lost a couple of really bad games and decided to make a switch to Peterman and said, let's see what we have in this guy. McDermott will go up there until he's booing in the face and tell you it was a win-now move to make that switch. It wasn't a benching. It wasn't a this or that. They thought the move would facilitate a more aggressive offense

to get the ball out of his hands quicker. Peterman just basically went out there and threw the ball in one second every single snap. Yeah, yeah. It wasn't a great performance. I wanted to ask you sort of about the Bills' defense because, again, looking at the Bills from afar the past couple of seasons, a unit that has given the Patriots some trouble, some guys on the interior up front that can give Tom Brady some trouble, both in the pocket, give the run game some trouble some guys on the interior up front they can give tom brady some some trouble both

in the pocket give the run game some trouble but then you look at this defense and at least up until last week against the chiefs trouble stop in the run now they had a great game defensively against kansas city but what's your take on the defense right now from this buffalo bills team it's a fairly aggressive defense and it's one that can cause a lot of confusion to quarterbacks that struggle against the zone. You saw Alex Smith struggle against the zone. You saw Trevor Simeon. You see Derek Carr. You see some upper to middle level quarterbacks, depending on where you place Carr and Smith, that can struggle heavily against a really aggressive dump down type of zone defense that's going to run a lot of cover three, a lot of cover three

robber. And quite frankly, a lot of quarterbacks aren't patient, not like Tom Brady. They're not going to sit there and take their check down read. They're not going to think that a three-yard pass is good enough. And if that quarterback takes that route, they're going to run into a long day because the Bills will sell out to stop the run. They struggled mightily in New Orleans against the Bills-New Orleans game. And I think that was more of an anomaly game they came back play the chargers that one you just got to wipe out

because like bill belichick said i mean that's just a that's just a lost game um it doesn't really the defense was never in a position to even make plays um after a big turnover they did go out and make philip rivers kick a field goal had got all frustrated um so you saw some some semblance of defense in that game believe it or not even, even though the score. And then he went back to Kansas City in a game where they really shut down Hunt. They really shut down Tyreek Hill, led to the discussions of even further benching Alex Smith. So if they can stop the run, I mean, that's really where it all starts, because then they're going to suffocate you down the field. A little bit different than a Rex Ryan scheme, who's going to come after you, who's going to do everything he can.

He might let up big plays. It's just kind of the opposite type of defense. More just ahead in this upcoming matchup between the Patriots and the Bills on this crossover edition of Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield, Kevin Masseri doing a little Locked On Bills, Locked On Patriots crossover. You know, Kevin, I wanted to ask you about that run defense because in that game against Kansas City,

Alex Smith is Kansas City's lead in rusher, five carries for 35 yards. You know, you look at football outsiders in terms of their DVOA, you know, and Buffalo's run defense was 27th in the league, at least by their statistics there. That was a really good performance. What did Kansas City struggle? What did Buffalo do to make Kansas City struggle so much in the run game last week? They just couldn't get any push up front. The Bills had really good gap integrity.

Their linebackers played actually phenomenal. You had Matt Milano come in for 15 to 20 snaps and really blitzed in the running gaps and really did a really good job there. They stayed disciplined. They tackled a lot better than they had in weeks past. Metrics that should really up that DVOA. I mean, they just had a couple of really egregious games that are going to really work against them. But I do believe they were in the top 10 prior to their little three game uh stretch there um but the defense gets that gets turnovers at a good clip they're still in top five in the nfl um and and you know

they they can really make things happen if they're stopping the run that's where they can put an offense into a bad spot um even though some of the numbers are a little bit skewed due to a couple of really poor performances. You know, when you sort of think about how the Patriots approach things offensively, a lot of people think, look, the guy you're going to stop more than anything. Well, two things that people like to do. Interior pressure on Tom Brady. Try to slow down Rob Gronkowski as best as you can. So put your defensive coordinator hat on for a second, Kevin.

How do you think the Bills sort of approach those two twin goals in trying to slow down the Patriots offense? The two things they succeeded at last week leading to the 16-10 win over Kansas City, slowing down Travis Kelsey, holding him to zero catches in the first half. I believe for the first time in a long time, if not ever, that he, while playing, he had zero catches in the first half. Did a phenomenal job spying on Kelsey. And then got a lot of pressure up the middle. You had a sack by one of your backup defensive tackles. Lorenzo Alexander off the edge after a really good push by DeAndre Coleman, one of our backup defensive tackles.

