Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots - October 3, 2019: Gostkowski to IR; Pats On to Washington

Episode Date: October 3, 2019

As the New England Patriots prepare to face the Washington Redskins on Sunday in our Nation’s Capital, host Mike D’Abate is joined by Steve Balestrieri of PatsFans.com to preview Pats-Skins and discuss the aftermath of Stephen Gostkowski’s season-ending injury.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello to all you Foxborough faithful, and welcome to your Thursday edition of Locked On Patriots, your daily home for news, notes, analysis, and the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. Locked On Patriots, as always, is a part of the Locked On Podcast Network. I am your host, Mike DeBate, and I cover the Patriots for fullpresscoverage.com, which is where you can always 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.

Today's show is brought to you in part by DoorDash. Treat yourself to the meal you deserve and have your favorite restaurants come to you with DoorDash. Right now, our listeners can get $5 off their first order of $15 or more when you download the DoorDash app and enter promo code LOCKEDON. There is a great show on tap for you today. And as we all know, the Patriots are preparing to travel to our nation's capital to take on the Washington Redskins on Sunday at 1 p.m. And there has been a ton of Patriots roster news, players arriving, players departing, and one in particular that's going to be a tough one to overcome.

And here to help me break it all down is one of the best in the business, a great friend of the program, Steve Balistrieri of Patsfans.com will join me in just a moment, so stay tuned for that. This will be fun, informative, as it always is when Steve is here. But first, we start with the news of the day, and that news is gloomy news for Patriots Nation because Patriots kicker Steven Gostowski's season is indeed over. The Pats placed their veteran kicker on injured reserve on Wednesday with a left hip injury

that will require season-ending surgery. That was first reported by ESPN's Adam Schefter yesterday afternoon. Now, the team does expect him to be ready for the 2020 season. Gustowski and the injury does indeed make him miss the point after tries this season and one field goal, which is uncharacteristic of a guy who has been as consistent as Steven Gustavski. And early on Wednesday, ESPN's Mike Reese had reported that the Patriots had brought in free agent kickers for workouts. And Bill Belichick was even asked about that report yesterday during his press conference.

He offered little in the way of a response, as usual, other than indicating that the workouts were definitely not intended to provide competition for gustowski and later in the day we found out why they were in camp obviously the kickers worked out yesterday and also today at gillette and we'll cover that in a moment a minute as we head toward day now gustowski had had a shaky preseason like we had said but he went 4-4 on field goals and 3-3 on point after tries in the season opening win against Pittsburgh, so all looked to be okay. Then he missed a 48-yarder along with two point after tries the week following in Miami, and then the last couple of weeks, he's missed a point after try in each of the last two games. So,

you know, since being drafted by the Patriots in 2006, Gostowski has missed time just once before in 2010 when he suffered a toward quad, and he was limited to just eight games in that season and replaced by Shane Graham. So it's obviously the big news out of Patriots camp, but there's also a lot to cover. And as always with the Patriots,ots folks Steve will join me in just a minute to break it all down but first I have a question for you yes you listening out there do your weekend plans involve watching football what a ridiculous question right of course they do and at the end of a hard week it's great to sit down take some time off and watch some football

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You know his great work from Patsfans.com, as well as being the co-host of two amazing podcasts, Patriots 4th and 2, and also One Patriots Place with our good mutual friend Thomas Murphy, who you know very well, my listeners, for all of this show. It is my honor to welcome back Steve Balistrieri to Locked On Patriots. Steve, thanks so much for joining me today, bud. Oh, Mike, always my pleasure. I was very happy to hear from you yesterday, and I jumped at the chance. Absolutely, and we jump at the chance to have you on every chance I get. It's always, always a pleasure and always fun. And, you know, Steve, it's always amazing when we have you on.

There's never anything to talk about with this team. I mean, it's just boring and mundane covering the Patriots. I don't know how we do it, but I really and truly do it. I know. It's like there's nothing ever happening with this team. I mean, as we talked about offline, you know, the news cycle for the Patriots is always so slow, even in midseason. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

I mean, it's just, and obviously you can hear the sarcasm dripping from the voices of myself and Steve. You know, the old adage is true, though, buddy. There is never a dull moment in Foxborough. And unfortunately, you saw the news, just like I did yesterday, hit yesterday afternoon, that the Patriots will be without Stephen Gostowski for the remainder of the season, as well as the playoffs. And, you know, this is going to be a big loss for them.

