Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots September 3, 2018 - Practice Squad Roster, Donald and Mack, and Eye Candy

Episode Date: September 3, 2018

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello everybody, welcome to a special Labor Day edition of Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield back in the big chair for this Monday, September 3rd, 2018. A happy Labor Day to all the loyal Locked On Patriots listeners here in the States. I know our fellow Canadians to the north including Erica Prohl at Erica Holmes for you on Twitter. I know the Canadians as she told me they also celebrate Labor Day to a happy happy Labor Day to our Canadian

listeners out there and to those of you around the world tuning in thanks so much for listening to this Monday installment of your favorite Daily Patriots podcast and a bit of good news if you're listening to the show guess of your favorite daily Patriots podcast. And a bit of good news. If you're listening to the show, guess what? You haven't been cut by us here at Locked on Patriots. So congratulations for making the squad for the 2018 season.

Big show for you today. We're going to talk Aaron Donald and Khalil Mack getting paid. We're going to talk eye candy. Get your minds out of the gutters, boys and girls. There's a football reason for that. But first, we're going to talk the finalization of the New England Patriots practice squad, as well as two guys that they claimed off of waivers. Let's start with the New England Patriots practice squad as it currently stands right now.

And again, I am recording this on Sunday evening. Currently, the New England Patriots practice squad includes players such as Ralph Webb, who made it onto the practice squad, the running back from Vanderbilt, who kind of made a name for himself against Washington in that first preseason game. Ryland McCarron, a player that I thought was going to stick onto this roster, made it through the Patriots practice squad, cleared some waivers. Vincent Valentine onto the Patriots practice squad. He was a player that some people around the football media world thought Made it through the Patriots practice squad. Cleared some waivers. Vincent Valentine onto the Patriots practice squad.

He was a player that some people around the football media world thought might have sort of a breakout type season for the New England Patriots. And with him making it at least to the practice squad, that is still entirely possible. Harvey Lange, we talked about him in yesterday's cut down day show. Obviously, he has had a bit of a checkered start to his NFL career with some injuries and then the car accident that he was involved in. But the Patriots still see something in Harvey Lange, so he makes it onto the Patriots practice squad, as well as Cole Crosston and James Ferencz, two more offensive linemen in the

mix, and Jamal Wiltz, who is a reserve cornerback for the New England Patriots, who I had at one point making this team. I believe roster projections 1.0, I had him on. A little bit later this week, I'm going to do a sort of debrief on my roster projections, particularly roster projections 3.0. See what I got right.

See what I got wrong. First year I'd ever done anything like this. So the fact that I got somebody in addition to Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski making this team, I feel pretty decent about that. But of course, let's not forget the player that danced around right end and raced 86 yards into the practice squad of my heart, Danny Etlin,

cleared waivers back on the Patriots practice squad. So remember going into the final preseason game, a question that I had, does Etlin do enough to show that he can be a valuable contributor to this team as a member of the practice squad? Well, that question seems to be answered. Yes. So Danny Etlin, a member of this team on the New England Patriots practice squad. So it's fantastic to see that. Now we're going to talk briefly, ever so briefly, about the state of the current New England Patriots, this roster as I see it. And when I look at this team, when I look at, let's start on the offensive side of the ball, I do have two concerns, both of which may be in the process of being addressed. The first concern that I have is with the offensive line,

the depth on the offensive line. They went in, they decided to keep seven players on the 53-man roster. They just wanted Ted Karras and their Adrian Waddell as their swing type guys. Now, they do have Cole Croston on the practice squad. They do have James Ferencz on the practice squad. And Dante Skarnecchia addressed the media on Sunday today saying that, look, he anticipates them having eight players once they finally get to sort of game day rosters. And so I don't think they're done at the offensive line. But I would like to see them at least get one more guy back into the mix. And so will it be one of these two guys, Ferentz or Crosston, coming off the practice guard?

