Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots October 26, 2018 - Friday Takes

Episode Date: October 26, 2018

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Hey there everybody, welcome on into Lockdown Patriots for Friday, October 26th, 2018. Mark Schofield sliding into the big chair. Gonna do things a little bit differently today. Usually Friday is our game day edition, but with the Patriots playing on Monday night, we're going to do things differently. Game day will be Monday. So today what we're going to do, we're going to talk some listener takes. I have one question that I want to get into from at reluctant underscore trade.

Thanks for sending it in as always. Also, we're going to talk last night's game, Texans, Dolphins, huge performance from Deshaun Watson. And a little bit later, we're going to talk about a piece i did over at the score kind of what i'm looking for sunday as well as some sort of last minute type news notes things like that um but before we get into all of it reminder to follow me on twitter at mark schofield follow the work at places like inside the pylon dot com pro football weekly the score matt w Waldman's Rookie Scouting Portfolio, Big Blue View, part of the SB Nation family of websites.

Got a piece over at Big Blue View that went out yesterday talking about a free agency and trade quarterback watch list. So check out the work at all of those places. But before we do that, let's dive into the one question I got in. Usually, you know, we do got in. Usually, you know, we do a show each week, you know, the Take Thursday, where I get listener questions, reader questions, questions from Twitter, questions from the Locked On Patriots Slack channel. And we did get in one question this week. It's from NMAC, who is at

reluctant underscore trade on Twitter. Where does the Patriots coach and staff rank amongst its peers at the moment? As a group and individually. Has the Flores promotion succeeded? Cheers, Mark. Great content as usual this week. And thank you, NMAC, at reluctant underscore trade on Twitter for the question. And it's a fascinating question because for years we've sort of always looked at, you know,

Bill Belichick as sort of the forefront, the guy that people look to as sort of an offensive, not an offensive mind, but a football mind. Obviously, he weighs in on the offensive side of the ball. We've all seen videos showing to that. But obviously, first and foremost, he's known as a defensive mind. And I think the one way to start this is, is there any sort of coach and staff, head coach, that you would rather have? And I think most Patriots fans would come down to the side of no. You know, maybe you could start to look down the chain a bit.

And you might say you'd rather have a Sean McVay as your offensive coordinator than, say, a Josh McDaniels. And I might, in in some sense agree with that, although I love what Josh McDaniels does for the most part. I think his use of pre-snap movement and motion is fantastic. There are times when I disagree with play calls. There are times when I feel like he tries to do too much with say ender rounds. There are times when I think he goes to the smoke screen well a little bit too often. There are times when I get frustrated when I think he could do more with tempo. But for the most part, I think McDaniels has done a very good job. And so when I look at this Patriots coaching staff, I think it's among the better ones in the league.

I think it would be hard to argue otherwise. And when you look at the fact that over the years, you know, the New England Patriots are consistently one of the best teams in the league. You know, and when you look at, you know, what they're able to do year in and year out, you can't help but sort of be astonished at the New England Patriots. I mean, let's sort of look back over the past couple of years. I mean, this is a team that has won their division every single year since 2008. So one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, nine years in a row looking for the 10th. I mean, that's pretty impressive, right? They have been to now 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 straight AFC Championship games. You know, the last time they didn't make the AFC Championship game

was when they lost in the divisional round in 2010. And they lost the wild card the year before that. They didn't make the playoffs in 08, but before that, lost the Super Bowl, lost in the AFC Championship game, lost in the division round that was the game against Denver, and then they won two straight Super Bowls.

I mean, so the only year they haven't even made the playoffs since 2002 is 2008, and that's the year that Brady got hurt. And sort of the consistency with this team over the past decade plus points to the fact that as an organization, as a head coach on down, it's as good as it gets. And what's interesting is, look, I do a lot of, you know,

non-Boston area, non-New England area shows. I do my weekly hit on Sportsnet 650 out in Vancouver. And I was talking to Beck, who's the producer for that, for the playbook with Sat and John before it went on air yesterday.