Despite his recent struggles, Gostowski is clutch. He's among the best in the league. The Patriots had a few guys in yesterday. Kai Forbath, Mike Nugent, Elliot Fry, Blair Walsh, Matthew Wright, and then today we get reports that Yongho Koo and YouTube phenom Josh Gable are actually in

town to compete for the job. You have to think a move is imminent. They're going to try to get somebody in. They obviously need somebody to perform the kicking duties for Sunday's game against Washington. In your humble opinion, my friend, do any of these guys seem like good options? Because, I mean, they're all viable. They all have to be viable, and I think they'll probably choose from this pool. But are any of these guys that you've looked at and said, this guy can win a game for us?

Well, honestly, and I've been saying this all season long because a lot of fans have been clamoring for the Patriots to cut Gostkowski because of his struggles now we know why he was struggling because his plant hip was bothering him but I said all along there's nobody out there I would rather have than Gostkowski, and I would not sign any of these guys in lieu of Gostkowski. I mean, obviously now they have to because of the injury, but there's nobody there that really excites me as, okay, this guy is solid. This guy is the guy I really want if the game's on the line.

The only guy that's not in that I might do that with would be a guy like Sebastian Janikowski who retired last year because, you know, he had a lot of experience. I know he had a very strong leg, but he wasn't the most accurate guy either. So, you know, I'm looking at these guys, and nobody really jumps off the page at me. I guess we'll have to see. The tryouts will obviously be pretty spirited, and hopefully they'll make a decision by the end of today.

Yeah, I would think that they would have to. You know, with regard to the guys that they've brought in, I know the two names that seem to jump out on the page for everybody, yesterday's tryouts anyway, were Forbath and Fry. Those two seem to be the frontrunners, I guess, in the pool of whoever was worked out yesterday with Nugent and Walsh and Wright coming in. This morning's reports were interesting.

Young Hoku coming in. I covered Young Hoku when I covered the Chargers for Cover 32 a couple of years ago when he was brought in, covered the Chargers for Cover 32 a couple of years ago when he was brought in when the Chargers were really having some kicking woes, and he does have the ability to make some impressive kicks. The problem is it takes him a little while to get there, so in terms of accuracy and dependability, I don't know if Koo is necessarily the fit that Patriots fans are really going to be enamored with. He kind of reminds me, and I'm probably going to lose some people with this analogy here, but he's kind of like, I would probably consider him like the Roy McAvoy of the kicking opportunities.

If anybody has seen the movie Tin Cup, that was Kevin Costner's character. And he was a guy that could make crowd-pleasing shots, there's no question about it. But the problem is it would probably take him about eight or ten tries to get there. And then once he did, the crowd would go crazy. But in the meantime, you're losing some people. That, to me, reminded me a lot of what Young Hoku brings to the table. He did bring some excitement when the Chargers brought him in. The fans were a little bit pumped, but then they realized that maybe he wasn't the most reliable guy in the world and was missing some big kicks and a couple of point afters as well. So that's something to keep an eye on. Gable is another one I think that a lot of people have a buzz about.

You can see his stuff all over YouTube. There was a claim that he once made an 82 yarder when he was practicing. I don't know. There doesn't seem to be any visible proof of that. Or if there is, I haven't seen it. If so, please definitely tweet at LO underscore Patriots. Please let me know that if there is visible proof of that. I haven't seen it. If so, please definitely tweet at LO underscore Patriots. Please let me know that. If there is visible proof of that, I couldn't find it.

But it's going to be they have big shoes to fill without any question, and that's a pun, but it's also figurative as well. Gostowski is clutch. He's been one of the most reliable kickers. He's really, I mean, since 1995, there have been three guys that have taken the kicking duties for Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots, and even Pete Carroll, if you think about it. It was Adam Vinatieri, it was Steven Gustavski, and then just for a brief period, it was Shane

Graham. So if you take a look at the consistency that this team has had, it's going to be very, very odd and very different seeing a guy line up to take those field goal attempts that's not wearing either number three or number four. It's just going to be a tough one, I think, no question about it. The Patriots also made some corresponding roster moves yesterday and the day before as well. Benjamin Watson, as we know, is eligible to come off of the, or actually I should say he has served his suspension.

He's eligible now to be added onto the 53-man roster. The Patriots have the roster exemption on him. Interesting enough, they haven't activated it yet. And he wasn't at practice yesterday, which raised a few eyebrows among some of the people that were there that expected to see him. Obviously, Caleb Beninock was released. He was picked up very quickly by the Carolina Panthers. Steve, in your opinion, as we move towards Sunday and some of the roster moves, I'll start with Watson.

