Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots - October 2, 2019: Crossover with Locked On Redskins

Episode Date: October 2, 2019

With the New England Patriots set to take on the Washington Redskins on Sunday, host Mike D’Abate shares the mic with Chris Russell Of Locked On Redskins. The duo break down the game planning strategy for both teams and offer some predictions on what might be seen in this Week Five matchup.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Redskins, your daily Washington Redskins podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And hello, Washington, and hello, New England, and welcome to our crossover Wednesday on the Locked On Podcast Network of NFL. I'm your host, Mike DeBate. I cover the Patriots for fullpresscoverage.com, which is where you can find my written work, and you can also reach out to me on Twitter at M-D-A-B-A-T-E-F-P-C,

and be sure to follow Locked On Patriots on Twitter as well, at L-O underscore Patriots. And Mike, good to be with you. I'm Chris Russell, the host of Locked On Redskins. You can follow the Locked On Redskins podcast at Locked Redskins on Twitter. You can find me individually at Russellmania621, at Russellmania621. And if you're into the radio thing on a different level, you can listen to me on 106.7 The Fan and the Radio.com app in the Washington, D.C. area, and for that matter, all over the world.

It is good to be with you. It's good to be with a championship podcast. It's good to be with a podcast that actually knows how to win a football game, for crying out loud. Well, I assure you, it is equally as much of a pleasure on my end to be with you as well, Chris. And I've been looking forward to this one for a while. Thank you for the kind words.

Thank you for the compliment. You definitely endeared yourself to my New England listeners, I'm sure, by calling it a championship podcast. I can't imagine. Yeah, listen, I mean, obviously some of that is in chest towards the Redskins, but, you know, Patriots fans that listen to your podcast should know this, that there is no bigger outside homer, if you will, of the New England Patriots than I. I've been covering and watching and reporting and talking about NFL football for 30 years, and there is no bigger supporter of Tommy, Tom Brady, and the New England Patriots

and Bill Belichick that doesn't necessarily identify themselves as a Patriots fan than me. So this is going to be a friendly conversation, let's call it that. And from a New England standpoint, I can only thank you for that because not many of these conversations are friendly. No, I'm just kidding. Honestly, everyone that I have talked to on Crossover Wednesday on the Locked On Podcast Network has been nothing but gracious, excellent, and I've enjoyed sharing the microphone with everybody.

But from a New England standpoint, it's always nice to have a friendly conversation because they are few and far between. They are rare in this business. So I understand and I definitely welcome it. But Wednesday is always a big day for all of us across the Locked On Podcast Network, especially for our NFL shows.

And as the Patriots prepare to travel to our nation's capital to take on the Washington Redskins Sunday at 1 p.m., we will discuss this matchup, Chris and I will, from a Skins perspective and from a Pats perspective, and we'll hopefully give both fan bases something to watch for in this one. However, before I proceed with that, I just wanted to take a minute to address all of you guys out there. And ladies, you'll appreciate this too.

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start here just by giving you a little bit of background as to what to expect when the Patriots have the football on Sunday. Through the first month of the season, the Patriots running game has been a major disappointment. There are some factors involved in that, most notably injuries to a fullback, James Devlin. Members of the offensive line have been in and out. But the fact remains that New England hasn't been able to generate much of anything on the ground. Their lead back, Sonny Michel, averages less than three yards per carry. And as a team, that number just is a hair above the mark at 3.2.

So in order for the offense to gain some measure of balance, the ground game needs to improve. And we do look for that to happen on Sunday. It just so happens that the Washington Redskins really are the perfect opponent that's on deck for the Patriots to get back on track for the running game. And I do apologize for Skins fans on that, but Washington is allowing 147.5 yards per game on the ground. That's coming off of the game where they allowed 164 rushing yards to the Giants, and the Giants didn't have Saquon Barkley in the lineup. So this is clearly an opportunity for the Patriots to show some progress

in getting the running game started. And if you're a Patriots fan or you're a Redskins fan, look for that to happen. I believe that Sonny Michel hasn't had a lot of room to get started, but he also hasn't made many tacklers miss or picked up much after the contact. That could change this Sunday because I think he's going to show more decisiveness. In turn, that could free up more help from the big guys up front, and I think that's going to allow them to be able to create bigger opportunities in the running game. Right now, the Redskinsins run defense is very porous.