And he was saying, look, nobody's crying for Boston sports fans, right? And I got to agree. Look, we got the Red Sox up 2-0 in the World Series. Hopefully they take game three tonight. Celtics look good. They just missed out on going to the finals last year, though they're off to a slow start.

And Bick asked me, when was the last time the Boston area teams had some bad luck? And it took me a while. I came up with that Bruins-Blackhawks game six, I believe it was, when the Bruins scored to tie it and you're thinking, or maybe they took the lead, and you're thinking, okay, well, we're going to force another game here, and Chicago scores twice in like 30 seconds to basically win the series.

You know, that was what I came up with. Maybe there's something I'm missing. But we've been pretty lucky as Boston sports fans. And we're going to hear it when the luck turns. But for now, look, this Patriots coaching staff, getting back to the initial question here, I think they are among the best. Now, for Flores, I think it has succeeded so far. I think that, look, you can look at, say, this defense and say,

look, they're giving up a lot of points. They're giving up a lot of yardage. But they're winning games for the most part. And you look at that first half against Kansas City, you force the two interceptions. You force three field goals, they don't get into the end zone. That's a huge reason why the Patriots won that game

because just one of those drives is a touchdown. We're talking about a different outcome in that game, I think. And yeah, again, with him, as with Jim McDaniels, there's things you'd like to see differently. You'd like to see better defense against those crossing routes. I think they're starting to shore that up. You'd like to see a little bit more consistency from the pass rush, although they have been playing some mobile

quarterbacks. Maybe that changes this week. Derek Anderson, not exactly the most mobile quarterback back there. And so, overall, I think you have to be pleased with this coaching staff. Up next, we're going to talk about the Thursday night game. Huge game from Deshaun Watson. I'm going to have a little fantasy tidbit for you as well.

A little bit later, some games that I'm looking forward to this week and including some schematic stuff. That's sort of in a piece that I did over at The Score. That's ahead on this Friday edition of Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now on this Friday installment of Locked on Patriots. And, you know, we're doing a quick abbreviated show today. Not going to keep you too long. I know it's Friday.

I know you've got stuff to do. Lives to lead. All that good stuff. Let's talk quickly about that Thursday night game. Miami. Houston. I was really excited to sort of see this game. I was really excited to sort of dive into it. I was really excited to see DeSean Watson. And look, I fell asleep.

I'm a man. I'm 41. What do you want? I was not there for the end of it. But I got a chance to sort of look through some of the stuff this morning, watch a little bit of it before hitting record. Huge game from Deshaun Watson. Fantastic to see that, obviously, as a Watson guy. 16 of 20 for 235.

Five touchdowns. Quarterback rating of 156.0. Close, but not perfect to a... Not close, but not exactly a perfect quarterback rating. There was a passer in this game, believe it or not, who did post a perfect quarterback rating of 158.3. That was Danny Amendola. One of one for 28 yards and a touchdown pass.

Amendola throwing a touchdown to Kenyon Drake. A little bit late in the third quarter to cut this to a 21-17 Houston lead. But the performance from Watson I thought was good. And perhaps the most important number out of all the numbers that he posted, well, actually I'll give you two, zero sacks. Because the sack issue has been a huge issue that's been plaguing this defense, I mean this Houston offense for a long time now.

Struggling to keep Watson protected. No sacks on the night, so that's a big issue. And just one Russian attempt, that's another thing. Watson dealing with some injuries. Dealing with a chest injury that literally grounded him. He could not fly to Jacksonville. They were worried about cabin pressure sort of impacting that chest injury. So he took a bus basically from Houston to Jacksonville. They were worried about cabin pressure impacting that chest injury, so he took a bus basically from Houston

to Jacksonville and back. Not the way I'd like to make that trip, but you do what you gotta do. Big game from Lamar Miller. 18 carries for 133 and a touchdown with the longest run of the day of 58 yards. Big day.

