Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots October 21, 2018 - Sunday Morning Tailgate

Episode Date: October 21, 2018

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Hey there everybody, it is Sunday, it is game day, it's time for Sunday Morning Tailgate here at Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield in the big chair, hope you're ready for a huge slate of NFL action today. Obviously, the New England Patriots taking on the Chicago Bears in a game that got a little bit more interesting over the past couple of hours. We're going to also have some other injury news and notes from around the league, our DFS recommendations of the week, and a quick recap of yesterday's college football action. Before we do all of that, a reminder to follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield.

Check out the work at places like InsideThePylon.com, Pro Football Weekly, The Score, Matt Waldman's Rookie Scouting Portfolio, Big Blue View, part of the SB Nation family of websites. Let's get into it though, because obviously the big news, Adam Schefter reported Saturday afternoon that Robert Gronkowski,

his status for game day is severely in question as according to sources, Gronkowski did not even make the trip. Now he popped up on the injury report late in the week with a back injury. It's unclear what exactly the injury is that caused him to not make the initial trip with the team. He hasn't officially been ruled out yet, but you can imagine that it looks pretty unlikely that he's going to go. And if you want a quick glimpse of the impact of this, I got a text from my mom. Huge listener of the show. Hi, mom. Just noticed that the Pats game odds changed to even. Is Gronk out? That was a text that she sent Saturday night around 6.16 in the evening. And when I responded that apparently he didn't make the trip, she responded,

thanks, saw something on the Baltimore site that made me wonder. And so, yeah, there you go. That's a three-point move in the game, moving it from three points to even, that shows you the impact that at least Vegas thinks Gronkowski is going to have on this game. So has not been officially ruled out yet. But that may come a little bit later this morning. Obviously he has to get to Chicago.

That's issue number one. As for the rest of the injury report. Marcus Cannon was also ruled out on Friday with his concussion. No players listed as doubtful. A host of players listed as questionable. Including Gronkowski. That also includes defensive tackle Malcolm Brown with a knee, Julian Edelman with a heel, Josh Gordon with that hamstring, defensive end Geneal Grissom with an

ankle, Ted and Jacob Hollister, who might have to play a little bit of a role. He's listed as questionable with his hamstring, Sorda Michelle with the knee, Eric Rowe with his groin, and defensive ends John Simon with a shoulder, and Dedrick Wise Jr. with an ankle and knee. All those players listed as questionable. All those players with limited participation in Friday's practice. As for Chicago, nobody ruled out yet. Marcus Cooper, defensive back, is doubtful with a hamstring injury. And you have three players listed as questionable,

two pretty critical ones. Linebacker Khalil Mack with that ankle injury. Bryce Callahan, defensive back, he did not Khalil Mack with that ankle injury. Bryce Callahan, defensive back. He did not practice. He has an ankle injury. And wide receiver Allen Robinson, a limited participant with a groin injury. So that's a quick look at New England.

Obviously, that Gronkowski issue is one that probably needs to be considered if you're going to perhaps, perhaps, perhaps wage some money on this game. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. You might want to take that into consideration. Obviously, that's going to be something to watch as we get here closer to kickoff now, which is just hours away. Let's go spinning around the rest of the league right now. Some other injury news and notes that you might want to be aware of. Maybe you're thinking some DFS stuff. Maybe you've got some regular leagues and you've got to figure out some sit or start decisions here. So let's get through some of that news.

Bill's wide receiver Ray Ray McLeod will not play in week seven. This is apparently a coach's decision. Undrafted free agent Cam Phillips will apparently pick up his snaps. Andre Hall, defensive back for the Houston Texans. He has been activated from the NFL Reserve non-football injury list. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma back in June. It's unlikely that he'll be back this week.

Maybe he'll be back, but he's probably going to get eased back into the lineup here for Houston. Ezekiel Ansah, defensive lineman for Detroit. He has been ruled out for week seven, downgraded from questionable after practicing on a limited basis this week. He's dealing with a shoulder injury.