They did a really good job of both of those in this game, making Alex Smith leave the pocket and lead to those 35 rushing yards. So I think they seriously think of this as another challenge. They try to run a similar game plan. They did put on film the things that they were doing, so Bill Belichick should know very well what they took away from Kansas City. But they're absolutely going to spy Gronk. I mean, we're going to bank on Chris Hogan maybe not suiting up in a couple of other

weapons, Martell Spenik going on IR, and really selling out to stop Gronk, selling out on the running lanes and trying the best that they can to get to Tom Brady with their interior pressure. Tredavious White, first-round pick out of LSU, was a guy that, not that I scouted cornerbacks a ton, but in the limited view when I did of him, I wasn't really sold on him. It seems like I might have been wrong, Kevin, huh? It's funny because I was reading a lot and everyone had him as a slot guy, kind of a guy that could come in and kind of like Marlon Humphrey, kind of be productive.

You can use in spots, but he's one of the better rookie cornerbacks I've ever seen play. He was better than Gilmore in his rookie year. He's better than Darby in his rookie year. So it's phenomenal what this guy can do, and he's right there with Marshawn Lattimore for rookie defensive player of the year. Ahead on this crossover episode of Locked On Patriots and Locked On Bills, we're going to take a look at Mark Schofield's expectations from the Patriots side of things. That's coming up next. Mark Schofield, Kevin Masseri. We're doing a little Locked on Patriots, Locked on

Bills crossover. Now I think we should shift gears a bit, Kevin, and take a look at what the Patriots have done to date. And I guess I can kind of ask you as an observer from the outside, you know, what have you seen from this Patriots team that sort of has you as an observer from the outside, you know, what have you seen from this Patriots team

that sort of has you maybe not concerned, but at least a little wary about how Sunday might go? A couple of things. One matchup that I really thought the Bills could take advantage of was the poorest defensive play early on in the season and one that, you know, we saw against Tampa Bay. A couple of games where I, you know, was thinking, wow, the Bills might have a shot at this if they can, you know, take advantage of that defense. And the way that they've rebounded and played really good team football on the defensive side of the ball has been really, really shocking to see. And it's been one that is going to present matchups. If the Bills can't score against the Patriots, it's going to be a long, long day. And New England's gone a long way to shore up that

defensive side. And I mean, you could get into a little bit about what have they done differently to kind of pretty much a tale of two halves for them. Yeah, yeah. I think what's been interesting, Kevin, is that, you know, Jonathan Jones, who's a guy that was basically brought over as a special teams type guy when they, you know, made a move for him this offseason, has really sort of stepped up his game at the cornerback spot to the point where, you know, this past weekend against the, I mean, against the Miami Dolphins, you know, anybody that's watched Dolphins knows they do so much in terms of those underneath crossing routes, quick throws to Jarvis Landry where you're trying to get yardage after the catch. But Jones was basically assigned to Jarvis Landry to stop those routes and did a great job. But yeah, he might catch them, but you're not getting yardage after the catch.

He was making quick, immediate tackles. So they couldn't turn those three, four, five-yard throws into 15, 20, 25-yard gains. And that really allowed them to put him, put Jones on Landry, and then he can move Butler and Gilmore around. They can play some zone stuff behind that. They did a lot of pattern matching stuff where they might be running a cover two, cover three type look behind it. But they've got Jones one-on-one on Landry, and it really sort of helped them lock down their top receiver.

A lot of the question marks always, it seems, in the past couple of years, can the Patriots get enough of a pass rush? I think they were able to do some things. They were a little bit more aggressive with some blitzes. They blitzed 15 times. I think it was the highest amount of blitzes. They blitzed 15 times. I think it was some high seminal blitzes they used all year. They got to Matt Moore a couple of times on those blitzes. So what I'm interested to see is, do they do that again? Because Matt Moore is one type of quarterback.

Tyron Taylor is a completely different type of quarterback. And you blitz Tyron Taylor, you might find yourself in some serious trouble because Tyrod can make blitzers miss, whereas Matt Moore can't do that. Absolutely. I mean, that's a huge difference between the two. Tyrod's actually ranked in the top five, top six quarterback rating will win blitz. That's really where he can excel. He can get out of the pocket and open up some lanes for himself. That's just definitely not necessarily the way to approach Tyrod Taylor. You're going to want to, the best way to do it is kind of do just a simple, simple defensive end where they, you know, kind of start stretched wide and stay there