Do they make one more move at some point here? Do they claim somebody else on waivers? They've made two waiver claims already. There could be more coming. So that's one concern I have. And the other concern I have is, obviously, the wide receiver group. It does remain a bit of a concern for me. Now, I've said on this show,

I've said elsewhere, that look, they're going to run a lot more 12 personnel. As a matter of fact, that's something we've been talking about a lot over the Locked On Patriots Slack channel. We've been talking all afternoon about what we're expecting to see from this team

now that the roster seems to be close to finalized. So, you know, they might get, you know, bring somebody else in the mix at the wide receiver spot as well. But we also anticipate them running a lot of 12 personnel packages using James White and Rex Burkhead as well as more receivers than running backs. You know, because, you know, let's sort of think about the evolution of offensive football for a second

and how Bill Belichick often likes to stay ahead of the curve. Well, it got to be the point over the past couple of years now where 11 personnel, three wide receivers, got to be every team's base package, what they were running most of all. And as a result, more and more defenses began running 4-2-5 nickel groups, or even 3-3-5 nickel with extra defensive backs on the field in response. So that got to be, nickel became the new base defense in the NFL. But Belichick and other smart football minds always try to stay a step ahead of the curve, so to speak.

And so perhaps we're going to see again more of a switch for New England back to these multiple tight end groups, multiple running back groups, more one or two receiver type packages. Where again, you force the defense to decide, do we stay in base even though New England's coming out with a group

that has Gronkowski, Hogan, Dorsett, and then both James White and Rex Burkhead on the field or James White and James Devlin on the field. Do we stay in base against that two running back type package? Because if we do then they can spread you out and you're going to get James White

matched on a linebacker. You might get James Devlin matched on a linebacker in a situation where he could make a move and go or youer in a situation where he could make a move and go. Or you might get a situation where the defense is in zone and you've got James Devlin split out wide with a cornerback lined up across the room, meaning somewhere else in the

field you might have a Chris Hogan or Phillip Dorsett matched up against a linebacker in a zone coverage area. And so we are anticipating that. But still, it does feel like it's a thin, wide receiver group. So the Patriots did make two waiver claims.

They put claims on Amari Darbo and Chad Hanson. Hanson formerly with the New York Jets. Darbo came out of the University of Michigan. He was most recently with the Seattle Seahawks. Darbo was drafted in the third round by Seattle. Hanson drafted in the fourth round by the New York Jets. And, you know, let's start with Hanson, who, you know, if there was another thing that you were worried about after losing Eric Decker,

that being the, shall we say, overall aesthetic of the New England Patriots with guys like Tom Brady, with guys like Julian Edom, well, Chad Hansen, a very handsome man. So there's that, which is nice. But when you look at Chad Hansen, a guy that was a real late bloomer, didn't start, didn't really contribute to his high school team until his senior year.

He had one scholarship offer from Idaho State, started 11 games there, sat out, transferred to Cal, put up huge numbers during his career at Cal. When you look at his draft profile, very good in terms of tracking the ball in the air, very good body control, strong hands, can secure in traffic, didn't give you a ton of the route tree and that's a red flag for me, at least when you're thinking about the New England Patriots and his transition to this offense. Very upright. Can get jammed, particularly against stronger press corners. Didn't see a ton of press in college, but when he did, it gave him trouble. So that's going to be an adjustment for him. It was an adjustment for him, obviously, with the Jets.

So Hanson, there's something there, but it's a kick the tires type situation. He's a player that didn't make it into our ITP draft guide that season. We only did a top 100. But a player that did make it in was Darbo. Justin Twell, who is a great, great, great wide receiver scout, does great work for us over at InsideThePylon.com. You can check him out on Twitter.

He's a Jets fan, so he's loving life right now. He's at Justin12, T-W-E-L-L-78. You can check him out on Twitter. He was our lead scout on Darbo. And he basically said, look, in terms of a scheme fit, solid possession receiver in the NFL will fit into an offense that is efficient and uses him as a safety valve for the quarterback to win in contested catch situations. He's a receiver who can be productive in the intermediate level of the field. He could find a lot of success in

third down passing situations. He could be a solid dependable possession receiver as, at worst, a high-end number three receiver for a team. That sounds like something that the Patriots could certainly use right now. And so while I'm cautiously, I don't want to go, well, I'm cautiously intrigued about these two additions to the New England Patriots roster, these two guys that got signed. So, you know, two interesting names at the wide receiver group. So, you know, the questions sort of that I have, offensive line, wide receiver on the offensive side of the I have, offensive line, wide receiver,

