Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots September 16, 2018 - Sunday Morning Tailgate

Episode Date: September 16, 2018

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Wake up, everybody. It is Sunday morning, and it's time for your Sunday morning tailgate edition of Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield sliding back into the big chair to help kick off your Sunday, right? Hope you got your coffee in hand. Hope you have your breakfast in front of you, and I hope you're ready to rock here as we get you closer and closer to kick off of your NFL Sunday slate of games. Before we get to all the loaded action, you probably heard new music. That's right.

Doing things a little bit differently for these Sunday morning tailgate shows. I figured we need a little extra kick to get you guys and girls going. I'm in a very Hans Zimmer slash dark night place these days. And so that's how we're going to roll here for the Sunday morning tailgate shows. There's a little The Dark Knight off The Dark Knight soundtrack by Hans Zimmer, who, side note, I adore. Love the stuff that he does. Love his work. The Rock, Gladiator, just great stuff that he does. Before we dive into today's topics to get you ready on this Sunday morning tailgate show, reminder to follow me on Twitter at Mark Scofield.

Check out the work at places like InsideThePylon.com where I'm one of the head writers. Pro Football Weekly where I do some scheme work over there. The NFL The Score where I'm a featured NFL columnist. Matt Waldron's Rookie Scouting Portfolio. Big Blue View, part of the SB Nation Network, among other sites. As I said, big show for you today. Guys and girls, if you're doing daily fantasy stuff, I've got some recommendations, some blue chip

picks, as well as some value stocks to get you through your slate, whether it's on FanDuel or DraftKings. We're going to talk some college football stuff, some interesting stuff, particularly two quarterbacks. One stock up, the other stock down. But one whose stock is up, he was running some New England Patriots schemes on Sunday. I mean, excuse me, on Saturday in Stillwater and schemes that will work on Sundays. Get excited. I'm talking Brett Rippin, baby. But first, lots of news on your New England Patriots, on the Jacksonville Jaguars, and

another story, a big exploding story in the NFL that we got to get to. Let's start with injuries because a lot has changed. Let's see how much has changed just in the past 24 hours. Patriots final injury report of the week. Players listed as questionable. Runneback Rex Burkhead, concussion, limited participant in practice. Offensive tackle Marcus Cannon, calf, limited participation in practice. Cornerback Keelan Crossan, ham calf, limited participation in practice. Cornerback Keelan Crossan, hamstring, limited participation in practice. And running back Sody Michelle, knee injury, limited participation in practice. Now the new one that was there was Burkhead,

who had suffered that concussion, was in concussion protocol. With all these players being listed as questionable, it's 50-50. They're going to go. Well, that was Friday. Everything changed early Saturday into Saturday afternoon and evening. First, one good bit of news, Jacob Hollister was not listed there. That was getting him ready to make his season debut. So that was some good news. Then there was reporting that Sonny Michel had really gotten himself into a good place. Probably going to be a go come game time. He's at least in position to play. That didn't change a bit. Patriots elevate Cole Croston from the practice squad.

Adds depth because Marcus Cannon is unlikely to play today. Jeff Howe from the Athletic Boston basically said that barring some sort of huge miracle type recovery, he's not going to be a go today. So they bring Cole Crossan up. They release wide receiver Benny Fowler. Riley McCarron returns to the practice squad. So you've got that.

Then it changed with Cannon again Saturday night. He was downgraded two out. Keon Crossan downgraded two out. But it was pointed out that Rex Burkhead and Sonny Michel are both in Jacksonville with the team, giving them at least the chance to play. So that was that bit of news. Now let's flip it to the other team. The only player listed on Jacksonville's injury report, their final injury report, was running back Leonard Fournette. And we've talked about that. He has the hamstring. We're not sure if he's going to go. He was supposed to have given a

test on Friday. The Jaguars activated running back Brandon Wilds from the practice squad. Now, we don't have definitive word as we sit here right now whether Fournette's a go or not, but the fact that they've activated a running back from the practice squad probably tells you where Jacksonville is leading on this. And it probably doesn't come as a surprise because when you look back at what the Jaguars usually do, when a player is listed as questionable for them, when the Jaguars put people at the questionable spot. 56% of Jaguars players listed as questionable played that week last season, which was below league average. That was pointed out by

pro at pro football doc on Twitter, who's obviously Dr. David Chow. And he looked at the data from 2016 and 2017 and found out that when it comes to questionable players, more often than not, they played. But the Jaguars were the team that was below league average. For example, for Tampa Bay, 53 of their 55 players listed as questionable played. But when it comes to Jacksonville, just 56%.

