Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots October 24, 2017 - Tape Tuesday Atlanta Recap

Episode Date: October 24, 2017

Mark Schofield opens with thoughts on the Monday night game between Philadelphia and Washington, as well as some thoughts on Carson Wentz and QB evaluation. Then he breaks down New England's first touchdown drive against the Falcons. The show ends with a birthday message for a special listener to the show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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You are Locked On Patriots. Your daily podcast on the New England Patriots. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. Good morning everybody, welcome to Locked on Patriots. It's Tuesday, October 24th. Mark Schofield here with you, as I am five days a week in the big chair, bringing you Patriots news, analysis, notes, and more.

Apologies for a little bit of a late start today. Was actually a little bit under the weather on Monday. Didn't get a chance to record on Monday night like I usually do because my instrument, my throat, a little scratchy, a little sore, but we're back to 100% today. Ready to talk a little Patriots football. Actually going to start though with some quick thoughts on last night's game. Monday night football.

Washington visiting the Philadelphia Eagles. Eagles come out with a big victory. Eagles with a divisional win over their NFC East rivals. 34-24. And obviously story of the game is second-year quarterback Carson Wentz. Wentz, 17-25 for 268 yards, four touchdowns, one interception.

He was also Philadelphia's lead in rusher. Eight carries for 63 yards as well. And obviously it was a slow start for Wentz. Threw an interception early in the game, which was basically a punt. Philadelphia started their game on their first offensive possession with, I think, three or four straight penalties. They were facing a first and 35. Deep in their own territory. Wentz basically threw the arm punt there.

But they pull out a win, and Wentz was magical at points in this game. I mean, the touchdown pass to Clement, that escape on that third and eight where Sean McDonough in the booth basically said he was wrapped up in sack, but gets out of it, turns it into a first down. The deep throw to Matt Hollins, the first one, which Matt Harmon over at NFL.com

with NextGenStats put out a tweet that said that throw traveled 62.4 or 62.8 yards in the air. The longest throw in the NFL in the past two seasons. More on that in a second. But incredible

win for Philadelphia. Look, they are now 6-1, 3-0 in the division. They are the team with the best record right now in the entire National Football League. Full credit to them, to Wentz, to Doug Peterson, the coaching staff, what they've done. Massive shout out to my friends,

Michael Kist and Benjamin Solak. They are the hosts of Locked on Eagles. And if you're not an Eagles fan, I'd still recommend that you check out their show. Even if you're not an Eagles fan, they do great work. It's a fun show, five days a week, just like this one.

They do great stuff. Also, cannot recommend enough the piece that Tom Rinaldi did on Carson Wentz and his relationship with a family of a young boy that lost his life to cancer. The Dutch Destroyer.

It's an incredible piece. Can't recommend that enough that family was in attendance last night when spent time with them both before and after the game just an incredibly touching story so check that out as well finally on wentz look as somebody that started writing about carson wentz in december of 2014 when he was just a junior, when pretty much nobody knew who he was. As somebody that started writing about him back then, as somebody that, as I sit here in the little studio, I have a signed Carson Wentz football card that my wife got me because

she knew how much I thought about Carson Wentz. He was like that first sort of quarterback that I thought I found. Now, it's nice to see Wentz playing well because people were ready to write him off last year. They were ready to call him a bust. They had the long knives out. They thought he would never pan out, but right now he's playing like an MVP candidate. I think it was Rich Eisen who during the game on Monday night tweeted out, if Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady or Drew Brees were putting up these kinds of numbers, were making these kinds of plays, we would be saying MVP. So I think it's time to get Carson Wentz into that discussion.

And it's also sort of a cautionary tarot, similar to Jared Goff, that look, you can't write these guys off on say, one rookie season or 200 passes or whatever threshold you want to use. I've talked long about the three-year window. That's what Bill Walsh looked at.

Three years. If a quarterback can't figure it out by his third season, by the end of his third season, then you can have the bust discussion. But let's kind of slow our roll on these guys. You know, similar to a guy like Deshaun Kaiser, who's struggling right now in Cleveland. People want to write him off.