and kind of maybe thwart your pass rush because he's going to run himself into a sack. Don't go after him because that's where he's going to start to excel. It's kind of counterintuitive, right? Right. No, but I mean, I think what you're going to see the patriots probably do is you know similar to what you know the saints did you know a couple weeks ago it was basically that that mush rush where you're not really spying the guy because there's not too many athletes in the world too many linebackers in the league that can typically traditionally spy a tyrod taylor and

be successful with it so what you gotta do is like you said kevin you know widen the defense events a bit try to contain him in the pocket don't spy him but just try to keep him there and make him win from the pocket sometimes he can do it he wasn't able to do it against the saints maybe he can do it against new england but we'll just have to see yeah i mean that that is exactly i mean the jets actually put a really good game plan together against tyra uh the bills pretty much handled him nicely in the first game in their first game of the year. They didn't have any problem against the Jets. They went and switched up their defensive philosophy, rushed a soft five every time against them, and it worked.

And the Saints followed suit. You have a couple of defensive ends wide. You have a couple of defensive tackles pushing up the middle. Then you have a linebacker jump up to the line of scrimmage, go one way or the other to kind of shadow spy him, but not be aggressive with it. And Tyrod Taylor just would run himself into sacks. He would take his check down, would do things that wouldn't lead to turnovers, but essentially what's a punt? A punt's a turnover in a sense. So you have Tyrod playing himself into that.

And that's what I'm really interested to see if New England has taken a step in their defensive front that they're able to do that. One player I'm interested to see is actually Eric Lee over from Buffalo. A guy I actually got to see on our practice squad. And one I really liked was active against Atlanta. And I thought he got the raw deal. Should have stayed on the roster, in my opinion, as a good rotational depth. Put him back on the practice squad. You know, the New England Patriots went out there and scouted him, signed him.

Looked like he had his first sack last week Against Miami yeah yeah He stepped up well I mean They've had some guys step up On the defensive front this year You know he's won Dietrich Wise the rookie that they drafted Out of Arkansas on the fourth round

He stepped up for them as well Trey Flowers Seems to be a core component To their defensive front some of these Kevin, they're banged up. I mean, Flowers had a rib injury. Rib injuries are really tough to deal with. Nothing was broken, but still that's a tough injury to deal with. Trevor Riley, who was a backup linebacker, special teams type guy, he had been contributing more and more defensively.

He left with a head injury. Marquise Flowers, no relation to Trey. He left the game with an undisclosed leg-type injury. Kyle Van Nooy, another linebacker, he left the game against Miami with a leg injury. So this is a banged-up defense. And, you know, obviously New England usually a little coy with injuries. We haven't seen too much, haven't heard too much out of Foxborough so far this week as to how those guys are doing.

But this might be a situation where because of the injuries, because of the guys being banged up up front, Buffalo could have some success attacking that defensive front, I think. Yeah, I mean, looking through your injury report, I mean, it's always tough to know on a Wednesday what's really going on. But you have Trey Flowers is limited. And, I mean, you have Riley Stilles did not participate. You obviously have Chris Hogan and a couple of your offensive guys not going as well. Can you speak a little bit for us? What is the real, in your opinion,

what's the real injury report? Who's not playing that's on your active roster? What's the real deal there? Yeah. I'd be surprised if Hogan went. I know there's a thought here to get Hogan back and get him into the... I mean, I think they're looking sort of to that Pittsburgh game in a couple weeks to really get Hogan back onto the field. Trey Flowers is the interesting one. Rib injuries are really tough. Nothing was broken, but it could just be a situation where if you feel like you're winded and you can't really breathe because your ribs are killing you, that's going to be tough to make it a go.

Van Noy, I think, is going to be fine. He kind of came off the field on his own power. Didn't look to be that bad of an injury. Adrian Waddell is another tough one because he was replacing Marcus Cannon, who was their starting right tackle. Cannon's been out with a leg injury. Waddell was seen leaving Foxborough on Sunday with a walking boot on, so they might be back to their third right tackle. Cannon's been out with a leg injury. Waddle was seen leaving Foxborough on Sunday with a walk-in boot on. So they might be back to their third string tackle.