There were only one, two, three, four, five teams that had a lower percentage. Atlanta, the Rams, the Eagles, the Bears, and the Steelers. In case you were wondering, Patriots, 64% of their players listed as questionable actually played. 65 over 101. Only one team, by the way, listed more players as questionable

than the New England Patriots, and that was Washington. Thought that was interesting. But, you know, let's face it. With Jacksonville adding a running back from the practice squad, Fournette's probably not going to go today. Put them all together. The other big piece of news, and this is away from New England.

We've got some other injuries. We're going to talk about that in a little bit. Devonta Freeman, he's out. Rodgers practiced on Saturday. We can probably think he's going to go, right? Josh Gordon. And somewhat stunning and now maybe disturbing news. Gordon was released by the Cleveland Browns Saturday evening. And it has touched off wild speculation, of course.

But the team released a statement, and we'll read that here. Statement from General Manager John Dorsey, and it reads as follows. This afternoon, we informed Josh Gordon and his representatives that we are going to release him on Monday. For the past six years, the Browns have fully supported and invested in Josh, both personally and professionally, and wanted the best for him. But unfortunately, Things, however, seem to have ended badly. There was speculation that Gordon had a hamstring issue that might have prevented him from playing. And now it's being reported that the hamstring issue

might have been suffered, not in practice, not with the team or anything like that, but away from the field. Adam Schefter on Saturday night tweeted out, Josh Gordon hurt his hamstring at a promotional shoot, not at practice, per source. Ian Rappaport on Josh Gordon. He was late today, Saturday.

That's when the tweet came out to the facility, source said. In addition, he was fine at Friday's practice, then injured his hamstring. The question of how is part of the reason they released him. My understanding is it's an overall trust issue for a player on thin ice. Perhaps more concerning, updated from Mary K. Cabot, who covers the Browns for Cleveland.com. Gordon showed up late to the facility on Saturday morning and was, quote, not himself, end quote. Red flag for possible substance use was the concern of some in the organization,

sources tell Cleveland.com. And Mary Kay, she would be able to talk to people. And so this seems like it ended badly. Now we all want the best for Josh Gordon, period. In the game of football, outside of the game of football, it doesn't matter. We want this guy to live a healthy life. It doesn't seem like it was going to end well in Cleveland. It just seems like it was never going to end well in Cleveland.

It does seem like he needs a new start. But it has to start with him helping himself and him getting all the help that he needs. Hopefully, all of this is sort of wild guesswork, wild speculation. People sort of wonder in and with a guy with his past, people might jump to that conclusion sooner than they need to. Hopefully, these are just a series of misunderstandings. But because of what was referenced in the Rappaport's tweet there, a breakdown in trust, Cleveland felt they just couldn't move on with him anymore. But hopefully he's okay. Hopefully this wasn't a relapse situation or anything like that.

We want the best for him as a human being, as a person. This has already kicked off speculation. You go onto Twitter right now, everybody's talking about who's going to sign Josh Gordon. And of course, people link the New England Patriots to Josh Gordon. He is a tremendously, tremendously, tremendously talented receiver. With a player like that, you have to trust that you have the infrastructure in place to make sure that he can handle everything on and off and away from the field. And we do know that transitioning to the Patriots as a wide receiver, it can be a difficult transition.

And so I do sort of wonder if Josh Gordon signing with the Patriots makes the most sense. That being said, you cannot deny the talent. And perhaps New England in that environment would be a good environment for him because you have a strong locker room, veteran presence, an entrenched coach who's not going anywhere, who's not on the hot seat, who doesn't have to worry about making a mistake from a personnel standpoint that might cost him his job. It's a stable organization.