Saints left guard, Underspeed, with a concussion. He has been ruled off for Week 7. That's a fascinating game to watch, that Baltimore-New Orleans game. That's a game I'm really interested to see. Obviously, Baltimore coming off a week in which they set a franchise high with 11 sacks. Melvin Gordon, running back for the Chargers. He has been downgraded to questionable for this Week seven game against the Titans. This is the early start though. This is getting off in just a couple of hours here. That game in London, you know,

getting downgraded late in the week, probably not good. This is a legitimate concern. So keep an eye on that. That game does start early. So if you've got Gordon in your lineups, you might want to think about making a change. Calvin Ridley, Muhammad Sanu, both of those players removed from the week seven injury report. That's some good news for Atlanta as they look ahead to Monday night playing the New York Giants. Sanu dealing with a hip injury, Ridley with an ankle injury. So that's a pretty good opportunity there for those two players to get back from Monday night football. Looking around the rest of the league, Giants also making some moves. Saints center offensive guard John Gre league, Giants also making some moves. Saints center offensive guard John Greco will start at right guard against Atlanta.

That's something to look forward to. Also, Spencer Pulley, he's going to take over at center. Is it rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic? Will this actually help this Giants offense? That remains to be seen. Something that might really help that Giants offense though, Evan Ingram, he has been removed from the week seven injury report. He should be close to 100% coming off sort of a mini bye. He almost played last week. He practiced fully this week. He's in a good spot going up against the bottom three Atlanta pass defense that gave up touchdowns to OJ Howard and Cameron Brait last week. Zach Fulton, Texans right guard. He is not going to play against the Jaguars in Week 7. That's an offensive line that cannot pass protect for a lick right now. Now that's going to get even worse.

Something I didn't mention at the opener. Stephon Gilmore, Patriots restructure in his contract. The move creates a little over $3.7 million in cap space. It makes you wonder, are the Patriots getting ready to perhaps make a trade? We talked about some potential trade discussions on Thursday's show. Maybe this is a move to prepare for that, or maybe it's just, look, they're going to have to clear up some cap space anyway, so something to keep an eye on. Also in that Baltimore-New Orleans game, Saints cornerback Marshawn Lattimore.

He has been removed from the Week 7 injury report. He fully practiced this week after a concussion. He's cleared the concussion protocol coming off their bye. And that Saints defense is basically pretty healthy going into that game against Baltimore. That will do it for this morning's news injury report. Up next, some DFS recommendations as well.

So look back at how I fared last week. A little bit of a mixed bag. Hit on some. Missed on others. I'll have it all for you on this Sunday morning tailgate edition of Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now. Going to do our DFS recommendations right now. Let's quickly look

back at last week. I had Matt Ryan as our blue chip pick at the quarterback position. He was QB2 last week in PPR Leagues. So kind of hit on that one. Sam Darnold though. He was QB25. He was your value pick. Missed of hit on that one. Sam Darnold, though, he was QB25. He was your value pick, missed on that one. Blue chip pick at running back was James White. And after a little bit of a slow start, he picked it up,

was running back nine in PPR scoring formats last week, so we'll consider that a win. You know, he's sort of top 10th, and I'll probably consider it a win. But Tariq Cohen, even though he had a pretty decent game, he was just running back 23 last week in PPR leagues, so we'll call that one a miss. Missed at both wide receiver spots. Jarvis Landry was our blue chip pick. He was

wide receiver 34. Muhammad Sanu, he was our value pick. He was wide receiver 29. Not too pleased about that. We hit on the Gronk pick. He was tied in 6 last week. But Ricky Seals Jones, two weeks in a row, he's let me down. So basically, look, he's dead to me right now. Okay, he's not really dead to me, but it'll take a lot for me to get back on the Ricky Steele's Jones train

and might have to wait a week or so to see how new offensive coordinator Byron Lefter, which is going to handle the tight end position. So that's a quick look back. Let's now look ahead to today's DFS slate and our recommendations here for you guys and girls out there. At the quarterback spot, we are going with Jared Goff. It has been a while. Haven't picked him at all this year. And that run game seems to have taken more and more of a hold on that Rams offense. Goff has had some down weeks.

But now, who do they get this week? They get the San Francisco 49ers. Who will give it up 22 points per game, two quarterbacks on FanDuel, for example. That is sixth most per game in the league. I'm looking forward to Goff having a bounce-back week. He's going off at 8,300 over on FanDuel, so it's probably worth it. Our value pick, rolling the dice here with Baker Mayfield. Why?

