Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots September 27, 2017 - Panthers Crossover

Episode Date: September 27, 2017

Mark Schofield and Locked On Panthers' Bill Riccette break down what they expect to see this coming Sunday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Talkspace.com slash BOOM. B-O-O-M. You're Locked On Patriots. Your daily podcast on the New England Patriots. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team, every day. Welcome everybody to a special edition of Locked On Patriots and Locked On Panthers. Mark Schofield here with you and I am joined by the one and only Mr. Bill Rossetti, the host of Locked On Panthers. Bill, how are you, my friend?

I'm doing great, Mark. It's great to get the two of us together on Panthers. Bill, how are you, my friend? I'm doing great, Mark. It's great to get the two of us together and get this show going, man. Really looking forward to it. Yeah, man, I'm looking forward to it too. And, you know, Bill and I are here. We're going to get you ready for this upcoming contest between the Carolina Panthers and the New England Patriots. That's going to be going down Sunday.

We're here getting you ready for this game here on Wednesday, September 26th. And, you know, before we dive into this, both teams sitting at 2-1, both teams trying to get to that 3-1 spot in the standards. We're going to dive into this game, start with what we're expecting to see when the Panthers have the ball. Also, a little bit later in the show, we're going to have news on a new sponsor here for the Lockdown Podcast Network, something we're all really excited about.

So stay tuned for that as well. But, Bill, before we get into what we expect from this matchup, what was your takeaway from what you saw from the Panthers last week? They have their second game here at home, and they drop one to New Orleans, something that I don't think a lot of people were expecting. Yeah, that was an ugly performance. Just nothing really good you can say on either side of the ball. Christian McCaffrey was definitely a bright spot with all the receiving yards he had.

But, boy, you go in expecting to really be able to move the ball in the Saints. They come in with the worst pass defense through two weeks, and they just could not move the ball through the air. Cam Newton continues to struggle. They lost Kelvin Benjamin early in the game, and no one was really able to step up other than McCaffrey. So just an ugly performance. Saints just moved the ball at will, it seems.

All three running backs really got involved, and Breeze was just Drew Breeze. So just not a good showing. They really dropped the egg on Sunday. You know, Bill, I kind of wanted to start with our expectations for Sunday and when we see the Panthers with the football. So let me ask you this. You mentioned there Christian McCafferty at the outset

was their leader receiver in the game. He's been targeted a lot more in these past two weeks. What have you seen from the rookie out of Stanford so far? Yeah, they're really using him kind of the way he was used at Stanford, really moving him along, moving him around the field, you know, letting him run through the tackles. He's lined up in the slot a little bit. He's even done some wildcats, I've noticed.

So really trying to utilize him as much as possible. You know, and I think he's they're gonna have to just continue to feed him the ball. I don't know if they're gonna. I don't know how much more they're gonna ramp him up. I don't know if they want to if they're worried about overworking him. But it clearly shows right now that he's starting to become one of the leaders of this offense, especially with Greg Olson going down. You kind of saw that on Sunday against the Saints. He was really kind of the focal point. I think he was targeted 11 times, I think had nine catches against the Saints.

So you can tell he's definitely going to be one of the guys they're going to look to. And really a lot of it was checkdowns and screens too. You know, it seems like maybe they're still getting Newton worked back in. You know, but it's been three weeks now that we're kind of having this Newton getting worked in or getting the rust off type of discussion. But it's been working to an extent. So I expect them to continue to show, especially on Sunday against the Patriots, where they're probably going to have to continue with the checkdowns and not really wanting to take too many shots downfield.

Or at least, you know, it's going to be tough because obviously the Patriots have a fantastic secondary. So McCaffrey's, like I said, probably going to be one of the focal points again on Sunday you know you mentioned Cam Newton Bill and obviously he's still in the process I guess of knocking some of that rust off you know through three games to this point it's completed you know 61.4 percent of his passes 566 in terms of yardage two touchdowns but four turnovers what have you seen so far from Cam? Where has he struggled?

And what are sort of your expectations for him starting on Sunday? Yeah, I mean, the first thing that pops on my mind is just some of the open passes that he's really missed over the first couple games. I think back to a couple passes that should have been easy touchdowns in the first couple weeks. He had Ed Dixon wide open in the end zone against the 49ers, and he missed them. He had McCaffrey open in the end zone two weeks ago, I should say, against the Bills. That really would have iced the game instead of them having to rely on essentially a missed fourth down conversion to Zay Jones to win the game for them. So he just continues to miss throws.