Cameron Fleming was a young player out of Stanford. I think he's a second or third-year guy. So that might be a question mark too. So those are some of the names and the guys on the injury report where I think they're at right now. But like you know, Kevin, and like all your listeners probably know know hard to really get a read what the Patriots are injury wise because they're going to be as coy and as quiet as they can be up until game time absolutely yeah I mean what's really great to me is that Sean McDermott's taking a page out of Bill Belichick's book and

now I mean really we usually in Buffalo we get pretty straight up injury reports right now I mean, really, usually in Buffalo, we get pretty straight up injury reports. Right now, I mean, you have Sean McDermott calling guys day to day who have really been out weeks or vice versa. It's calling them week to week. The next thing you know, you see them running around on the practice field. It's been quite a difference here in our injury report as well. You know, I think there's something to be said for doing that because, you know, why give your opponent a little bit of an advantage? I mean, if you know a guy is going to be down, then you don't have to prepare for what that guy you know why give your opponent a little bit of an advantage i mean if you know a guy's going to be down then you don't have to prepare for what that guy's going to do if you give the other team something one more thing each week to prepare for given the limited

practice time the teams have right now why not do that i mean you know like hockey teams you know a guy breaks a leg well he's out with a lower body injury. That's how cool they are in hockey. So, yeah, I mean, I think it makes sense to me. Yeah, I mean, talking about your offensive line a little bit, I mean, I've liked the play out of Shaq Mason. David Andrews, is this illness serious? I mean, Joe Tooney has played pretty well to me. Is Cannon, how long is he out?

And is he still out for an extended period of time? Yeah, I mean canada's been out i i don't expect him back this week so it's really you know can they get waddle back or is it going to be fleming andrews has returned to practice on a limited basis so he i expect him to be back um they had ted karrasin um who did have a bad snap that actually was returned by a touchdown by miami so there was that one mistake there. You know, this was an offensive line, Kevin, that struggled a bit on the early part of the season.

Brady was getting sacked. He was getting hit. You know, he was on pace to have his highest amount of sacks in a year since, you know, for a while now. But they settled it in. You know, they got that group together. They started to round it a little bit. They had a little bit of a step backwards last week.

Brady got knocked around. There actually was some talk. Should they have sat Brady down in the fourth quarter? Should they have changed how they were approaching that game, run the ball more, not exposed him to some hits, given the fact that he is a 40-year-old quarterback? But I think this is who they are. They're going to stay aggressive. They're going to keep throwing the ball. That's what they've done for years.

They're not going to change their approach. They just had a little bit of a bad game. They got pushed into a situation where obviously you've got an Adomkins who is a force up front. Then you lose Waddle, so things change a little bit. I expect if they get Waddle back, they should be a fairly good unit. They'll be even better if they get Andrews back, who's been a really good center for them. But we'll just have to see come Sunday. Yeah, who's been a really good center for them. But we'll just have to see come Sunday.

Yeah, there's some major questions on the offensive line. One matchup that I really think is the only way the Bills win this football game. A couple of those guys don't go. Waddell's not able to go. You have Cam Fleming in the game, maybe Ted Karras again. The Bills' front four is still pretty decent. I wouldn't say it's as good as normal with Darius in there. Kyle Williams is still doing what he does.

I mean, you still have Jerry Hughes, who's one of the most productive pass rushers, even if he's only at three sacks right now. I mean, you have Shaq Lawson, who's a great run defender, and he's been pretty good also with three sacks. A guy that can wreak havoc if possible. So that's really, to me, and I mean, you can correct me if there's another area, that'd be the one area where the Bills can really start to slow the Patriots down and really, you know, advantage Buffalo in that department. But other than that, I mean, you have a great use of running backs.

I mean, what's going on over there with Mike Gillisley, something our listeners would definitely want to hear about? I think he's slowly becoming the odd man out. I mean, when you watched the way New England was running the ball, the way they were approaching things offensively in the first half of the year, this was a James White, Mike Gilleslie offense. And what we've seen over the past couple of weeks now is those two roles have been taken over by Deion Lewis, Rex Burkhead has become sort of their short yardage back slash go-to wide receiver back which is kind of a role that both White in one sense as a receiving back and Gilleslie as a short yardage guy were handling and Lewis has sort of become their like you know basically

traditional type running back they run in between the tackles a ton and at first blush you might think he's a third down scat back type guy. Why are you doing that? It's because he's been very effective at running between the tackles. And so they have different packages for both of those guys. You might see them come out, I formation or single back type stuff with Dion Lewis as the deep back and run in between the tackles. Then they might go with a different personnel group and have Rex Burkhead in there who they can split out wide, them in the slot split them out wide to one side of the field the other and use them as both running back and receiver so those two guys have sort of taken over that running back spot I mean Gilleslie has been a healthy scratch the past two weeks and it wouldn't surprise me to see

that happen again but Kevin having said that you know I've pulled out lots of hair over the years trying to predict what Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels are going to do week to week from a personnel standpoint. Because I will go out, I will write a piece, I will tell people look, if you're playing DFS or whatever, this is a big Deion Lewis week and he'll be the healthy scratch and Mike