Would you be very surprised if Benjamin Watson was not on the 53-man roster and seeing in-game action on Sunday. Given the Patriots' difficulties that they had in the offense on Sunday, do you think that he is someone that they would be relying on a little bit to get some stability back on that offense for the New England Patriots this week? Well, to answer your first question, I would actually be very surprised if he's not on the roster because, you know, while the offense did struggle as a whole, the tight end position has really struggled. You know, and to kind of play upon that, I mean, if you look,

Devin McCourty has as many catches with four interceptions than the entire roster of tight ends that they have. Well, the two tight ends with, you know, Matt Lacoste and Ryan Izzo. So, you know, that shows how little production they're getting out of those guys. And really, if you had somebody that could attack the seams a little bit, that would have really helped the offense in Buffalo last week. I really, if you had somebody that could attack the seams a little bit, that would have really helped the offense in Buffalo last week. I really believe that

because the Bills were able to shut down the wide receivers and they were able to clamp down on the running backs because there was no viable seam guy. So I really would be surprised if he's not on the roster this week, but we don't know if he's dealing with anything physically.

Cause I was surprised as much as anybody that he wasn't at practice yesterday. So we'll just have to wait and see, but I know, I don't know that they'd rely on him so much. I do think they would utilize him quite a bit. You know, I could see them using him for for three to four catches a game.

I think if they can get that kind of production out of Ben Watson, I think they'd be thrilled with that. Yeah, I would tend to agree with that, exactly. I think that especially with the woes that they've had with the tight end position with Izzo and Lacoste, I think combining for 77 yards for offensive production out of two guys at the same position is very difficult. You take a look at a guy like Rob Gronkowski, he probably would have eclipsed that in one game and then some, and you're talking about production over two guys over a course of four games. It's definitely difficult to see them

do what they've done on the tight end position. At the same time, with Rob's retirement, you had to figure that the tight end position was going to be more of a blocking, a working man's position, not really the glamour type or the prolific ability to be able to get yards, to get open, and to be able to be a productive force in putting points on the board. You almost have to understand that. But at the same time, I agree. I think that Watson really, I would be very surprised if he is not on the field. I know there's starting to be some rumblings and subscenelings.

Of course, the Patriots take the practice field this afternoon at noontime, a little after noontime, I think around 1230, they're scheduled to take the practice field. So if Watson is out there, all of a sudden, maybe these rumors go to rest. If he's not, this could start to churn pretty quickly. And again, we know about the Patriots rumor mill. It does start to churn. We're in gears for just a second. And I told myself I wasn't going to bring this up or address this until there was a possibility. But Twitter went into an absolute frenzy yesterday when Stefan Diggs of the Minnesota Vikings did not show up for practice, and it was revealed that he did not give a reason, or the Vikings didn't give a reason other than to say it was non-football related.

And naturally, everybody went into hysterics. Of course, Patriots fans are clamoring for some help on offense. And naturally, the rumor is that Stephon Diggs would somehow find his way into Bill Belichick's lap and into the New England Patriots' offense. But they're not the only ones. Apparently, for a while last night, Wikipedia had Stephon Diggs as a member of the Buffalo Bills, and apparently members of the Bills Mafia were tweeting out that he was at Duff's restaurant, he was being spotted grabbing coffee in Buffalo.

I mean, there's all different. We've seen the meme before of the gentleman standing at the Hertz counter at Logan Airport, and that's used for any free agent now that's available. Anybody that comes available, they're spotted at Logan Airport. It's amazing. It really is. We laugh at it. We chuck at Logan Airport. It's amazing. It really is. We laugh at it. We chuckle at it. It's funny.

But I think realistically, I don't see digs being able to happen. The Patriots have $2.8 million in cap space, Steve. They would need to free up at least $7.5 million, if not more, to do that. Now, they can front load a deal. I'm aware that it's possible. But in your expert opinion, because you're as dialed into this stuff as anybody, am I off base here for thinking that Diggs to the Patriots is really just a complete pipe dream? Well, I don't know how much of an expert I am in this, because I thought there

was no way they would sign Antonio Brown. So I'll just preface this. I don't see that happening either. And honestly, I don't see it happening because if I'm the Vikings, I don't want to get rid of Stephon Diggs. I think Diggs and Thielen are the guys they have to look at keeping. I think if they're looking to dump anybody, it would be their quarterback right now because they gave him a lot of guaranteed money. He's not playing up to that at all.