on the offensive side of the ball, I think they're largely getting answered. Let's talk defense for a minute, and I'll say it right now. I know that games haven't started yet. I know that once the games start, once we see Deshaun Watson here in week one, who we're going to talk about a little bit later in the show, things can change. But right now, on paper, I like this defense. I like the guys up front,

the four interior defensive linemen. Those are the guys I identified from roster projections 1.0. They all made the team. I like this edge group. I think there's some versatility in the guys up front. I think this edge group has the potential to be, finally, the past Russian group that the Patriots fan base has been clamoring for

for what seems like generations. I'm overstating it, but it seems like it's been a while. I like this linebacker group. I think Jamal Bentley brings something. I can't quite put my finger on it, but he brings a sideline-to-sideline almost element that I missed in him when I was evaluating him, but obviously the Patriots coaching staff saw in him. Because he was an afterthought-type guy down in Mobile.

Doesn't play like an afterthought, at least right now. I think this is a good cornerback group. I love the fact that both these young kids made it. That brings me so much joy, and that brings me so much hope for the future of this secondary because let's face it, guys like Rowe and Gilmore, they're not going to be around forever. You get two young corners.

Maybe both of them don't develop fully, but maybe one of them does. Maybe both of them actually do. I think that's fantastic. And I think, look, the safety group, it's a solid part of this defense. With McCourty, now the second McCourty with Jason McCourty, learning some safety. So I'm very excited about this defense sitting here right now on Labor Day weekend.

Obviously that could change in a matter of days. But sitting here right now, I'm excited about this defense sitting here right now on Labor Day weekend. Obviously, that could change in a matter of days. But sitting here right now, I'm excited about this defense. So, as a whole, haven't had a night to sleep on it. Looking back, very excited about the New England Patriots right now. Again, games haven't started to count yet. It could all change. But up next, we're going to look outside the Patriots for a bit. We're going to talk two defensive players getting paid,

including some thoughts from Lauren Cox, the host of Locked On Bears. You will sense in a moment that feeling of unbridled joy and possibility. That's all I had next with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield's back with you on this Labor Day edition of Locked On Patriots, and we're going to talk defense. We're going to talk two defensive players who got paid over the past week or so. Aaron Donald and Khalil Mack. We'll start with Donald, who was a holdout, as both of these players were, with the Los Angeles Rams.

After more than 18 months of negotiations, those ended Friday, right before Labor Day recap. With Donald signing a six-year contract extension with the Rams, the deal worth $135 million, including $87 million guaranteed. It's the richest defensive deal in NFL history, or at least it was for a short time being. A deal that could potentially keep the defensive end, the defensive tackle with the Rams through the 2024 season. It's a fantastic deal and it's in line with what the Rams have been doing this offseason. You know, six years, $135 million with $87 guaranteed.

That's for him. Brandon Cooks, five years, $81 million with $50.5 million guaranteed. Todd Gurley, four years, $57.5 million with $45 million guaranteed. Rod Havenstein, an offensive tackle, four years, $32.5 million with $16.2 million guaranteed. So the Rams are spending a ton of money. And let's not forget, they also traded for Aqib Tlaib and Marcus Peters. They also signed Ndamukong Su. Look, some of you that follow me on Twitter that know me, you know I play a lot of video games.

I've been playing some PUBG lately with my boys, Michael Kist, Joe Ferriola, Nick Falato, Bryce Rossler. We play a lot of PUBG. We like to drop on the desert map into a place that we call Casa de Mich. It's the Hacienda. It's usually right in the middle of the map, and it's usually just an absolute absolute

free for all where you'll probably die in the first 30 seconds of playing that game of that match because it's just an absolute melee that's the NFC this year and you can add the Chicago Bears into the mix as we will in a second as we talk about Khalil Mack but

how are the Rams able to do this? Again, more and more people have been saying it over the past couple of days. The biggest competitive advantage you can get, short of having an Aaron Rodgers or a Tom Brady as your quarterback, is having something on the other end of the spectrum, which is a competent, capable rookie quarterback on his rookie deal. Look at how the Rams are loading up.