Gillis will come out and get 16, 18, 20 carries. But from what we've seen the past couple of weeks, it really seems like it's Lewis, it's Burkhead, those are the guys that are we've seen the past couple of weeks, it really seems like it's Lewis, it's Burkhead. Those are the guys that are going to be the featured backs for this team going forward. Yeah. I mean, New England, you know, in theory plucked Mike Gillespie from the Bills. It wasn't reversed. So I don't see him needing to make a point with him. The Bills aren't necessarily a team where I don't think you should change anything up. I wouldn't want to make a move that would hamper your offense. I mean, I really think

I'd like the way it's rolling. If I'm New England, I'd really like what Deion Lewis presents, one of my favorite scat backs in the league. And then you have your wide receivers. I mean, I just think that the production of Cook since Hogan's been down is where Hogan's not playing, in my opinion. I mean, you cover him a lot more close than i do um i mean you have how's philip dorsepin in that third you know wide receiver role with you know slater not suiting up and hogan not suiting up and you know is slater one of my favorite special teams guys to watch is he expected not to play yeah he's expected not to play and that's going to be something kevin to watch because nate ebner was also sort of their big special teams guy you know he's a personal

protector on the punt team, had that fake punt conversion on the New England's open and drive against Miami, but he's on IR now with a knee injury. And so those are their two top special teams guys that are now down. So that's one thing to consider. With, you know, Dorsett and his, you know, evolving into more of a role with this offense, they're trusting him more and more. He's got a lot more snaps, a lot more playing this offense. They're trusting him more and more.

He's got a lot more snaps, a lot more playing time. Brady's looking to him more and more. He, you know, he found – Brady found Dorsett on a Yankee concept on that shallow crossing route for a big play early in that game against Miami. They're getting him involved as well. I mean, this is an offense that still has, you know, all these different weapons that Brady can spread the ball around to. They have a lot of different ways that they can attack a defense.

What's been really interesting, Kevin, watching this team, I haven't watched them for decades now. Their ability to run the ball on first down, it's been something that is kind of flying under the radar right now, but they're one of the better teams in the league right now at running the ball on first down, which is not what you usually expect from New England. Years that they've gone to the Super Bowl,

they've been a middle-of-the-pack team in terms of the ability to run the ball on first down, but they're averaging almost five yards a carry on first down. And when you can get into those second-and-five situations with Tom Brady at quarterback, the offensive weapons that they have, that opens up the entire playbook. And as a defense defense that really puts you in a bind because you can't gear up against the runner you can't pin your ears back and attack

the passer you've got to be ready for anything and so that's really something to watch for i think can they continue to have effectiveness and be effective running the ball in first down and you know the bills depending on which team we're going to get here we're going to see if we're going to get the chiefs game we're going to see if we're going to get the saints game or we're going to see where i mean they actually beside the three game stretch the bills have played very good run defense uh really really really skewed skews their numbers uh they played very well against carolina a couple other teams early on um atlanta's another one so what i'm i'm interested to see exactly the same thing. I want to see how New

England runs on first down. If the Bills continue to put the pressure on, played really great defensive football, and Tyrod plays turnover free, which he will not turn the ball over. So that'll be interesting. I mean, Philip Dorsett, to me, was a guy I was interested in. I thought the Bills should have made a move for him. They were missing that kind of speed type of receiver. He was one that I was following closely when I heard he was on the trading block. How are you with that trade? Did you like that trade? Do you want Brissette back?

What's your final opinion on that to date? When they made the trade, I was fine with it because, look, you had three quarterbacks, three guys that I thought could play. Obviously, Tom Brady can play. Garoppolo can play. I liked Brissette coming out of NC State. And there wasn't room enough to keep all three guys. And so the fact that Edelman went down, he went out and got a receiver and got – he had to give up Brissette.

I was fine with that. But then it was followed up by the Garoppolo trade when now suddenly you're down to just Tom Brady. Yeah, they brought Brian Hoyer in, but you do need two good quarterbacks in this league, especially when the first guy is 40 and something could happen. You're like one awkward sack from needing your backup in there. And so following the Brissette deal with Garoppolo a couple of weeks later, that's what kind of stunned me.