Look, if you want to just stream quarterbacks against Tampa Bay this year, it's probably, probably a good thing to do. They're giving up 28.6 points per game to quarterbacks this year. That is most in the league by a full two points. Atlanta's giving up 26.6 points per game. And when you want to get into pure just passing defense, I've talked about this a ton. Look, they're giving up over 350 yards per game

to opposing passers. They're giving up an adjusted net yards per attempt of 9.9. That is most in the league by a full point, a full yard per attempt, basically. Their defense has contributed, and expected points contributed by their passing defense minus 90.47. Again, worst in the league.

You could basically just stream quarterbacks against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers right now and you'd probably be doing fairly well. Baker Mayfield going off at 7,100. That's something to consider right there. Let's go to the running back spot. We're going to start with our blue chip pick. We're going to go Joe Mixon.

Obviously, we saw what Sonny Michel in the ground game was able to do against Kansas City last week. Well, Mixon gets Kansas City on Sunday night. I'm not a huge fan. I don't really trust Andy Dalton. I don't think many people do trust him in primetime games. But this Kansas City Chiefs defense giving up 32.8 points per game to running backs on FanDuel. Expect Mixon to have a pretty big night. When we go value, I'm going to go and roll the dice again.

It's kind of what you do on value picks, but sometimes you need to do that to win on DFS formats. Ito Smith, he's going to be taking over some snaps, obviously with Coleman down. I mean, excuse me, with Dr. Freeman down. So if you can get into a lineup with him, it's probably something to consider. Obviously, he's playing on Monday night. But look, you know, that Giants defense, they're getting some points.

I've seen some next-gen stats with him. You know, yardage gained since running back. You know, yardage gained after close. It's a new NFL next-gen stat. When a defender gets within three yards or so, he's one of the best in the league at that. He's got the sixth most yardage gained after close in that NFL next-gen stat. So that's something to consider.

If you can't get into a format or you don't want to play a format that has the Monday nighter, I certainly understand. So don't worry. We got you sort of covered there too. That trade of Carlos Hyde, look, Duke Johnson, he's just 4,000 on DraftKings. Chubb, he's just 3,600 on DraftKings. There's some value there. Theoretic is out.

Kerryon Johnson, again, on DraftKings, 4,500. This was something that was pointed out by MathEliteMike, who is at DFS underscore Mathelete on Twitter. He's probably worth a follow. He does a lot of DFS stuff right there. So I think that's a pretty good one. Let's also now look at the wide receiver position. Another guy that people should be all over this week and this year, basically,

is Adam Thielen. Obviously, he's having a huge year for the Minnesota Vikings. Going up against the Jets defense, it's given up 35.3 points per game, two wide receivers on FanDuel. And it's a Jets-Pats defense, which, you know, it's given up some yardage here. When you talk about what the Jets-Pats defense has given up per game, you know, they're giving up 272 yards per game. That's actually more than the Patriots are giving up, if that tells you anything.

They've also given up, let's see, 11 touchdowns, which is pretty high. Did I get that right? Yeah, 11 touchdowns. So they are tied for fifth in the league in touchdown passes given up this year. So Adam Thielen, he's 8,700

on FanDuel, but he's probably worth it. So there's your blue chip pick there. If we're going to go cheap, and now this makes a little bit more sense with Gronkowski being out, let's go Josh Gordon and go against a Bears defense that's also surrendered a lot of points to wide receivers. 36.4 points per game to wide receivers. Josh Gordon, he's just 6700 on FanDuel. Last I checked, that number is still there, even with the Gronkowski injury status up in the air. And so Gordon might make a ton of sense

for you guys and girls this week if you want to go sort of value at the wide receiver spot. Tight end is where we're going to close things out here. With Gronkowski in doubt, we sort of take him off the board. We look at Travis Kelsey going up against Cincinnati. 7,600 over on FanDuel.