And from that angle, it could work. I think it's definitely worth reaching out to his people, seeing where he is, and getting him in for a visit. And if you just sign him and redshirt him for a year, basically, and just make sure that he's okay, maybe that makes sense. But whatever the situation, we just do hope for the best for Josh Gordon. Up next, we're going to talk some daily fantasy stuff, recommendations at each position for you guys and girls out there.

And then a little bit later, we're going to talk some college. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield is back with you now on the Sunday morning tailgate edition of Locked On Patriots. And we're going to do some daily fantasy recommendations here. I'm going to do this each and every week. I'm going to try to keep it with a schematic bent to them. Talk about some X's and O's stuff a little bit.

I'm not going to beat you guys over the head with it because, look, it is Sunday morning. You guys are probably just waking up. And, yeah, I get it. You're still sipping your coffee and the last thing you want to hear about is Cover 3 Cloud. I get it. But I still sipping your coffee, and the last thing you want to hear about is cover three cloud. I get it. But I still got to season it in here and there. Before we go ahead, though, let's take a quick look back at last week's recommendations. And look, I kind of nailed the running back spot, right?

I said Alvin Kamara. I said he was your blue chip pick. And if you look in either standard leagues or PPR leagues, if you're in a standard league and you went with Kamara, he was the number two overall scorer. If you were in a PPR league, he was the number one overall scorer. So we got that. We kind of got the tight end spot. I shied people away from Gronk and looking back, that might've been a mistake. Okay. It was a huge mistake because he was your number two tight end in PPR leagues but look I went value and I talked about Jesse James look he was the 10th scoring tight end I mean that's not too bad he outscored Kyle Rudolph who I had use your blue chip stick

pick fumbled that one kids anyway that was look at last week let's look ahead to this week at quarterback we'll start there your blue chip pick coming in and it's actually not that expensive 7 500 over at fando andrew luck at washington and i do this for a couple of reasons you watch andrew lux out it frank reich did a tremendous job schematically saving him, protecting him, because they threw it 53 times. They were slitting it all over the place. But 48 of those throws, all but five, were less than 15 yards. They're doing quick game.

They're doing a lot of West Coast air raid type stuff. There was mesh in there. There was a lot of slant flat and all that type of stuff. Frank Reich, obviously coming over from Philly last year, they know how to run sort of a West Coast air raid mix of plays from a schematic perspective. That does a couple of things. That

protects Luck from a pressure standpoint. Three steps and get it out. Pressure sometimes can't get home. And you're also not stressing that shoulder a ton. they did design some stuff as we're going to talk about in a minute for the tight ends in the vertical game but I think they're going to throw it a ton

that's going to be their offense there's going to be a ton of completions in there so I'd look Andrew Luck I think he's due for a big game against a defense that hasn't been challenged yet we don't know much about Washington given what they saw from the Arizona Cardinals

if you want to save some bucks 6,700 on Fandu. That's Case Keenum against the Oakland Raiders. I know Keenum struggled in Week 1. That was against Seattle. Maybe their defense isn't what it used to be, but it's still a decent enough defense, conceptually speaking, schematically speaking.

I am struggling, kids. It's early. But that Raiders defense, that am struggling, kids. It's early. But that Raiders defense, that's a different animal. That linebacker group, that second level, sometimes in the secondary, Sean McVay did some creative stuff. Guys weren't being covered. He was scheming guys open. I think Keenum's due for a bounce-back kind of game.

So if you want to go value there, that's probably a way to go. Moving to running back, Melvin Gordon at Buffalo. That's your blue chip pick. $8,200 in FanDuel. It's Buffalo. Shaq Lawson's out. It's Buffalo. I think that would make sense. I know the Chargers are one of those teams that when they come east, they have that 1

p.m. start time in the east coast. They're still on west coast time. Historically, they've struggled with that. It's Buffalo. If you want to save some money though, with the news that Freeman is out, I'm going to double-check it right now, but I still think last I saw, he was going off, Freeman was going off over on FanDuel at $5,900 against Carolina. Yeah, Tevin Coleman, still $5,900. He's going to get the bulk of the

carries. He's going to get the bulk of the offense because Freeman is out. I know it's Carolina, that defensive style. We saw them in the preseason Patriots fans, but that's kind of a good value there, I think. So, Kevin Coleman against Carolina, I think that's sort of a value play at the running back spot. We go to wide receiver. We're going to stay with the Atlanta Falcons and Julio Jones against Carolina. He's your blue chip pick. 8,500 in a fan duel. I know that they have their red zone struggles. I trust that they're trying to figure it out. The Falcons know. Look, in this day and age of media savvy consumers of football news and football content, teams have to keep up.