I was fine with the Brissette trade when it happened, and I think Brissette has done a great job out in Indianapolis. I mean, he's one of the quieter good stories of the year being pushed into action and doing fairly well, so I'm incredibly happy for him. So I was fine with the Brissette trade when it happened. I think they

needed to address the wide receiver position. I think they've got a good guy in Dorsett who's been a nice little component to their offense. Now know we'll just see if brady can stay healthy now because now they're going to need them to go the distance yeah i mean that was a shocking i mean i thought the compensation was was pretty fair i mean i think that it's just i mean you're considering that's going to be uh a pretty high you know the first pick of the second round i think that's a pretty fair uh compensation for that point of the year um but I was just shocked to say I mean if something happens to Brady even on a short-term basis four to six weeks or three to six weeks or something even minor um I mean

you know you're not trying on Brian Hoyer I mean it's to me a team that's destined to could potentially win another Super Bowl um are you comfortable with Brian Hoyer if he needs to play a couple of games if something happens here if some bad sack happens here at Buffalo? No, I'm not. And, you know, that's kind of – that was kind of my one main flaw with the Garoppolo trade. And I understand, you know, why they made it when they made it because, look, you wait on this. There's no way they were going to have both of those guys under contract

given the cap ramifications, resigning Garoppolo. So they got what they could get for him. But at the same time, it's like you gave up Reset. Now you're giving up Garoppolo. Brian Hoyer is good enough to get you through maybe one game when you can just hand the ball off and throw it a couple of times. But this is a team that is expected to challenge for a Super Bowl. And if Brady goes down, Brian Hoyer is not getting you to the promised land.

And so more than anything, though, I think, Kevin, this trade is an indication that the Patriots are basically buying into Tom Brady playing for another four to five years. Because you don't trade a Garoppolo at this point if you think Brady is going to retire in the next year or two. So I think that's where we're at. Yeah, it sure does. Watching this from an AFC East follower and a Bills coverage guy myself, I had mixed emotions trading Garoppolo. It says to me, wow, there's no succession plan. It's great to get him out of here, get him out of the division,

get him out of even the AFC if he's good. There's light at the end of the tunnel here in Buffalo that maybe they don't have a succession plan. But then it also says, does that mean Tom Brady is playing another three, four years? I mean it might. It certainly might, right? How long do you think he realistically plays? I don't know, Kevin. I mean I get asked this question a ton and all I can really say is this,

you know, I'm six months older than Tom Brady. Okay. And now granted, I don't have a personal chef. I don't have a personal trainer. I don't eat avocado ice cream by the gallon like Tom Brady does. And as you know, right now I stay up later than 8 PM at night, but it takes me about a good half hour to just feel no back pain every morning when I get out of bed. You know, I've, I played football for 13 years. I have a torn labrum on both shoulders that both shoulders need surgery. I'm constantly in pain and I'm six months older than Tom Brady.

We're basically the same age. I don't know how he does it. It boggles my mind. But my bigger point is this father Father Time's undefeated. You know, Father Time always wins. And maybe Father Time and Tom Brady are going to go the distance here. But Father Time's going to get that knockout shot at some point. And for a quarterback, as you hit 39, as you hit 40, the end can come fast. We saw it with Brett Favre. We saw it with Peyton Manning.

Manning did have the neck injury. But that Super Bowl that they won out in Denver, that was a defense and run game Super Bowl. Peyton Manning was just kind of along for the ride there. And so it's great that Brady is playing at such a high level right now. He's still one of the best to ever play in the position. He's still playing at such an incredibly high level. But that day is coming. Is it a a year away is it two years away i tend to think it's a year or two away not four to five years away but that day is coming and the patriots are going to have to

address it they're going to have to be in on a quarterback in this draft class because they're going to need to get that succession plan figured out sooner rather than later yeah to be to be honest i mean to looking at it on an outsider's perspective, it's telling me that they do like somebody in this draft. They made that move. They're out scouting. I got to imagine they like someone in that top 40. I mean, they have to, right?

Wouldn't you say that that's probably true, that they're out there scouting every day? They're out at college games. They have to like either Baker Mayfield or someone along those lines that you know it's going to get it done for him because quite frankly you're right father time is undefeated and i mean just that peyton manning season just just shows you that and i just it's got to be just out of pure odds it's just got to be coming for tom brady and um you know for the afc's uh the entire afc i mean i for me here's how i put it too i had a couple fans, and they go, I just can't believe what happened in the Super Bowl last year. And, you know, something's like, you know, imagine playing the Patriots twice a year every year.