I think the Patriots are going to look to exploit that. And they're going to look for some opportunities on that level to happen. On the passing game, we're coming off a game in which Tom Brady was a shell of himself in a lot of ways. And I discussed this a little bit on Locked On Patriots the last couple of days. There have been some reasons for that. But the good news for Patriots fans is that Tom Brady rarely offers up a pair of subpar games back to back. He's coming off one of the worst of his storied career. So that doesn't bode well for a Redskins secondary that actually hasn't performed that badly

this season in terms of yards, despite allowing a completion rate of almost 78%. Now, Josh Norman is as confident as any corner in the league, and his physical style could cause some problems for guys like Julian Edelman, who really isn't up to 100%, or whichever Patriots receiver they decide to use him on. I really look for Brady to utilize his backs in this game, and I think Rex Burkhead could have a big game catching passes out of the backfield. We saw James White come off of a big game against the Buffalo Bills. That could bode well for Burkhead to be able to open up

because I think the Skins defense is going to cue in on James White, especially knowing that Edelman may not be a prolific target while he heals. So if Burkhead is used more frequently and if things don't improve significantly on the outside early on, Washington doesn't get much pressure on the passer. So if Brady actually is able to settle into the game and he finds his rhythm a lot easier

than he did against the Bills, that could allow him to get comfortable. If that happens, then Brady's going to start to look for guys like Philip Dorsett, Josh Gordon. They had trouble getting open against the Bills. If Brady settles in, they may not have that same difficulty against the Washington Redskins. So ultimately, I look for the Patriots to use a lot more out of the running game than out of the passing game. But if Brady gets comfortable, it could be a big game for guys like Gordon and Dorsett.

And maybe even Jacoby Myers has an emerging game. He hasn't been utilized all that much wasn't targeted in the game on Sunday at all wide receiver the rookie wide receiver undrafted free agent a lot of people are going to be looking for him this could be a big game for him as well so all in all if you're a Patriots fan you should look for the Patriots to utilize the running game get play action back into the game plan, which they didn't do a lot of in Sunday's game. And if that happens, that opens the Patriots passing game a lot. And that could mean for big yardage down the line.

So that's what's going on when the Patriots have the ball. And Chris is going to pop in one sec and give you his take on what's going to happen when the Redskins have the ball. Now, we discussed this matchup from a Patriots perspective, but first, before Chris joins us again, I do have a question for you. Yes, you, listening out there. Do your weekend plans involve watching football? What a ridiculous question. Of course they do, right?

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it will be good to know exactly while the Redskins plan to counteract that. And Chris Russell will be the best person to be able to allow you to see exactly how the Redskins offense might counteract a very stingy Patriots defense so far. So Chris, I'm going to turn the ball over to you and let us know what we can expect from this game from a Redskins perspective. Yeah, and thank you very much, Mike. And that was a great explanation and breakdown, really detailed good stuff on how the Patriots can attack, and quite honestly, I'm going to kind of connect the dots here and start here.

I so much wish the Redskins offense, while Jay Gruden is a very, very good play designer, I do not believe he is a great play caller and a game manager and plays to his players' strength. And allow me to explain that a little bit. The Redskins don't do what the Patriots do. And I understand it's easy to do things with Tom Brady. Picks, rubs, shallow crossing routes, of course, incorporating their tight end. they try to when Jordan Reed is healthy. They try to when Vernon Davis is healthy. Neither one is healthy right now. But the Redskins don't do enough of what works, in my opinion.