Just wait for a second. Because development isn't linear. Okay, we're talking about 22, 23, 24-year-old guys here. For some of these guys, it's their first time really striking out on their own. They're in a new city. They have responsibilities like mortgages and insurance and all that sort of stuff that comes with being an adult. Some of these guys might be in a city where they're seeing snow for the first time.

Certainly not the case with Carson Wentz, coming from North Dakota State. But you're putting a lot on their plate, both on the field and off. And development isn't linear. I mean, think back to what you were like when you were 22, 23, 24. You had some good years. Maybe you had some bad years. Maybe you regressed a little bit in what you were doing professionally. You know, we'd like to make quick determinations on things. It's the world we live in today. Twitter. 140 characters, boom, done. On to the next take.

But patience. Patience is critical in all aspects of life. Certainly when it comes to making up our minds about quarterbacks. So again, great to see Carson Wentz playing well. Especially as somebody that

is getting ready to sort of take a W on him but overall we just got to kind of slow ourselves a little bit don't be so quick

to make a final determination on a guy now I know this isn't locked on ego so I'll move away from the Carson Wentz discussion, from Wentz and Mageddon

as is actually currently going on on the timeline. Philadelphia Eagles fans, they're bringing out the lawn knives now because they heard it for months now and they're taking their moment. And if you want more stuff like that, if you want to get in on the once-Mageddon action,

check out Locked on Eagles. Michael J. Kist, Benjamin Solek. It's a great show. I listen to it. I consider them both friends. It's a great show, so you should check that out. But like I said, this is Locked on Patriots. We're going to get into some Patriots talk right now.

This is your Tape Tuesday show. What I'm going to do is I'm going to talk about one drive, just one drive from Sunday night's game. And I'm going to do is I'm going to talk about one drive, just one drive from Sunday night's game. And I'm fascinated by drives. As somebody that loves the chess match, the X's and O's, all that stuff, I'm fascinated by how drives can sort of serve as a microcosm for one game. And I'm going to read a little something here at the outset. It's from a book that's

dear to my heart. It's just an introduction to it. And I'm quoting now from the book. Trailing by three points with a little less than seven minutes remaining in Super Bowl XLIX, Tom Brady stepped into the New England Patriots offensive huddle

and delivered a clear message to his teammates. Okay, fellas, we need a championship drive. The veteran quarterback didn't shout about winning the game or about running the football down the throats of the Seattle defense. He calmly told his offensive teammates that what was needed was a drive. Successful plays strung together resulted in a score. Brady needed the drive to potentially deliver

another Super Bowl victory to New England, and his teammates responded. Continuing now, every football game is a Shakespearean drama played out over the course of 60 minutes with peaks and valleys, good plays and bad plays in front of thousands, if not millions of eyes. But in each game there are turning points, moments when the balance of power shifts from one team to the other. They can occur early in a game, in the third quarter, or in the final seconds. These moments are often part of a single drive, coming as an offense puts together a string

of plays that change the course of a game. These are moments when 11 players, bonded together, see the fruits of their hard work in the spring and summer pay off. That's taken from an introduction to a book, 17 Drives. College football's 2015 season, one game at a time. The book breaks down one drive from one game each week, starting in the fall all the way through the national championship game. The book was written by me. That's right. I wrote a book about

drives. If you'd like to get a copy, you can check it out on Amazon. You can even hit me up on Twitter, I'll get you a signed copy. I'll just send you one. I'm proud of it. But I wrote it because, again, I'm fascinated by the concept of drives.

And I'm going to break down New England's first touchdown drive from Sunday night because, again, the chess game, the variety from the New England offense is incredible. There'll be a piece going up on LockedOnPatriots.com a little bit later. If you want to wait and

follow along with that, I'll break down these plays as well. But the drive begins scoreless tie 1 minute 5 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Patriots take over 1st and 10 on their own 26 yard line. And the drive starts poorly.