And it's like I mentioned before, it's starting to get to the point where can we really continue to blame the injury? I mean, I guess in a way we can. I guess we can also ask, did they rush him back too quick? Or did he not have the right time to fully get healed but you know just a lot of deep throws have been missing you know like I said it just seems like it's a lot of check downs just to kind of keep him comfortable I guess and the offensive line certainly hasn't helped him either you know Matt

Khalil has not been as effective as the Panthers have hoped for, and we kind of knew this going in, that he was going to be a little bit of a liability there. He's certainly, through three weeks, not living up to the contract expectations that we've put on him. So it's just a whole mix of things going on. But yeah, the struggles just continue, throwing the ball for Newton. It's just hard to gauge right now where he is physically or where that arm is physically.

Bill, you mentioned Kelvin Benjamin left that game against New Orleans with an injury. Any news on his prognosis coming out of Carolina this week? Yeah, it sounds like it's not going to be anything major. Ian Rapoport is reporting that he avoided major injury. So it sounds like he should be good to go. Probably has a chance to play this week. So I think Panthers fans should breathe a little easier that KB should be okay. You know, and when you sort of look to this match, if you look at what New England might do defensively against Carolina's offense, you look at what Carolina has done so far,

what are your expectations for what the Panthers might try to do offensively, you know, looking forward to Sunday? Well, if KB's there, you know, you definitely got to continue to get him involved because at this point between him and McCaffrey, the passing game is pretty limited. I think you got to get them more involved. Devin Funches took a little bit of a step forward, but not as much of a breakthrough as I expected or as I hoped.

Olsen being out and then Benjamin going down early. You know, he did have a couple catches. So, you know, maybe this is going to be a recurring theme for me probably every week now. I'm going to hope that they start to get him more involved. But really, it's, you know, it's going to be a three-horse race. It's going to be Benjamin. It's going to be McCaffrey.

And it's going to be Stewart because Ed Dixon didn't even show too much last week at all. I think he only had one catch. So all of a sudden, through one game post-Greg Olsen, you're looking at a very limited offense. I just don't know how the Panthers are going to be able to keep up with the Patriots offensively. You know, after the draft ended,

a lot of people looked at what the Panthers did in those first two rounds. Obviously, you go McCaffrey with that first pick. But then you double down sort of with Curtis Samuel. And I think a lot of people sort of had expectations that Carolina might look to get both McCaffrey and Samuel on the field at the same time, do some really sort of creative stuff in terms of offensive personnel packages. But then you look to what Curtis Samuel has done so far, four receptions on only eight targets for 12 yards,

hasn't contributed a ton. What have you seen so far from Samuel, and do you think he can start to get rolling? Yeah, I mean, I know he was battling an injury during the preseason, so it took him a little bit of time to kind of get into game shape and get used to the offense. You know, for the most part, at least these first couple weeks, he seems like he's kind of a gadget play.

You know, you kind of see him on some jet sweeps and things like that. So, yeah, like you said, he's not involved too much in the offense, so I think it's just going to take a little bit of time for him. But you're certainly seeing kind of him and McCaffrey. I think there's been a couple of times where you've seen them together in the Wildcats, so I think that's really, at least at this point, where most of his production is going to come in because, again, I think it's going to be a while before you really see Samuel start to get more comfortable and start to develop.

So I wouldn't expect too much out of Samuel, especially this Sunday and in the coming weeks. But down the line, maybe later this season or come his second season, I think you're going to really start to see him get more involved between him and McCaffrey. I think you're really going to start to see a lot of the tweaks and a lot of the, I guess you'll say, exotic stuff that the Panthers can employ with the two of them.

You know, Bill, when I sort of look at this matchup between New England's defense and the offense for the Carolina Panthers, there's something that concerns me, and maybe it's just coming off this game that we just saw between the Texans and the Patriots, and sometimes New England's struggling to get Deshaun Watson to the ground. Do you think that there's a chance that we see Newton take on more of a role as a runner in this game? I know there's been some thoughts out of Carolina that they're going to try to limit that.