That Bengals defense, how do they fare against tight ends? Well, not very well. They've given up 13.1 points per game to tight ends this year on FanDuel. That's fourth most in the league. Only the Bucs, Steelers, and Chiefs themselves are worse. So Travis Kelsey could be due for sort of a bounce-back week after being somewhat limited by the New England Patriots. And if you want to go cheap, well, I just mentioned the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I mentioned Baker Mayfield. So how

about David Njoku? He is $5,700 over at FanDuel. I'm still on this train. Maybe this is my next Ricky Seals Jones sort of pick here, but I'm still aboard the David Njoku train. I love how Baker Mayfield attacks the middle of the field where tight ends tend to hang out. So I think that one makes a ton of sense as well. So there are your DFS recommendations for this slate of games. Again, I did throw in Ido Smith there. If you don't want to play that Monday nighter, we've made all the recommendations for you, such as Kerryon Johnson, Nick Chubb, Duke Johnson. Those are some names to watch if you want to go value at the running back position.

Up next, a quick recap of yesterday's college action. Some quarterbacks with perhaps some resume type games didn't fare too well. And my Wesleyan Cardinals, oi. Oi. Oi.

That's next on this Sunday morning tailgate edition of Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now on this Sunday morning tailgate edition. Going to close it off by quickly spinning around some of the college football action. We'll start with Alabama. They roll again 58-21 over Tennessee.

Nice road win for Alabama. Tua, he's just legit, man. He is legit. 19 of 29, 306 yards, four touchdown passes. He did leave the game after a 41-yard touchdown run. He was a bit shaken up. Jalen Hurts comes in. He goes two of three for 21 yards and an interception.

But, yeah, Tua was 19 of 29 for 306 and four touchdowns without an interception. Another great game for him. Man, he's going to be fun to study when it comes you know sort of draft time for him i'd be stunned if he came out you know he's probably got one more year in school i talked about this game nc state clemson sort of a statement game resume game for ryan finley well this is a resume game that's going to get that resume is going to get dropped into the circular file because finley goes 21 of 34 for just 156, just 4.6 yards per attempt. No touchdowns, two interceptions.

On the flip side, Trevor Lawrence, he continues a tremendous start to his career, 26 of 39, 308, and one touchdown. His Clemson rule is 41 to 7. Another quarterback, another statement game, a guy that I was really excited to see here in a couple weeks. That's Brian Lewerke from Michigan State. Well, what did he do? Yes, there were some conditions. There was a little bit of weather in that game. 5 of 25 for 66 yards and a QBR of 3.3. I'm pretty sure that if he just spiked the

ball, he'd have a better QBR. I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure. So that was a bad out, and he ended up getting benched in that game. Not the statement game from the Wierke. Was it a statement game from Shea Patterson? Perhaps. He goes 14 of 25 for 212 yards and two touchdowns in Michigan's 21-7 victory over their in-state rival Michigan State.

Another game that caught my eye as a, yes, a Nebraska fan. Scott Frost gets his first victory as head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers as Nebraska knocks off Minnesota 53-28. Adrian Martinez, 25-29 for 276 and three touchdowns passing for the Cornhuskers. He's just a true freshman. And that is such a young team, such a young offense. But they could grow into something over the next couple of years. And yes, Frost, I think, is starting to put together,

get a couple of recruiting classes in there. And I think that that could be a nice little program in the years ahead. Some other results that caught my eye, Syracuse 40 over North Carolina, 40-37. You look at Syracuse quarterback Eric Dungy. Now he's kind of sharing time with Tommy DeVito right now. He goes 17-33 for 225, no touchdowns, no picks. DeVito, he goes 11-19 for 181. Three touchdowns, one interception.

And so, you know, you wonder about who's going to really see in time there going forward. I liked Dungy a little bit when I studied him, but, you know, it does seem like Syracuse is really sort of split in time between those two quarterbacks right now. Let's continue to look around, though. Some other quarterbacks, some other games that caught my attention to recap quickly. In Pac-12 action, you had Washington,

you had Colorado. Washington comes out on top 27-13. Jake Brown on 15-25. 150 yards, one touchdown, one interception. Steven Montez, who has gotten some attention,

gotten some buzz in sort of the draft Twitter world. He goes 17-28 for just 144, one touchdown, one interception. But he's had some buzz in sort of the draft Twitter world. He goes 17 of 28 for just 144, one touchdown, one interception. But he's had some big games this year, junior quarterback from El Paso, Texas, 6'5", 235 is what he's listed at, height and weight. And you look at some of the outings he's had. Season opener against Colorado State, he goes 22 of 25 for 338, four touchdowns and an interception.