Play 1. New England runs a three-level flood passing concept. You get a post route for Chris Hogan, a dig route over the middle from Rob Gronkowski, and then a shallow route from Philip Dorsett. But the play doesn't get a chance to even get off the ground because both edge rushers, Adrian Claiborne and Vic Beasley beat their tackles. They both use speed rushes. Claiborne gets around the back side

of Solder. Beasley gets around Marcus Cannon on the right side. Brady climbs the pocket. He avoids Clayton, who has beaten Solder on the play, but he can't avoid Beasley. He gets dragged down. Loss of one. Now it's second and 11. New England with the ball on their own 25-yard line. They bring James Devlin on the field. They switch to 21 offensive personnel.

Two running backs, one tight end, two wide receivers. They line up in an I-pro right. And they run that lead zone play. Zone blocking scheme up front. Devlin is going to lead the running back. Mike Gill is leading the right edge. This is one of the plays that I broke

down in a piece for Locked On Patriots last week. And what happens here, Atlanta's edge here, Atlanta's edge defender, Atlanta's outside linebacker, Devondre Campbell, he lines up outside of Rob Gronkowski,

well outside of his right shoulder. On this block and play from Gronkowski, he's responsible to handle Campbell, but because of the alignment, it's a tough block for Gronkowski. Ideally, what you see on this play from New England is Gronkowski can handle Campbell. Devlin gets to the edge, hits the first white jersey he sees. Probably Desmond Trufant, the cornerback to that side.

But because Campbell is lined up to the outside, he's able to stay to the outside of Gronkowski. So when Devlin gets to the edge, he has no choice but to help out on Campbell. And that frees up Trufant. Makes a great open field tackle on Gilleslie. Holds it to no gain, 3rd and 11 now. Nate Shoulder jumps offside. Now you're looking at 3rd and 16 on your own 20-yard line

as we get into the second quarter here. And there aren't a lot of plays you can call on third and 16. New England employs their 10 concept. This is a two receiver combination with both receivers running in cuts. Chris Hogan's going to run a deep in-cut at about 18 yards from the left.

Danny Amendola runs a shorter in-cut at about 12 yards, also coming from the left. So you have two receivers from the left running these deep in-cuts. It's a 10 concept, taking that right from New England's playbook. The first key to this play

is Rob Gronkowski. He will line up in a wing to the left. And he gets a chip on the edge defender. Blasts the guy before releasing into the flat. And we've talked about how the Patriots might think about helping Nate Solder.

Well, here's a prime example of it. Solder's been beaten once already on this drive. So you get him some help on a critical third down. Because look, this isn't third and three. This route concept is going to need some time to develop. It's going to need about two, two and a half, three seconds for either Hogan or Amendola to get free downfield. So we get that chip on the edge defender from Gronkowski.

Brady, again, nice job sliding in the pocket because the guy that Gronkowski chips ends up wheeling around to the interior. Forces Brady to slide a little bit, but that also helps the route concept because it gives it a little bit more time. Brady, we've talked about it on the show. Tremendous sliding in the pocket. We see it again here. And the other thing that helps is Atlantic comes into this play and they run a cover for coverage in the secondary which is basically

your two cornerbacks, your two safeties they're each responsible for a quarter of the field deep. They're trying to prevent a big play here. But with this double in concept both Amendola and Hogan

find space underneath those four guys. Brady again, great job sliding in the pocket. Throws deep to Hogan, throw a little bit behind Hogan, but he makes a great adjustment, great sliding catch. Patriots move the sticks. That's a huge play in that

spot. And again, big, big reason for it starts with Gronkowski because you're going to need time to get that play to develop. They get the protection they need. Brady slides in the pocket. Big throw, big catch. Big, big play at that moment.

Because otherwise, you're looking at giving the ball back to Atlanta with pretty decent field position. Again, who knows what happens from there. But instead, now New England has first and 10 on their own 40-yard line. So even if they don't score now, you've pretty much flipped field position. Next play. Another big first down run, this time from Deion Lewis. And here we get a little inside zone concept. I thought when this happened live that it was duo. Duo, a run blocking scheme where you get a pair of double teams up front, but breaking it down here with the all-22, you can see that it's inside zone.