They don't want to expose him to hits and to injuries. But given what the Panthers probably saw last Sunday down in Foxborough, do you think that there's a chance that we're going to see Cam Newton, the runner, sort of return to form this weekend? Yeah, you kind of started to see that a little bit last week too against the Saints because he did have that goal line rushing touchdown, which is really, as we know, kind of Newton's forte. So, you know, if someone like Deshaun Watson can have success that he did,

like you said, maybe Rivera can look at that and say, okay, let's start to let Cam Newton a little loose because I think everybody knows now, and even Newton said himself, he said, you know, it's gut check time for a lot of people, including myself. So I think if there's going to be a week for Rivera to start landing Newton loose again,

this is going to have to be the week because I think they're going to have to get really creative and really throw a lot at the Patriots to score points and keep up with them as best they can. Otherwise, it's going to be a long day. So, yeah, I would not be surprised if Newton starts running the ball a little more than he has these first three weeks. All right, Bill, now let's flip the script for a bit,

talk a little Tom Brady, talk a little Luke Kuechly. What have you seen so far from this Panthers defense? Obviously, gave up some points to Drew Brees last week, but what have been your thoughts on this defense so far? They've been flying around, Mark. They've really been the most impressive unit of this Panthers team so far. The front seven really has been as expected. They've been dominant. Three linebackers have been all over

the field. Thomas Davis making plays. Jack Thompson making plays. And of course the main man himself, Luke Peekley. But really it's the secondary I think that has stepped up well too. I thought they played really well the first couple weeks. Obviously had some mishaps against the Saints. But overall I thought the secondary has really stepped up and played much better than they did last season James Bradbury has really taken more of a leadership role of the secondary I think Kirk Coleman just continues to play well Mike Adams has had that veteran presence on defense so I think there's there's definitely times

where this Panthers defense and cause some problems for the Patriots offense. Addison can get after Brady. Short and Motulele are going to cause pressure up the middle. So I think that's really going to be some of the more fascinating matchups to watch, especially along the trenches. I think the two lines are really going to be an interesting note. Bill, obviously teams try to have a game plan for Rob Gronkowski when they come up against New England. What do you think Carolina is going to do in terms of Gronkowski?

Do you see this as a game where you're going to see a lot of Shaq Thompson on Gronkowski, or do they use a guy like maybe Mike Adams against Gronk? What do you think is going to happen there? Yeah, I mean, he's always tough to game plan against, isn't he? You can really move him all around. But I can definitely see Shaq Thompson, as athletic as he is, he could be the guy that will match him most often on Gronkowski. He's a guy that can really get physical at the line of scrimmage.

So try to jam him off, and the Panthers fans just hope and pray that they slow him down somehow. But, I mean, it's tough. You just never know what to expect out of Gronk or where he's going to line up. So it's going to be tough. I think it could be a mix, but Shaq could definitely be one of the main guys that will be on there. You know, Bill, you mentioned some of the main guys that'll be on there.

You know, Bill, you mentioned some of the guys up front, Charles Johnson, Mario Addison. You know, Nate Solder has been sort of a question mark here for New England, that left tackle spot. Do you think that there's a chance here that, you know, with some of those guys, they're going to be able to put some pressure packages in and get some pressure against Tom Brady off the edge, particularly going after Solder in that left tackle position? Yeah, absolutely. It's interesting, too, because he used to be one of the top guys. So it's kind of interesting to see sort of the decline that Solder's been on. But there's obviously a lot of guys.

You mentioned Charles Johnson, Mario Addison, even Peppers. Throw them out there and bring the backers. Even Thomas Davis. Thomas Davis is a guy that can get after the quarterback. So there will definitely be some times, I think, that you're going to see a lot of blitzes dialed up, and Solder's going to have to be on his game otherwise Brady could be on the ground

a few times. What we've seen from New England in the past couple weeks, it looks like they're moving more and more towards at least incorporating some of the vertical pass and attack. They obviously acquired Brandon Cooks they got Cooks on two deep passes this past week in that victory

over Houston. In terms of the secondary, do you think that there's a potential weakness back there for Carolina, for New England to maybe hit a couple shots deep to maybe make some big plays in this game? Yeah, there's going to be a weak link among the four main defensive

backs. It's going to be Darrell Worley. I think he has played better, though, as the season has gone on. He's gotten better since week one, but he still is a guy that the Patriots can probably pick on. He's definitely a guy you can put Brandon Cooks on him, and Cooks will probably burn him. And actually, you go back, it was actually Bradbury