I really don't think. I think that's more of a problem than their tight ends. And I know Thielen and Diggs are both frustrated, which we all get that because they compete at a very high level, and they just not get into football. If I'm Minnesota, I really don't want to trade him. I really don't. If the Patriots are looking for somebody that might be available,

I wouldn't put it past them to make another run at Emmanuel Sanders. He can still play at a high level, and I think they might be able to get him because it looks like right now Denver is not going anywhere. Yeah, it's funny that you mention Sanders. On an appearance on WEI last week, John Elway joined the Greg Hill Morning Show, and he talked to Greg and Fitzy, and Fitzy brought up that he wanted to open up the trade talks between the Broncos and Fitzy, and Fitzy brought up that he wanted to open up the trade talks between the Broncos and Emmanuel Sanders, and of course Elway kind of just laughed it off, but

it does hold merit. Everybody remembers that the Patriots were able to sign him to an offer sheet at one point. Obviously, Pittsburgh matched it. He ended up going elsewhere and ended up, you know, signing with the Broncos, but there is a definite fit there, and I, for one, would think that that is a good fit. However, there's a lot of logistics that have to work out. So before we start the, oh, well, Emmanuel Sanders is coming to New England, I want to caution everybody, pump the brakes, folks. That's not what Steve and I are saying here,

but we do think that that's probably more of a viable option than Diggs. I agree with you. There are a lot of reasons for that. You brought up the fact that the Vikings simply should not or would not want to trade him. We saw Tom Curran put out a column yesterday, and I think Tom nailed it right on the head, where he said, if I'm the Vikings,

why would I want to give up on one of my most prolific players, a guy that we invested money in, a guy that's not really going to weigh down their cap for a number of years. I also agree with you on Cousins. I think that that's an interesting point as well. And I was speaking with some of my colleagues at Full Press last night, and Terrence Biggs, who I work with, who is the managing editor of the Oakland Raiders page, did make a comment

that if they're going to get rid of anybody, he agrees with you. They would be cousins that he thinks would be on the trading block rather than Diggs. So I hate to rain on the parade of Patriots Nation here, but we don't see it happening. I don't see it happening. No. It'll be interesting to see if they do make an upgrade.

Yeah, and Patriots fans tend to get myopic about this kind of stuff because the deal makes perfect sense for the Patriots. It really doesn't make much sense for the Vikings to give a Stephon Diggs, but hey, according to Patriots fans, everyone's trying to help us out.

Absolutely. Who wouldn't want to help the Patriots win a seventh Super Bowl? They want New England at the top of that hill. You can picture Bill Belichick just on these trade talks talking to some of these fellow GMs, pulling a Nathan Jessup and going, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall. You know what? I wouldn't put it past Bill to do that on a conference call. Yeah. Oh, man. Yeah, Bill calls Minnesota and says,

you want to trade me? No, I don't want to. Yes, you do want to. No, I don't want to. Jedi mind tricks, my friend. Jedi mind tricks. The hoodie is always, always working his magic. But in any case,

it will be interesting to see if the Patriots do choose to make a move, how they make one, and whether or not they choose to stand pat, which is a definite possibility. And I know fans don't like hearing that, but it is a possibility that they may look... Another name that's out there is Maurice Harris. I mean, you know, he was in training camp and at, you know, the beginning part of mini camp and the beginning part of training camp, he looked like a guy that was a roster lock for this team. I mean, everybody was just going above and beyond about how great we watched him in training camp as well. And he looked great. You know,

that's always a possibility as well. So the Patriots probably have a little bit of work to do, but I think they're going to write the ship this weekend. And that leads me into my final question for you today, my friend, and that is we do have a game coming up on Sunday against the Washington Redskins. Jay Gruden took the microphone yesterday, admitted that at the quarterback position they really don't have a game plan. That's always interesting.

It always instills a lot of confidence in a fan base when their head coach comes up and says, we really don't know what we're going to do. I can't imagine that ever happening in New England, but it did yesterday. In your opinion, because you put out a couple of great columns this week, including your Razor's Edge piece, which to me,

folks, if you don't read Steve's column on a weekly basis with the Razor's Edge, please do so. It is probably one of the most informative and spot-on analysis that you'll ever find in this business. So in your opinion, my friend, what can we expect to see? And I won't put you on the hot seat for a final score, but what do you look for in this game coming up on Sunday against Washington?

Well, with the Redskins quarterback situation as it is, I think for the Redskins, they have to try to run the football. They have to try to get Adrian Peterson involved. And, you know, we talked almost ad nauseum about how the Patriots running game has been stagnant because of part reason, because of the injuries along the offensive line. And the Redskins are pretty much in the same boat. I mean, Trent Williams has been holding out.