Teams have to keep up with guys like me that are on the outside breaking stuff down from X's and O's. And so the Atlanta Falcons themselves, they put up a piece on their website with Steve Sarkeesian talking about their red zone concepts and why they call it what they call it. They know it's an issue. That's a sign that they know it's an issue. So they're going to probably be working stuff out.

I know they're going to try to get Julio factored in more in the red zone inside the 20. But from 20 to 20, this is a good offense still. And I know Carolina's defense is as good as we just talked about, but they play a lot of cover three type looks. I think Julio is a great play against a cover three defense. He can sell you on vertical routes, run those comebacks. He can do those band-aid posts in front of those cover three corners when they're playing off. I think he's due for another big day. If you want to save money,

though, Cooper Cup against Arizona. Watch the video I did. It's over at mattwaldmanrsp.com. Just one play, an 11-yard curl. It's not going to get any attention anywhere else i don't think unless i missed something but it tells you all you need to know about the relationship between cooper cup and jared golf they just run a simple curl route it's covered the linebacker is under it and they just both know at the same moment that he's going to break to the outside and to make it even better golf nods his head and turns his shoulders towards the middle of the field. Giving you that little head fake. Like, oh yeah, I'm going to throw it to the left and then you throw it to the right.

It's one thing when you do it at the Turkey Bowl on Thanksgiving Day. It's another thing to do it on Monday Night Football with the world watching. But that's the relationship these two have. So, Cooper Cupp against Arizona, I think is a good value play. Let's go to the tight ends. I'm going to go Gronk for your blue chip stock pick. Why? Look, he was held in check for the first half of that game in the AFC championship game last year. Then he was lost to the injury with that hit, the concussion. But as we talked about in your pregame show, the Jacksonville film

stuff, this is a cover three team. That's what they want to do. That more Seattle cover three where you see press outside. You've got those seams. That's where Gronkowski thrives. I think he could have a big day. But if you want to go cheap, Eric Ebron for the Indianapolis Colts. Check out a video I did on Twitter. You can

find it also on InsideThePylon.com where I broke it down. Great schematic design to get Ebron a look in the vertical passing game. They cut, then put back on their practice squad after he cleared waivers. Eric Swope, their third tight end. So this is a team that's got two tight ends in Jack Doyle and Eric Ebron. Remember, Frank Reich, where'd he come from? Philly. What did Philly do last year? A lot of two tight end stuff with Zach Ertz and Trey Burton. Now he's got his new Zach Ertz and Trey Burton, Ebron, and Jack Doyle. Doyle's your more possession, tight end, receiver type.

Ebron's your more athletic, move type end, vertical threat. He could be a great value play, again, against a Washington defense that hasn't been tested yet. We're not quite sure where they're at. Up next, we're going to recap the day that was and the night that was in college football. Some interesting stuff that went down on the college level last night, including some quarterbacks with bright lights upon them.

How did they fare? Including Boise State's Brett Rippon. But first, it is game day. And maybe you're thinking, look, I've digested every single bit of information I know. I can make some money off of it. Well, here's the thing. Don't ask me who's going to win because, frankly, I can't answer it in time. But I can give you this bit of advice.

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LOCKEDON25. If you can't wait, just use promo code LOCKEDON. When creating your account, you'll claim up to $1,000 in free play. They will match your deposit 100%. Again, if you want to hold out, get that extra $25, LOCKEDON25. Otherwise, LOCKEDON. Either way, my bookie, you play, you win, you get paid. Up next, some college football recap stuff. Some quarterback stuff. That's ahead on Sunday Morning Tailgate here at Locked On Patriots.