In my opinion, quick, efficient passes that get the ball out of the hands of the quarterback that helps the offensive line. You mentioned some of the screens, whether it be to James White or Devlin or who, or Sonny Michelle. You mentioned some of the things that, again, have made the Patriots this phenomenon that, again, they move the ball over everybody and they seemingly get it done in a different way than most coaches want. And when I say most coaches, I think the new age way of thinking is exactly how Jay Gruden thinks. He wants to stretch the field. He wants to pick up big chunk yardage. And even Bill Belichick said on Tuesday morning, and he's absolutely right,

the Redskins have had plays, Mike, that they have been wide open deep down the field, and they've missed them. It's happened at least four times already this year, including twice in the first three drives on Sunday at MetLife Stadium against a very porous Giants secondary. So what will the Redskins do from a philosophy and a game plan standpoint? I don't see it changing, quite honestly, because they never change, depending on the opponent they're not chameleon like like the patriots often are they are this is our system

this is what we want to do this is what we're going to call and damned if we have the personnel to operate it now the question is who's going to be the personnel right let's start at quarterback because as we record this before wednesday's practices we don't know from a Redskins perspective who officially is going to be the starting quarterback and we might not know until later on in the week at least publicly let me set the scene for you Colt McCoy has been here since 2014 uh with Jay Gruden Jay Gruden is, huge, huge fan of Colt McCoy. And he was expected to be the starter this year, but he cannot stay healthy.

He never has been able to stay healthy. And he had so many problems with his recovery from a cracked leg, suffered early last December on Monday Night Football in Philadelphia, that he wasn't able to even practice, never mind play. However, he is fully healthy now. He went through a full week of practice last week. That's a good sign. He is expected to fully practice this week. That's another good sign. We will see as his reps increase, but I believe Colt McCoy will be the starting quarterback for the Redskins over Case Keenum,

who has been the starter and who struggled in the last two games last week, multiple turnovers. And then he had a foot injury late in the Chicago Bears game that Jay Gruden said affected him early on in the New York Giants game. And that's why he was pulled, not because of performance as much as the foot was affecting performance and then of course you have rookie Dwayne Haskins who of course the number 15th overall pick and everyone who is anyone knows around here maybe not nationally that Dwayne Haskins was not ready to go uh he just wasn't and Jay Gruden tried to tell the entire world that including the owner and the general manager of the Redskins. And nobody would listen except for people that actually understand football. And we all knew that Dwayne Haskins wasn't ready to play last Sunday.

And that's why I don't think he will be the starter this week unless he's forced to be, which I don't think will happen. But it could happen, especially around here. They don't do things around here like they do things in Foxborough, just for anybody that doesn't pay attention to that. So that sets the scene. Again, I think it'll be Colt McCoy. What does that mean for the Redskins offense, Mike? Well, it means obviously they're going to have to do a much better job running the football than they have all year. They have absolutely been putrid in this regard. They've had a little bit of success with Chris Thompson on some inside traps and, you know,

some occasionally an outside zone run where he can get to the edge. Adrian Peterson has basically been 0 for 4. Jay Gruden didn't want him. He didn't want him back. He didn't want him on the 53-man roster. They lost Darius Geis in the first half of the season opener. He's on IR. That was the guy they identified. They don't have him, and as a result, they have not had any real semblance of any running game whatsoever through the first four

games. They are going to have to get that on track. How do you get it on track? Well, first thing would be a commitment to it because that's the only way I think you can slow down, A, your offense, and B, their offense, meaning the Patriots' offense, from being on the field. The Redskins are never committed enough to it. So be committed to it. Again, Chris Thompson I think will be a big factor in not only the run game but also the screen game, a little bit mixed in, certainly the checkdowns when things aren't open down the field. I have no idea what to expect out of Adrian Peterson because, again,