Somewhat bittersweet night for Will Fuller. He catches five passes on six targets for 124 and one touchdown. That touchdown, a 73-yard pass from Watson to Fuller. But reports out of Houston that Fuller is gone for the year with an ACL tear. Obviously, that will probably be confirmed one way or another today as he undergoes some more testing. But if that's true,

if he's available in any league that you're in, Kiki Kuti, the rookie wide receiver out of Houston, or excuse me, Texas Tech, get him on your teams because he's going to see a lot of targets coming his way you're going to believe with Fuller down

obviously teams will focus on DeAndre Hopkins he's probably looking at 7, 8, 9 maybe 10 targets a game I already put in a waiver claim I was thinking about it when I was putting together my notes for this show do I even want to go down that road I know that there are a couple people in fantasy leagues

that I'm in that listen to this show. I'm thinking about my buddy Jason. I know you're probably putting in the waiver claim on Yahoo right now. But yes, Kiki Kuti, the rookie wide receiver, he's probably going to see a huge boost in targets. So go ahead and get him on your rosters now. So huge game from Houston. As for the Dolphins, Brock Osweiler, Brock Tolbert, perhaps coming back to earth a little bit. 21 of 37 for 241. No touchdowns, one interception, two sacks, just a 65.3 rating.

And sort of look at this big picture now. The Dolphins, after a 3-0 start, they've lost four of their last five. You look at the AFC East right now, New England at 5-2, Dolphins at 4-4, but the Patriots obviously with a game in hand with that victory. And things, you know, looking at the Dolphins' schedule right now, you know, maybe things ease up a little bit here for them. You know, they lose a game to New England. They lose a game to Cincinnati.

They beat Chicago, and they lose, you know, these past two straight games. They get, you know, the Jets at home, whom they've already beaten on the road. They go to Green Bay, which is probably, other than the Patriots game and perhaps one more game, their third toughest game left on their schedule. Then they get the bye. They go out to Indy after the bye, Thanksgiving weekend. That's Sunday. That might be a tough game. Oh, I just hurt my hand.

Then they get two straight home games, Buffalo at home and the Patriots at home. You know, the Patriots, Miami tends to be one of their two house of horrors with Denver perhaps being the other one. I think the toughest game they probably have left on their schedule is that trip to Minnesota. I understand, look, Patriots, this is a Patriots show.

Maybe the Patriots are better than the Vikings right now, but one's a home game, one's a road game. Then they finish things up. Home against Jacksonville, who seemed to be in a tailspin. We'll talk about them a little bit more in a minute and then at Buffalo. So it's not the toughest stretch left

but still, you know, this is a team that lost to Detroit. A team that just lost to Houston on Thursday night although those Thursday night games tend to favor the home team. You know, we'll see what this team looks like come December, but they might be fading right now, and obviously a lot of it might depend on the right shoulder of Ryan Tannehill

and how healthy he is. As for Houston, are they the best team in the AFC South right now? Maybe. I mean, they get to 5-3 right now. Put them two games clear in the win column over Jacksonville. And as for their schedule, look. Yeah, they probably just lost Fuller, which is a tough blow for them. They'd make a trip to Denver after their little mini-bye here.

And then they get an actual bye. And then a trip to Washington but then they get a nice little four game stretch which I think might really sort of give them a chance to set themselves apart in the AFC South so they've got these two road games at Denver by at Washington then they get Tennessee at home Cleveland at home India at home and then a trip to New York to play the Jets. That's a nice little four-game stretch. You could see them winning three or four or possibly even all four of those games.

And even giving them losses to get to 5-5, you know, on these next two road games at Denver, at Washington, which I'm not quite sure will happen, but say they do drop to 5 and five, then you win four straight, which they could conceivably do. And then you're at, you know, nine and five going into your last two, a game at Philly, who knows where the Eagles will be at that point, at home against Jacksonville, who knows where the Jacksonville Jaguars will be at that point. You know, so I mean, I think even giving them losses in the next two weeks, which I think is not in any means a given, they're still in pretty good shape.