And the key for that is the center, David Andrews. He works backside towards the weak side linebacker. That's sort of the way to distinguish between duo and inside zone. On duo, he's going to work strong side. Here he works sort of backside to the weak side linebacker. So what we see is double team up front. Andrews, Shaq, Mason.

And then when that weak side linebacker crashes down towards the line of scrimmage, Mason does a great job peeling off the double team on Grady Jarrett and picking up that linebacker. We also get another double team play side. Nate Solder, Joe Thune.

Dion Lewis takes the handoff, pauses for a quick second, and he sets this run up so well because another defender from Atlanta crashes down and he thinks he's read this play he thinks he's diagnosed the hole and Lewis sees this you know he sees Keanu Neal the free safety crash down Neal fills what he expects to be the hole Lewis is aiming for. Lewis starts that way for a second, then sticks his left foot in the turf and cuts back behind the double team from Bethuni and Solder.

With everything on the backside sealed, with Andrews on Jarrett, with Shaq Mason on the linebacker. Lewis sort of scampers through upfield. And now he's already to the third level. And all that's between him and a potential touchdown is safety of Ricardo Allen, number 37.

And Lewis tries to sort of juke him. But Allen shows good form, stays in position, and is ready to make a tackle. So Lewis takes him head on and basically runs him over. Yeah, Allen gets him to the ground. But Lewis delivers a shot on him. And it was interesting. After the game, there was a quote from Deion Lewis. I'm small, but I'm not little.

Go back and watch this run. Go to Locked On Patriots where I break it down if you want. This is an example of that. I'm small, but I'm not little. Great run from Deion Lewis, taking on Ricardo Allen here and delivering some punishment.

Now New England in Atlanta territory first down and 10 at the Atlanta 35 yard line they're going to run the football again we get sort of a counter look here with Deion Lewis he's going to step to his left first and then run back towards the right side. So you get counter footwork

from the running back. You get a series of down blocks here. They come out with three receivers to the right. Both Brandon Cooks and Phillip Dorsett execute those crack blocks. Big block also from Rob Gronkowski who lines up at tight end in the wing. Actually on the line of scrimmage. Collapses the left side of that Atlanta defense.

You know, it's a short gain from Lewis. Linebackers get to it pretty well because Cooks and Dorsett, they don't execute perfect crack blocks. But it's another gain of four on a first down run play. It sets up second and six at the Atlanta 31-yard line. And I don't want to spend too much time on this next play because this is the near interception that gets erased by a rough in the passer penalty.

Just to say this. They run a Mills concept. Post route, dig route. You get Philip Dorsett on the post route, the deep route. Brady gets flushed, rolls to his right, and attempts a deep throw to Philip Dorsett. Now this is the second week in a row we've seen one of these deep shots to Dorsett that goes for an interception.

This one gets erased by the personal foul penalty. But it does seem like Brady's trying to get one of these deep shots to Philip Dorsett. So that's something to watch going forward. Risky throw from Brady. Sure, it seems like he's good for one or two of these a year. But it gets erased by the personal foul penalty. Patriots now face first and 10 at the Atlanta 16-yard line.

And we get another run and play here. And this time we get a draw. A little bit of delay. So let's think about it for a second here. And this time we get a draw. A little bit of delay. Let's think about it for a second here. We've got lead zone for a run and play. We've got inside zone for a run and play. We've got a little

counter with down blocks. Now we're going to get a delay. So that variety in the running game that we talked about, that I talked about last week, that I wrote about last week for Locked On Patriots, we're seeing it on this drive. Here it's Mike Gilleslie on this lead iso delay. Devlin with a nice lead block from the fullback spot.

David Andrews in the center. Another great job on this play. He's uncovered the snap. Doesn't really have anybody lined up over him until the second level. He gets a quick shot on the defensive tackle who's lined up over Shaq Mason to make sure that that defender is blocked. Comes off of that and then helps on Grady Jarrett

who's coming from the backside, who's beating Joe Thune to the inside. So those are two blocks already. And then he works to the third level. He can't quite get there, but still, quick recognition from Andrews on this play. Great job from the center. And pro football focus, again, I've talked about them a lot.