Mark Schofield back with you. Going to close this out with some quick college football stuff from yesterday's slate of games. A lot of directions we could go. We could go Nebraska starting 0-2, losing Detroit at home. We could go Alabama starting 0-2, losing Detroit at home. We could go Alabama just throttling Ole Miss from jump.

Handing 49 on them in the first half. Impressive outing again from that entire Alabama roster. I say it every time I get a chance to talk about Alabama. They don't rebuild. They don't retool. They just reload. That team is just stacked every single year.

We could talk Oklahoma. Tough game against Iowa State. People weren't expecting that. Iowa State coming in 0-1 in that overall. But it seems like Tyler Murray has advertised. We could talk Vanderbilt losing a close one to Notre Dame. Kyle Schumer, 26-34 for 326 and a touch in that game. If they don't have a play, a strange play that saves it for Notre Dame,

that game could have gone Vandy's way. Fascinating to see that. Tight end Jared Pinckney, he balled out five receptions for 111 yards and a touchdown. Stanford a nice win over UC Davis. KJ Costello, he's starting to catch some attention of people. 17-30 for 214 and two touchdowns. Two of the bigger games, though.

We're in that afternoon slate with two quarterbacks I was flipping between, working the thumb muscles there. First, you've got LSU, Auburn, at Auburn, you know, you've got two SEC teams going at it, number seven Auburn, number 12 LSU, and it's Auburn. Slight underdog. I mean, excuse me, it's LSU, excuse me. Slight underdog.

They pull it out 22-21. Jarrett Stidham in that game. This was the kind of game that I was looking for for Jarrett Stidham because when I was talking about for Jared Stidham because when I was talking about quarterbacks this summer on here and other shows I would say look he has the tools I want to see him step up in those moments I want to see them put more

on his shoulders and him respond what did he do 16 of 28 for 198 one touchdown two interceptions Joe Burrow transferred from the Ohio State University he goes 15 of 34 for 249 on a touchdown, plays a clean game, no interceptions. This was the kind of game I wanted to see Stidham step up,

and he didn't. Conversely, a guy in a somewhat similar situation, Boise State quarterback Brett Rippon, going into Stillwater. Yes, Boise State's 17, Oklahoma State's 24, but until Boise State wins a game like this, people weren't going to take them too, too seriously. And Boise State loses, okay? They lose 44-21. You have a missed field goal. You've got two blocked punts that lead to 14 points directly for Oklahoma State. There's 17 right there coming off the board.

But let's talk about Brett Rippon. They couldn't protect him. He was under pressure all game long. But what did he do? 39-56 for 380 and three touchdowns. And when he was protected, even when he just had one guy to deal with, he was slinging it. I came away very impressed.

And more than anything else, he was running Patriots plays. He ran the Haas concept, something we've been talking about here all week. He was running it. He could run this offense. Yeah, I'm getting ahead of myself, but I'm thinking about Brett Rippon playing for the New England Patriots. Other game to mention, BYU going in to Camp Randall and knocking off Wisconsin. That was a game, that was one I don't think many people saw coming. BYU 24, Wisconsin 21. Just a fascinating game to watch unfold there.

Obviously, I was flipping between the other two, but impressive performance. Tanner Mancom, 12 of 22 for just 89 yards, a QBR of 34.1. This wasn't the sexiest game from an offensive outburst perspective or a passing perspective. On the other side, Alex Hornbrook, 18 of 28 for 190 and one interception. This was a ground game. Squally Canada, 11 carries for 118 yards and two TDs for BYU. And then on the

other side, Jonathan Taylor, 26 carries for 117 for Wisconsin. But hats off to BYU. Big win for them. But my main takeaway, Rippon. I was impressed with what he did. And look, Dwayne Haskins, Ohio State, the kid can sling it. I don't know if he comes out this year, but whatever year he decides to come out, he's going to be in the mix for QB1. That will do it. Just some quick, quick, quick college football recap stuff there. It's now game day. Get ready.

Patriots, Jaguars, 425 Eastern. It's going to be a fun one. I'll be back later tonight to break it all down. Until then, enjoy the games, everybody, and keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots. Play us out, Hans. Thank you.