And if the Bills ever have a lead or they're up 10, up 14 on Monday Night Football, up 17, it is just never over. And it's just you just got to see the real deal. Tom Brady, New England Patriots, you know, Bills, Dolphins have to face twice a year every single year. So I just, at some point that, that, that cliff's going to come for him. And it's, it's the Bills fans are waiting with bated breath, but it's just, it's such, it is, I've seen him in person many, many times. It is such a treat. He is probably the best to ever play. I've always, I've always said that. And you know, it's, it's going to be a great finish for him. And he's playing as toward the end of his twilight of his career he's playing as good as anyone ever yeah yeah no he's

playing at an incredibly high level and you know to your earlier point Kevin I do think that they they must have somebody in this raft or even a couple of guys that they're interested in you know it would sort of surprise me to see them go early on a quarterback you know they I would expect them to be more maybe third round at the end of the third round if somebody's on the board, kind of like what we saw with the 49ers and C.J. Beathard, or maybe even early day three. And a guy that I keep coming back to, it's going to sound like it's coming

out of nowhere, but Matt Linehan, quarterback at the University of Idaho, runs an offense that's rooted in that Ernst Perkins scheme that they kind of run. When I was watching him this summer,'s running stuff that tom brady runs on sundays that people will see on sunday and so that's kind of a dark horse guy i keep having in the back of my mind that the patriots might look to but again like i said with the running back spot who knows i've lost money lost hair thinking about what belgium's gonna do maybe they go in and they go in on josh allen or somebody i don't know but yeah the next thing you know they're trading up for a quarterback they're trading up to go get josh allen or sam donald so that'd be funny yeah i mean hey it'd be just another day in the life of bill bellichick right and i'm interested i'm

interested to see this division progress post-time brady i want to see what happens it's it's not even so much i'm like oh now you know now the Bills have a fighting a bigger fighting chance statistically more than it is I want to see what happens in this division kind of where where we're going um you know maybe for a lack of a better term more competitive games in the division that's just leading to just great football just Tom Brady so can be so good at points uh that can lead to bad football for the other team, obviously. So this is this is interesting to me, covering the Bills and seeing what happens and how smart Bill Belichick actually is post Tom Brady. It is it is a topic point that is, you know, commonly talked about here in Buffalo for

another team, at least to be talking about, you know, what's going to happen with life after Brady for another team to be thinking. It's just crazy. It just goes to show his epic levels of success in the NFL. And it's going to be one that's going to be very interesting in the next couple of years to redo a podcast and talk about your next quarterback and to see how well New England's still playing. So kind of with that, leave us with some final thoughts. What do you think is going to happen in this game this coming week?

Do you think the Bills, where would the Bills maybe have a matchup in their favor? And, you know, kind of tell us what, if the Bills do happen to show some magic, what would they need to do to beat New England? Yeah, I think, first of all, I mean, let's remember here that division games are always tough, especially divisional games on the road. And so, you know, I'm expecting a close game. These two teams usually play close games, you know, so I'm expecting, you know, this one to come down to the fourth quarter. And, you know, the things that kind of keep me up at night about this, you know, if Buffalo can get the ground game going, if Tyrod can start making those plays out of the pocket, if New England fails to contain him like they've failed to contain similar type quarterbacks, guys like Russell Wilson, Colin Kaepernick, those guys really have given New England fits in the past. This could be another type of situation where they have trouble with a quarterback that has that skill set, the ability to make plays outside the pocket, extend plays with his feet.

If you start seeing Tyrod get into rhythm with those plays, they can get the ground game going. This is a game that Buffalo could win. This is a game that Buffalo, it's not going to take some sort of Herculean miracle type effort. If Buffalo goes out and plays the type of game they can, they can certainly win this game. And so if Tyrod starts doing Tyrod things, if that ground game gets going,

if McCoy gets going, it's a game that Buffalo could win. They'll have to, I think, maintain pretty good time of possession advantage. I don't think Buffalo could win a shootout, but I think Buffalo could win. If this game is like a 24-17 or a 20-17 type game, that's a game that I think Buffalo can win. Yeah, and to final up that question, who are your fifth and sixth teams here who are the wild card teams in the afc uh with this this mix uh mr mashup teams and uh you know kind of who do you see as the best team you know going forward and whether it's this year or in the future in the afc east beside the patriots do you think it's the jets bills or dolphins and

kind of tell me what you know kind of your final thoughts are the future and then who you think the fifth and the sixth seed are here in the in this crazy race right well i think in terms of the aac i think both well to a certain extent all three of the non-patriots teams have to figure out that quarterback spot you know because we can pretty much assume that tyron taylor is not going to be back in buffalo next year you know given his contract situation given how things have been handled jets obviously need to figure out the quarterback spot ryan tannehill is a question mark mark. He's had some injury history now to him. But I think all that being equal, Buffalo is the team that I think has the best chance to

get out of that three-team group behind the Patriots and really challenge the New England Patriots going forward even in a life without Tom Brady. So that's kind of where I see that going. You know, as far as the AFC and the playoffs, I'm not really buying Baltimore right now. I know they're in there. I think Baltimore slides.