Look at what the Bears just did. If you've got just enough confidence in that guy, load up the talent around him. And if you think, you know, Rams fans are optimistic right now. Let's listen to Lauren Cox, the host of Locked on Bears, who does such great work covering the Bears over at Locked on Bears. I've been on his show a lot.

He's a fantastic, fantastic football mind. You can follow him on Twitter at Cox, C-O-X-S-P-O-R-T-S-1. That's Cox Sports 1, the number 1. You want to hear unbridled optimism or somewhat pretty close to it when trying to stay objective? Let's listen to Lauren. This is Lauren Cox from Locked On Bears. And let's get into the big trade of the weekend,

the blockbuster of the NFL season. Khalil Mack traded to the Chicago Bears in exchange for a bevy of draft picks. And the Bears actually get some draft picks back in the process. It was a pretty well-regarded trade for the Bears and a lot of criticism headed over at the Oakland Raiders and John Gruden as a result. We'll try and avoid that here, but I want to touch on some of the biggest factors and the biggest takeaways that kind of come into this. For the Chicago Bears, this is a team that was ready for this type of a move. Not a lot of teams can really sit there and afford to send their two next

first round picks, a future third round pick for this type of player. But in terms of a roster composition standpoint, the Bears had a significant weakness at outside linebacker. Khalil Mack is the perfect fit in Vic Fangio's defense. He's already drawing some comparisons to being sort of the Alden Smith of Vic Fangio's 49ers defense, and Roquan Smith then gets to be Patrick Willis, and Akeem Hicks on the defensive line gets to be Justin Smith. But the Bears, from a roster composition standpoint, are sitting here with most of their starters pretty well under contract and young. There's not a lot of positions on this team that they're really going to need to upgrade with a high draft pick in the next couple of drafts. I mean, they've got their two cornerbacks under roster on pretty long contracts that they just signed this offseason. They've got Kwiatkowski and Danny Trevathan and Roquan Smith at that inside linebacker spot. Pretty well locked down for the foreseeable future. Defensive line is more or less young and blooming on the offensive side. You know, they invest in all these wide receivers this offseason with Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel,

and then they drafted Anthony Miller. Those guys are here for the long haul. Invested a four-year deal in Trey Burton. Got a young running back in Jordan Howard. And then of course, the man under center, Mitch Trubisky. All these guys are pretty well locked into Chicago for at least the next two years when they won't have their first round picks. So it's not as though they'll have this glaring need to use a first round pick to add a young impact player necessarily at any position and a lot of this deal comes back to that last guy Mitch Trubisky the Bears are in this window to win a championship where you're not paying your quarterback all that much I think his cap hit only gets up to eight or nine million dollars at the end of his contract and in a per year average I believe he is the 26th highest paid quarterback just on a year-to-year

salary basis. So that gives the Bears the opportunity to make Kuliamak the highest paid defensive player in the NFL. Right after just signing Kyle Fuller to a big contract, Alan Robinson to a big contract, Trey Burton to a big contract, Allen Robinson to a big contract, Trey Burton to a big contract, the Bears have money to spend and they understand that this is the time to spend it because three or four years from now, if Mitch Trubisky pans out the way the team wants him to and the team thinks he will, he's going to garner a pretty big contract that you see a lot of quarterbacks get. And we've seen teams throughout the league. Think of the Seattle Seahawks. When Russell Wilson was on his rookie deal,

they afforded all those great defensive players, built the Legion of Boom, and went on a Super Bowl run. But then you pay him that big contract. When that contract expires, it's hard to keep those pieces together. And all of a sudden, they missed the playoffs this year. So you have to capitalize on this window while your quarterback is still on his rookie contract. For the Bears, capitalizing on it meant adding a former defensive player of the year at the biggest position of need and now they're in position to try and be a surprise playoff team this year, trying to emulate the 2017 Los Angeles Rams. At the very least, the Chicago Bears are going to be a fun team in 2018. For more Chicago Bears analysis, make sure you check out Locked On Bears here on the

Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. Again, that's Loren Cox, host of Locked On Bears. You can check out him at CoxSports1, the number one on Twitter. And long-time listeners to this show probably know the fact that I reference Tony Kornheiser a ton. You know, when I moved to the D.C. area, I read him, I watched him, I watched PTI, I listened to his radio show, listened to his podcast. And that reminds me of when Steven Strasburg first started

pitching for the Nationals. And he would always, corners would always say, the era of unbridled optimism is here. Well, that's what Bears fans are starting to experience. Guys like Lauren Cox, guys like Justin Twill. The era of unbridled optimism is here because this was a defense that looked to be pretty good. Added Roquan Smith. Obviously, he had the holdout. Now you add Khalil Mack as well. That has the potential, the potential to be a top 10 defense, maybe even top like seven defense in the league.