So Houston looks to be sort of rounding into form after starting the season 3-0. Hats off to those guys for sort of righting the ship. Up next, we're going to take a look ahead to Sunday, as well as some other news notes type things. That's coming up on this Friday edition of Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now on this Friday installment of Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now on this Friday installment of Locked on Patriots. And looking ahead to this upcoming slate of games, obviously we're going to have a big focus

on the Patriots-Bills game come Monday in the Game Day Show. But Thursday injury report did come out. Sonny Michel, knee did not participate. Eric Rowe, groin did not participate. Brian Schwenke, foot did not participate. Trent Brown was limited with an ankle. Marcus Cannon, limited with a concussion.

Josh Gordon, limited with a hamstring. Geneal Grissom, limited with an ankle. Rob Gronkowski, limited with ankle and back injuries, although did see some tweets saying that he was pretty active in practice, so maybe that limited is a little bit of a, you know, misleading designation. Dante Hightower, limited with a knee. Jacob Hollister, limited with a hamstring Jacob Hollister, limited with a hamstring. John Simon, limited with a shoulder.

And Dietrich Weiss, limited with an ankle and knee. Now, obviously, look, they get an extra day to sort of rest up. If I had to guess right now, I'd guess Gronkowski is a go. Michel is not. According to Patriots.com, excuse me, according to some other reports that I've seen, not Patriots.com, the tight end reportedly has a shot some other reports that I've seen, not Patriots.com. The tight end reportedly has a shot to play in the primetime game against the Bills. And if he does, look, in 13 games against Buffalo, he's totaled 66 catches for over 1,000 yards and 12 touchdowns, far and away the best numbers he's had against any other

opponent in the National Football League. So if he goes, I'd expect a big day from him, big night from him. Michelle, I think it's probably unlikely he goes. I think these guys that did not participate, it's hard-pressed to see them go. As for some other stuff that I'm looking forward to, every week I do, give me a chance to plug some stuff here. Every week I do three pieces over at the score, our great friends up in the great white north. And the way it breaks down is this, and I'll sort of reverse engineer it.

At the end of the week, every Thursday or Friday, I do sort of an X's and O's preview where I look at three games and something sort of schematically from a matchup perspective that I'm looking for. Basically, you know, one team's offense versus one team's defense is the general overlay, and then I drill down a little bit. And then for every Monday, I do a by design piece where I look at the best passing design, the best run design, the best pass coverage design, and the best pass rush design from the slate of games on Sunday, as well as awarding out a game ball. And then for Tuesday, I revisit the piece from earlier, you know, at the end of the

previous week. How did those matchups I identified shake out? And so for this week, the three games that I've identified, we get a rematch of that NFC Divisional Round game between Minnesota and New Orleans. We get that on Sunday night. That's going to be a fun one to watch. We get another game we're looking at Cleveland-Pittsburgh

and Jacksonville-Philly. And we'll start with that New Orleans-Minnesota game. I'm looking at Minnesota offense against the Saints defense. The Saints defense was a big part of their ability to make that playoff run last year. The defense was much improved. As for this

year, they are back to sort of the struggles that we had seen from them in years past. When you look at this Saints defense right now and the numbers they're putting up, yes, they're 5-1, but it's largely because of their offense. Because if you look at their defense numbers, particularly their pass defense,

it's been porous yet again. The Saints defense has given up 293.7 yards per game via the air, fifth most in the league. They've given up a quarterback rating to opposing passers of 112.2. Second worst in the league. Only the Bucs have been worse. They've given up an adjusted net yards per attempt of 8.5.

That's Matt Ryan numbers right now. Matt Ryan having what some people are calling an MVP-like season with 15 touchdown passes and just two interceptions. They've given up 13 passing touchdowns. Tied for 10th right now

in the league. And so this pass defense is struggling. We saw that sort of play out with first the entrance to Patrick Peterson and then a little bit later the trade for Eli Apple. And one more way to put this sort of pass defense into context in terms of expected points contributed

by passing defense, minus 83. That's what the Saints have done this year. And so this pass defense has struggled. And they're going up against an offense with obviously two great weapons in