who was burnt by Ted Ginn on the one touchdown the Saints got. Now, we credit that, of course, to just the pure speed that Ginn has. But, yeah, I think put Cooks on Worley, like I said, and I think Cooks is going to have a lot of success there. So I think there's your matchup to watch if you're on the Patriots' side and certainly one to worry about if you're on the other side. Bill, I'm going to ask you to sort of put your defensive coordinator hat on here

and ask you if you were a D.C. trying to come up with a game plan for Tom Brady, what would sort of be your point of emphasis? What would you want to make sure your guys try to do on every single snap to try to slow down Brady in this offense? Well, I'm a defensive line guy, so my focus is going to be on that front four. So I'm telling my defensive linemen, just do whatever the hell you can to get off your blocks. I would be telling guys like Lota Lele and Short,

just fight as hard as you can, get rid of those old linemen, and just get to Brady as quick as possible. And you mentioned before the weakness of Nate Solder. So I'd be bringing pressure on that side all day long until New England proves that they can stop it. All right, Bill, getting down here to the wire as I kind of try to do in all these crossover shows, man. Current line, New England, 8.5-point favorites with an over-under of 49.

You see that, that's a big number. What is your prediction for what we see on Sunday? That's a bit of a healthy spread, but my early thought is I think the Patriots can cover that. Because like I said, I'm just worried that the Panthers are going to struggle on offense in this game. You know, if they can't turn things around after what happened last week, I think it's going to be a long day. I'm thinking somewhere in the neighborhood of like, say, 34 to 20, somewhere around there, Patriots take this one. So I would say give me the eight and a half points and give me the over just because the Patriots are probably going to push it a little bit, as they tend to do quite often.

Bill, let me ask you this. You know, let's say, Let's say wherever you're watching the game, it gets to be halftime. What would have to happen in that first half for you to say, turn to your friends, turn to whoever you're watching the game with and say, okay, we got a game here that Carolina could win. What do you think would have to happen in that first half for you to kind of think, okay, Panthers are going to pull this one out? Offense has to be able to control the clock. If they can start to resemble a stronger running game and take time off the clock and keep

Brady off the field as much as possible, I think they're going to have a shot. Turnovers are going to be key. Sacks are going to be key. Like I said before, I think they've got to pressure Brady, attack that left side as much as possible until Solder can prove that he can stop the blitz and the rest of the line on that side can stop the blitz. So you've got to get turnovers. You've got to get to Brady.

You've got to, like I said, keep him off the field as much as possible. I mean, it sounds so cliche when talking about Brady and the Patriots, but especially for a team like the Panthers who just got embarrassed at home and playing on the road, that's really got to be the key for them. Control the clock, win the time of possession,

run the ball, and try to cause turnovers and maybe score off those turnovers. There you go, everybody. He is Bill Resetti. He is the host of Locked on Panthers. You can follow him. You should follow him on Twitter.

He is at Bill underscore Resetti, which is R-I-C-C-E-T-T-E. Again, host of Locked on Panthers. He's also a contributor to the Panthers Wire and Falcons Wire. Definitely check out Bill's work. Bill, I'm going to turn the mic to you. If I missed anything, plug it, man. Let the people know where to find you. You pretty much covered it.

Yeah, that's mostly all of my football stuff at this point are those three places. And then I do a little bit of college work as well. I'll probably be getting into the bowl predictions pretty soon on some of my side blogs. And then even college basketball, I'm pretty involved there. I try to cover bracketology as much as possible and cover the college game. So I'll be flipping back and forth in probably about a month and a half. So it's fun times for sure.

Definitely, my friend. He is Bill Resetti. Please do check him out. Also, again, check out the iTunes reviews. Go to the Locked On Panthers page on iTunes. Go to Locked On Patriots on iTunes. Leave reviews with your Twitter handle. Get yourself entered for that PFF subscription.

Trust me, you want one of these. I'm Mark Schofield, host of Locked On Patriots. Bill, you are? Locked on. There you go, buddy. He is Bill Ricetti, host of Locked On Panthers. I am Bill Ricetti. I am Mark Schofield, host of Locked On Patriots.

Thank you so much to listen to this week's crossover show. Trying to get you ready for that Panthers-Patriots tilt on Sunday. Bill will be back the rest of the week taking care of our Locked On Panthers. I'll be having some guests later on this week as well. We've got Miguel Benz on, Oli Conley. We're going to be doing some stuff later in this week. All to get you ready for Panthers-Patriots, 1 p.m. Eastern on Sunday. Until then, keep it locked on here to Locked On Patriots and LockedOnPanthers.

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