Andrews was their highest graded Patriot, I believe, from this game, and it's plays like this that show why. Now we're going to get the touchdown. Patriots come out, Brady and the shotgun, two receivers to each side. Brandon Cooks aligns in a slot to the right. And what stands out here initially is motion. I've talked about it a bit, but the Patriots use motion so well as an offense because it's critical to helping a quarterback diagnose plays pre-snap. Cooks comes in motion. Nobody trails him, so Brady knows it's zone. They're going to have a numbers advantage when they run this play.

The offensive line does a great job setting this up as well. Because this is going to be a play where Cooks is going to run around the left edge. But the entire offensive line, they all flow to the right in unison. They're making it look like an outside stretch zone run and play.

That freezes the two linebackers for a split second. Now the defensive end, the play side defensive end, he gets frozen for a second as well because Brady carries out a mesh run fake

with the running back in the backfield. So that freezes him. Gives Cooks the edge. Cooks is going to run around this guy. Defensive end is not going to be fast enough to catch him. What it also does is it frees up Rob Gronkowski to release downfield a bit because Gronkowski initially comes inside to block him.

But with that defensive end sort of taking him out of the play, Gronkowski then can release downfield. Also to that side is Chris Hogan. He executes a crack block here that is worthy of mention because he gets a block on Keanu Neal seals that opens up the sideline

opens up the boundary for Cooks and it allows Gronkowski to turn upfield he hasn't even hit anybody yet he turns the to turn upfield. He hasn't even hit anybody yet. He turns the corner, turns upfield, and he finds Robert Alford,

a 5'10", 188 pound cornerback. And that's a situation you don't want to be in. And Alford retreats and kind of ducks away from it. Pursuit from Atlanta tries to get there, but they can't prevent Cooks from getting into the end zone again. And it comes on that fly sweep that we talked about,

dating back to Bob Stitt over at the Colorado School of Mines, a Division II program. But part of the reason that Pursuit can't get there is the guys pursuing were held up by the offensive line, not by being blocked, but they're reading their keys. They see the offensive line all flow to one side. They expect zone run. They freeze for a second. And then at the critical apex of the play, they're a step or two behind. Touchdown Patriots, 7-0 lead

with the extra point. You know, that sort of sent an early tone, set an early tone for this game. Variety, doing different early tone for this game. Variety, doing different things, showing this Atlanta defense some different looks,

some things that they didn't see in the Super Bowl. New England goes on to win. And so from a schematic standpoint, from an execution standpoint, I just loved this drive. And I hope you enjoyed me talking about it a little bit. That's going to kind of put a bow on this Tape Tuesday edition of Locked On Patriots. Hope you enjoyed today's show. I'm going to start looking at the Chargers going forward. Again, I told you,

I'm going to be saying Chargers this week because Los Angeles, San Diego, I'm still getting tripped up on that. We're going to start looking at their passers. Joey Bosa, Melvin Ingram. That's a pretty scary duo right now. We're going to talk about that. Hope to have a little crossover action as well. Of course, we'll have your game day edition. Send in some questions.

Really enjoyed the Friday game day edition. Send in some questions. Really enjoyed the Friday game day edition with questions from all of you guys. Hope you enjoyed that as well. Send in some questions at Mark Schofield on Twitter. Also, if you'll allow me a personal moment here. October 24th is a

very special day to me. There's a woman who has played a massive role in my life in so many different ways. She taught me how to throw a spiral. She helped introduce me to this game was always there for every single time I sat on a field whether it was even just a practice field or an actual game

and later in life when I decided to give up a career in law to write about this game she's been behind me every step of the way, an avid listener of this podcast, and that's my mom. Today's her birthday, and there's no gift I can give her that is equal to what she has given me in life. I couldn't even try

to pay her back for what she's given me throughout 40 plus years now. But she's an incredible woman, just an incredible mother and grandmother and friend. And so, Mom, I know you're listening. Have a wonderful, wonderful birthday, and we'll celebrate together soon. Until we talk next time, everybody,

keep it locked right here to me mark scofield and locked on you