Adam Thielen and Stephon Diggs. You know, this is an offense that can put up points. You know, you look at what Minnesota has done to date. Even though their defense has been a little bit underwhelming, their offense is playing very well. And so that's the matchup I'm watching. You know, and we all remember, you know, Marcus Williams missing the tackle on that climactic play,

gun Buffalo right, 7-heaven, where he misses the tackle on Stephon Diggs, but he's actually fared pretty well this year from the study that I've seen. So that's the matchup I'm watching in that game. When we look at Cleveland-Pittsburgh, what I'm watching, Cleveland's offense, particularly their run offense, against a Steelers defense which seems to be sort of rounded into form when it comes to run defense. Because if you look at the Steelers defense,

in their first couple of games, they were giving up yardage in bunches. They gave up 177 rushing yards in their opener, that tie against Cleveland, 127 in their week two loss. And then since then, they haven't allowed 100 yards rushing to a team in each of the last four games, three of which were wins. I talked to our good friend Alex Cazorra over at Steelers Depot, and he said part of the reason was, look, in that season look, in that week one game, Tyron Taylor was running the ball a ton. And he's right.

You look at the numbers there. In that game, Taylor had eight carries for 77 yards and a touchdown, including a long run of 24 yards. But since then, they've really sort of tightened up that run defense, which is good because this Browns run offense has actually gotten pretty good. It's slowed in the past week or so. Part of that might have been game script situations. For example, they were down in both of those past two games

against the Chargers and the Bucs. But with the recent trade, Nick Chubb taking over more of the load, I think Chubb's looked pretty good, so that's something I'm watching there. Finally, that Jacksonville Eagles game, I'm watching, and I termed it in the piece I did over at the score, the Jacksonville offense against the Eagles defense, but I'm watching Blake Bortles versus Blake Bortles. Is he the starting quarterback when he comes back from London?

Jacksonville seems in disarray right now. There's talk of heated locker room arguments. Player only meetings. Doug Marone said the quarterback position was open. Before naming Bortles the starter for this week. That's a team in disarray. And so that's one that I'm watching there. That will sort of do it for today's show.

I will be back Sunday morning, tailgate. A couple of last things. First, close it in. We are at 99 reviews on the Locked On Patriots podcast on iTunes. 99. Come on, bump me up to 100. It would be a huge, huge, huge boost to my ego, and I need one. Number two. boost to my ego and I need one number two yes if you are interested for

whatever reason and following along to my exploits tomorrow at the KPC Halloween Havoc my first ever power lifted me you can if you want I'm not saying you have to not saying you should for any reason, actually, you can follow me on Instagram at M-A-S-C-H-O-3-9-1-6, I'll be putting some updates up there, yes, I don't know why I'm doing this, but whatever, like I said, I'm a man, I'm a 41, maybe this is my midlife crisis type thing, but first ever powerlifting meet, entered it in the strict curl, kind of excited, been training well, hoping to meet my goals. I met him last week in my final sort of workout to get ready for it. So hey, if nothing

else, it's a new experience. So how about that? And finally, look, remember, go vote. Go vote. Early vote and underway in a number of states, including right here in Maryland. I'm going to seriously get this podcast produced up, get it uploaded, and go vote myself. Look, even if you don't like candidates or whatever, there are some interesting issues in a number of states. I'll tell you about one. Here in Maryland, there's a ballot initiative for allowing people to same-day registration and voting. So you can show up on election day, register and vote same day. Maybe that's important to you. Maybe it's not. Maybe it's not something you care about. Maybe it is. And if it's something you care about, you should go vote about it. And so, you know, go vote. Show me stickers on Twitter at Mark Schofield. Show me that you voted. Get involved.

Again, I'm not imploring you to vote one way or the other. I'm imploring you to vote. Participate. Be a part of the process. The peaceful overthrow of power, it's what makes this nation great. It's one of the things it was founded upon. And so please, please, please, please participate. So that will do it for today's show.

I will be back Sunday, hopefully. Well, I'm not going to say world champion or anything like that, but hopefully having had an enjoyable experience Saturday at the KPC Halloween Havoc. Until next time, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on P.P.