Then a victory over Nebraska, he goes 33 of 50 for 351, three touchdowns, an interception. Their victory over Nebraska, he goes 33 of 50 for 351, three touchdowns, no interceptions. Had another huge game against Arizona State two weeks ago, 24 of 33, two touchdowns, no interceptions. But obviously struggling a little bit in these past couple of games. Last week, lost to USC 31 to 20. He goes 26 of47 for just 170. No touchdowns and a pick in that game. And then the numbers you put up today. But he's an interesting guy that I really want to watch a little bit more of. I was sort of curious to see how he fared in this game. He didn't have the outing that I think he was hoping for, but still there's a lot of football left to be played. A guy who did have an outing that you would want to remember. Now this was on Friday night. Brett Rippon, 22 of

26, 3-0-8, four touchdowns, no picks, and Boise State's 56-28 victory over Colorado State. And with some other guys like Finley, you know, like Lewerke, you know, starting to struggle this year. Brett Rippon is getting more and more and more and more buzz. You got to watch this kid. Yeah, he's up and down at times, but I think that, you know, he's the type of player that could rise. Veteran, savvy, knowledgeable quarterback, does the small things. I talk about him a ton, but with good reason, you know, keep an eye on this kid. I would love to see him down in Mobile, you know, for the Senior Bowl, but really excited about, you know, what he could possibly put together looking ahead towards draft time. Let's kick it down a level here.

I had mentioned this game. I was curious to see how this sort of championship game rematch from a couple of years ago would pan out. That's that North Dakota State-Illinois State game, two pretty good programs at the FCS level. Obviously, we've been talking about Easton Stick a fair amount on this show, and I've been talking about Easton Stick a fair amount on this show, and I've been talking about him elsewhere. In that game, North Dakota State 28, Illinois State 14. North Dakota State moving to 7-0.

Still the top-ranked team in FCS. Easton Stick, not the best game. 13-22, 2-0-7, no touchdowns, one interception. He's had a really sort of underwhelming year so far but that team keeps winning and you know he's going to get some buzz as that team keeps winning now let's go down a couple of levels now and i mentioned this game i talked about it amherst at wesleyan it's a little three game it's a huge one you know what's interesting about the way wesleyan schedule is set up right now is that it's actually winter i mean excuse me fall break

you know for wesleyan so even though they're hosting this huge game most kids are out of town you know most people are gone you know so not really what you'd want to see you know for a little three game and you're not a result that I wanted to see particularly. Amherst 33, Wesleyan 3. Game didn't get off to a great start. It certainly did not. Amherst got on the board quickly. How?

Safety. They punt Amherst on their first possession. They're forced to punt. They punt it down to the Wesleyan 14. Wesleyan goes two plays. Glenn Smith rushed for a loss of one yard. And then Mark Piccarello, he was sacked for a loss of 13 yards for a safety. 2-0.

And that would be the first lead of the game, obviously, for Amherst. And they would never trail. They get a touchdown on their next drive. Amherst 9, Wesleyan nothing. There you go. 33-3, Wesleyan falls in the middle of the reaction. Hopefully, the guys can bounce back. Hopefully, Wesleyan can bounce back here.

You know, they're now sitting at 3-3. Really not where you want to be, Wesleyan, right now. Hoping to have a little bit of a bounce-back performance next Saturday as they host Bowdoin. Amherst, they host Tufts. Obviously, the West Leeds don't want to look ahead because in two weeks, November 3rd, they're making that trip to Williams

for the other Little Three game on the schedule. That will do it for today's show, though. You're probably sick of hearing about NESCAC football, but hey, it's my show. I can talk about NESCAC football if I want to. Again, that will do it for today. I will be back tomorrow or even probably, let's take that back.

I'll be back a little bit later this afternoon or evening. Hopefully with a glorious victory edition. I'll be back. Until then, keep walking right into the main box group and lock on. Thanks for watching!