like I said, he's basically been 0 for 4. The question is, for me, will the Redskins be able to run the ball because not only by choice, Mike, but also because they are penalty, penalty, penalty, penalty, penalty, and more penalties. And if you still don't like that, they'll take another penalty for you. Whether it's Morgan Moses or somebody else, they lead the world in penalties. And it's always been a problem, despite Bill Callahan being regarded as one of the best offensive line coaches in NFL history, they cannot stop hurting themselves. So if you find yourself in first and 20, it's hard to operate in terms of an efficient

running game, right? That means they're going to have to pass the ball more. And look, again, I just, I kind of talked about how Jay Gruden has this great design and gets receivers, gets pedestrian receivers open. We don't know if Terry McLaurin is going to play the rookie from Ohio State. He's their number one wide receiver. He's super fast. He's a guy that absolutely can hurt the Patriots if he's in the lineup. He had a little hamstring pull late last week.

So again, he did not play against the Giants. I hope he'll be able to go just because that's the only chance the Redskins have of staying competitive. And now the one thing I would say in the passing game is they cannot waste any opportunities. If you get an opportunity against McCourty, against the secondary of the Patriots, which is not, you know, the Patriots pass defense, as you guys know, has not allowed a passing touchdown at all this year and only one defensive touchdown you cannot blow the opportunities that the Redskins continuously blow on their own by missing wide open shots I expect them to take a couple of deep shots early to see how the Patriots are playing them and because they like to do that especially on first down last thing I'll just kind of add from

a passing game perspective is it'll be really interesting to see what they do on first down. Last thing I'll just kind of add from a passing game perspective is it'll be really interesting to see what they do on third down. They haven't been good enough there on offense either, but now not only is Jordan Reed still in concussion protocol, but Vernon Davis, their backup tight end, is in concussion protocol. What that tells me, especially if Davis can't get cleared, is the Redskins are going to have to target Jeremy Sprinkle, a fifth-round pick a couple years ago, who they have been folding more into the offense, but he's got unsteady hands, he's got no separation, and the Patriots should be able to feast on the Redskins' offense, quite honestly, on third down. So that's how I kind of see the offense in general. Again, remember, they don't have Trent

Williams. Last week, they didn't have Brandon Sherriff, their all-pro right guard, or their starting center. I don't know if those guys are going to play this week, but the bottom line is the Redskins have so many issues and so many problems. It's hard to see against this Patriots defense, them getting out of the teens at best. Yeah, and I think that you made a lot of interesting points, Chris, and I'm definitely glad that you brought up a few of those about testing the Patriots secondary down the field. That is a very formidable secondary. There's no question about it.

Stephon Gilmore is playing at an ultimately high level. J.C. Jackson, we saw in Sunday's game, get a couple of hurries and get a couple of, he had the interception. He's been playing very well. The safety tandem with Patrick Chung, Daron Harmon, guys of that nature that are playing in the backfield are playing at such a high level. So it is going to be a very tough secondary to score upon. You mentioned trying to get the running game going a little bit. If they do have that ability, the Patriots have been very stout against the run,

even though Frank Gore had a very big game against them this past week. A lot of that was because of Gore's running. I don't expect the Patriots to be as porous as they were this past week with him. That's been a very formidable front seven, especially guys like Danny Shelton, Lawrence Guy. They've been clogging the middle and being able to contain the run. And the linebacking core really, I think, is the strength of this defense. And that's saying a lot considering the front seven and the secondary that the Patriots put out. The linebacking core has been phenomenal between guys like Kyle Van Noy, Jamie Collins. This is going to be a tough matchup for the Redskins to be able to get decent yardage on this team. If they do, I completely agree with you. It's going to be

testing them, trying to catch them off guard, taking them out of their game, and just essentially taking what the Patriots do well and throwing it back at them. Redskins may have the personnel to be able to do that. It's going to be a tough test, but it should be interesting on Sunday. That's why they play the games on the field and not on paper, and I, for one, am definitely looking forward to this. Chris, I'll put you on the hot seat and then I'll finish this up. Just a few moments,