I do think the Bills get in. I think that the Bills can get in. As another team that's coming out, I don't know. I mean, that's a tough one. The AFC is just so bad right now. It's just so bad. It is. It is, and it's just such an interesting year to throw away a game against L.A.,

a game where, you know, granted, the Rivers is playing pretty well, and they're playing really good football, but a very winnable game for Buffalo in this race. And if, like normal, if there's a reason you know buffalo goes eight and eight nine seven it's going to be the two losses potentially two losses that they're going to receive um we definitely won if not two that they're going to receive from new england so um you know that's usually our our nail in the coffin every single season uh we go in and it just it just is destined to happen if if they don't i don't want to call herculean effort if they don't, I don't want to call it Herculean effort, if they don't play solid, great, sound football that they're going to receive from New England.

So that's a lot to overcome a lot of times when you face two AFC losses, two division losses. Miami did it last year, so we'll see if Buffalo can follow suit. They do have a plan. They do have a really good coaching for the first time in a while. So we'll see where it develops. They have five picks that are pretty early on in the draft. One that I'm interested to see where they go with them. I guarantee you the Bills have made this move to try to shore up other positions

with Kelvin Benjamin. You're going to see a quarterback from Buffalo. To your point, you're going to see a quarterback in Buffalo with that Chiefs pick and wherever they're picking, maybe in the 20s, and the Bills pick maybe in the late teens, 18 to 20. You're going to see a quarterback in buffalo up from there so we'll see if they you can trust their their new ownership and management to pick the right player um but it's always great going into new england it's always a good barometer to where your team is and see if they're as good as they showed against kansas city or if they're back to where they actually were against the saints so i'm looking forward to this one. Yeah, it should be good. And Kevin, you know, before we go,

let Patriots fans, you know, tell Patriots fans what you could see in the first quarter, the second quarter, early in this game that would make you think, okay, this is going to be one of those days where New England, they're going to lose today. Buffalo is going to pull this thing out. What would you have to see sort of in the early going to make you think this is going to be Buffalo's day?

One of two things, which is interesting to say. One, one like you've already mentioned if they're running the ball and they're they're finding space and they're getting into the linebackers uh and leshawn mccoy's you know off to a 50 60 70 yard start uh that that's a great start i mean that's a really good place to play because that will open up a lot of other things that's that's the first one um obviously secondly if you see tyrod out there taking chances, slinging, finding his open receivers, not just checking down, staying in the pocket and making plays, that's when you know this could be a football game. If he's out there and he's shown in the past against Seattle, he's shown in the past against other teams, Oakland. If he can hang in there, hang in the pocket, make plays

early on in this football game, he's able to throw the ball. I kind of look at it conversely. If he's throwing the ball well, the Bills are going to run the ball well. So that would be the first thing. If he's out there making throws, finding Charles Clay, Jordan Matthews is healthy. You have a healthy Zay Jones who's been really increasing on his snaps. So if you've seen finding his targets and you see the Bills then feeding off the run, I think then you can finally look back and say, all right, they can match us a little bit offensively.

So this might be a game. Fantastic. Kevin, let everybody know where they can find you, where they can find you on Twitter, all that good stuff. Absolutely. You can find me at Kevin Messeri, as well as our Lockdown account at LockdownBills, which we tweet a lot of good stuff, a lot of good plays. Follow us throughout this week, game week. Obviously, Bills play the Patriots twice in the last couple weeks here, so really good information to see what the Bills are doing

well, what they're really struggling with. We'll give you a lot of really good gifs, videos, a lot of good commentary. Once again, at Kevin Masseri or at LockedOnBills. That's fantastic stuff. Please follow Kevin, follow all the work the guys are doing over there at LockedOnBills. Always great stuff. Huge fan of the work that they put out there.

I'm Mark Schofield. You can follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. Check out LockedOnPatriots.com. That will do it for this crossover edition of Locked On Patriots and Locked On Bills. Hope everybody enjoyed it. It was a fantastic show, at least from where I was sitting. I hope Kevin enjoyed it too. Both of our shows will be back tomorrow. Until then, keep it locked right here to both Locked On Patriots and Locked On Bears.