You know, he's their left tackle. And now you have your centers banged up, and now your right guard, Brandon Scherf, is banged up. So it's been really difficult. Adrian Peterson's only averaging about 2.7 yards a carry, and the Redskins as a team are only – they're averaging less than 50 yards per game on the ground. If they have any hopes of, you know, entertaining an upset this week,

they have to be able to run the football. And especially, you know, I believe that the pressure is on Jake Gruden from upstairs, not internally, because I believe he knows that Dwayne Haskins isn't ready. He saw that last week when he was kind of forced to put him in. He's not really ready. And to face this Patriots defense as a rookie right now where he doesn't have a firm grasp of the offense,

I think it would be a disaster for the young guy's confidence. But I think he's getting pressured to start Haskins over probably Colt McCoy this week. And I believe that Gruden would probably want McCoy. He's a veteran. He's now healthy. Not that he's a great option, but I think at this point, he's a better option than Askren. So that's what I'm looking for on their side.

From the Patriots' side, I think, you know, with Washington really weak against the run, not only running the ball but defending the run, I think they're going to try to get Sonny Michel actively involved early in this one. I think the Patriots will attack their linebackers with the running backs. I look for the offense to have a really good day, a bounce-back week. And I look for the defense to just continue their aggressive start to the season.

I look for them to have a really big day defensively as well. Yeah, and I think you make some very, very interesting points. First of all, the point on Haskins, I do completely agree with. I think Jay Gruden is definitely getting some pressure elsewhere. I think they're looking at, you know, on this meeting day, I'm talking about the Washington front office is probably looking at some of the success that a guy like Daniel Jones is having and whatnot and thinking that, you know, put the rookie in, let's see what he can do, and let's try to get something generated.

But it's obvious he's not ready. We saw that last week, and to put him in against a Patriots defense that is probably among the best we've seen from this team in quite some time would be a disaster for his confidence. So hopefully cooler heads will prevail. I agree with you. I think Gruden is definitely looking in the direction of starting Colt McCoy. I still think that's a mismatch for the Washington Redskins going up against this Patriots defense.

I think they'll be able to have their way against him as well, but I see him faring better than a rookie like Haskins who really needs some more time to develop. The other point that you brought up is Washington trying to establish their running game as being their key. I think they will try to do that. I think that's easier said than done. I think the Patriots' front seven has been very stout against the run. Yeah, they did.

They had the game against Gore last week where he was able to find some seams and he ran very effectively, but I think that was probably more the exception rather than the rule. I think Danny Shelton has been great, Lawrence Guy, those guys can clog the middle. I think they'll be able to do that. And especially with the New England offense, I think Tom Brady finds his rhythm again this week. I think he's going to be able to start hitting some of his receivers. Still look for Julian Edelman to have maybe a little bit more of a conservative game as he comes back. He looked like he was laboring last week, so it'll be interesting to see what happens. But Steve, again, your analysis is always spot on, and I completely, completely agree with what you said,

and I thank you so much for lending your wisdom and counsel today. Before I let you go, my friend, please just let our listeners, if they don't already, you should. But if you don't, please let everyone know where they can find your great work and where they can follow you on social media. Right. You can read any of the things I write on PatchFans.com. As you mentioned earlier, and I thank you for it, by the way, I put all my keys to the game, what we call the razor's edge for the game.

We put that out this morning, and that's out there complete with a prediction, how I predicted how the game goes this week, which sometimes it's close. I'm not going to sit here and blow my own horn. Sometimes I'm way off, like everything else. But you can also find me on social media, on Twitter, SteveB7SFG. And we do the Patch Fans Patriots 4th and 2 podcast. And we also do another one with our buddy Murph, One Patriot Place. And we always have a lot of fun with that.

In fact, we're hoping to get you back on that real soon. Absolutely. You guys are always among my favorite and my best guests, my most informative. Anytime I can return the favor, it's like coming home whenever I'm on One Patriot's Place. I would love to, and I look forward to doing so soon. Again, Steve, thank you so much for joining me today. It's always a pleasure, and you know we'll definitely have you back again soon.

So that seat has definitely got your name on it on some respects, and we're definitely appreciative of that. And as for me, I will be back tomorrow for one last look at the Pats Week 5 matchup against Washington on Sunday in D.C.

I will offer my predictions along with the help of a special guest, so keep a sharp eye out for that. It should be a good one to close out the week. As always, make sure to join me each and every day on the Locked On Patriots podcast and subscribe to Locked On Patriots via your favorite podcast provider. Once again, I'm Mike DeBate. I thank you so much for listening today. Have a great day, everybody.