a few thoughts on what to expect. And if you want to offer a prediction, go ahead, my friend. Yeah, I'll do that. And I'll just add real quickly, this defense of the Redskins is not going to be able to stop Tom Brady and the Patriots, especially on third down. They are historically bad. They are at 63% allowing deep teams defensively on their offense to convert on the Redskins defense on third down. They're also allowing, I think it's 86% of passes to be completed on third down. it has been an atrocity to watch this defense which was by the way expected to be a top 10 top 12 top third of the lead defense and now at oh and four and having given up 31 points a game plus in the first three weeks and okay last week they did

give up only 17 true points but again as you mentioned earlier that was an offense of the Giants with a rookie quarterback no Saquon Barkley no Golden Tate well I know the Patriots don't have Gronk I know the Patriots are maybe not running the ball as well I I don't think that makes much of a difference so I think the Redskins defense maybe is a touch better than they were the first three weeks. I don't see them getting embarrassed, embarrassed, like 50 points hung on them, but I can't see how the Redskins defense holds the Patriots to anything less than 28 points. So I'm going to go Patriots 31, Redskins 13 is how I see this game. I see a ton, and I mean a ton, of Patriots fans

in what will likely be Tom Brady's last time ever at FedEx Field. Not that it's a football cathedral of any sort, but, I mean, again, it's likely to be Tommy's last appearance. The Patriots don't come here very often, and it's the Super Bowl champions against the woe-is-me Redskins, who the fan base completely has developed a complete total apathy for. So there might be about 30,000 Redskins fans there and about 40,000 Patriots fans. Our game predictions are going to be very, very similar.

I, too, see the Patriots being able to put some points up. Tom Brady, as I said before, is not someone that is used to going back-to-back, having difficult performances. You could hear in his postgame, in some of the interviews he's given this week, particularly his weekly spot with Jim Gray on Westwood 1, he really put it out there that he is going to be looking to improve much this week.

And Josh McDaniels in the offensive game plan, I think, of the Patriots, is going to look to utilize that and possibly look to exploit some of the weaknesses in the Washington defense. So I actually like the Patriots as well. I have them winning 28 to 13 in this one. That's my final score prediction. So I think it's going to be an interesting game, to say the least. I always caution games like this being a trap game.

So I don't want to say this is a slam dunk. There are talented players on both sides of the ball for Washington. And if for any reason, the Patriots come in still licking their wounds from a very tough game against Buffalo, this could get interesting folks. So don't necessarily think this is a slam dunk one and shut. It could be an interesting game if the Patriots are not able to find their

rhythm early. So I think it's going to be a great one and i'm looking forward to it but chris it was absolutely an honor to join you on the microphone today and be able to share this time with you and get a chance to bring some patriots knowledge to uh the washington uh fan base and uh i know you brought a lot of knowledge to uh the new New England fan base when it comes to a Washington Redskins perspective. Great to be with you, Mike. You are way too kind. And, you know, again, I would just say, you know, you may have stepped in and replaced a legend, but you're doing a hell of a job yourself, number one. And number two, I mean, listen, man, it could be a lot worse trying to get downloads and people to care

and people to click when your team is 0-4 and getting sandblasted every week. You stepped into the gold platter, the gold band of professional sports. So, you know, I envy you, my friend. Well, thank you very much. And, yes, stepping in for a legend like Mark Schofield is definitely a daunting task. Mark has been phenomenal. And the New England fan base has really welcomed me in terms of the Lockdown fan base. So I'm very appreciative. And again, thank you for the kind words. I've been a fan of yours for a number of years. So just sharing the microphone with you is an honor. And I look forward to doing it again down the line as well as colleagues here with Locked On. I'm sure that our paths will cross again. And I look forward to that and certainly hope that is the case. And we hope that you have enjoyed this crossover Wednesday here with Locked On Patriots and Locked On Redskins. As always, please join us each and every day on the Locked On Podcast Network via your preferred podcast provider. For Chris Russell of Locked On Redskins, I am Mike Thank you for listening and have a great day, everybody.