And you look at some of the things they did on the offensive side of the ball. They bring in Trey Burton. They add Allen Robinson. Getting contributions from guys like, you know, obviously Howard, Tariq Cohen. They're going to follow. This is a

copycat league after all. They're going to follow that Jacksonville Jaguars, you know, roadmap to success. Run game, defense, minimize what the quarterback has to do. Then let's not forget with the addition of Matt Nagy. They've been doing some ton of stuff.

I'm working on a piece that's going up over a Pro Football Weekly early into the next week here about my first installment of my series, my season-long series covering the development of Mitchell Trubisky and his new relationship with Matt Nagy. And look, they're doing some RPO stuff.

They're doing some air raid kind of stuff, giving them some quicker decisions, quicker reads, they're doing some RPO stuff. They're doing some air rate kind of stuff, giving them some quicker decisions, quicker reads, helping them get the ball out quickly. They're going to minimize what Trubisky has to do with that defense, with everything else Chicago can put on the field. They might be competitive now in the NFC North and the NFC overall. Again, that NFC is just going to be a bloodbath this year. And so two defensive players getting paid, optimism in LA, optimism in Chicago, and these Chicago Bears now are a team that the New England Patriots are going to have to deal with in the regular season.

The Patriots getting that NFC North schedule this year. And so Khalil Mack, AFC West quarterbacks rejoice, AFC East quarterbacks now, they're going to have to face him this year. And so, Khalil Mack, AFC West quarterbacks rejoice, AFC East quarterbacks now, they're going to have to face him this year. Up next, we're going to talk eye candy. No, get your minds out of the gutters, friends. This relates to the Houston Texans

as we start to get ready for week one of the NFL season. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield, back with you to close out Schofield, and Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield, back with you to close out this Labor Day installment of Locked On Patriots. And we're going to start

looking at the Houston Texans because, look, I'm recording this Sunday afternoon. This time next week, Patriots might be 1-0. Patriots might be 0-1.

And so it's time to start thinking about Houston. And I want to talk about eye candy. And I know, look, obviously eye candy has a couple of different meanings. But I want to focus with a meaning on the football world. I want to start with a quote from Jimbo Fisher, formerly of Florida State, now at Texas A&M. And at the 2015 Nike coaching clinic, Fisher gave a presentation on the over pattern. A cross and route for one receiver in the progression of the play.

Just one cross and route. But Fisher took the observers of his coaching clinic presentation through eight different variations of the concept. From trips Y over, to trips Z over, to bunch Z over, to double post X over, to Y over XB,B to X over two backs to bunch Z over to, well, you'll probably get the point by now. But then he talked a little bit about eye candy. And he said, it does not matter to the quarterback what formation or combination of receivers I run. He always knows the progression of his read. He looks post to the over route to the flat route. It is the same high, low read for him regardless of the formation. I can get creative with the motions in the formation, but he is still thinking post over flat.

An offensive coordinator, they can dress a play up however they want, but in the end, if you've got a good concept, if the read structure is still the same for the quarterback, you're going to help your quarterback be successful while at the same time confusing the defense. That's eye candy. Let's put it another way. We all saw Nick Saban lose his mind with Maria Taylor when he was asked about the quarterbacks

on the Alabama roster right now. But last year he was asked about Matt Canada and the LSU Tigers Matt Canada their offensive coordinator and Saban had this to say sort of eye candy I call it for a defensive player it makes a guy not focus on his real keys and play fast and remember that you've got to play block protection you've got to tackle you've got to play the plays you've got to read the keys and do your job. It is a little different, especially from anything that we've seen this year. Again, eye candy.

Similarly, Navy. We know Navy runs the flex bone. We know the triple option stuff. But lately, they've been incorporating shotgun stuff into their offense. And their head coach described it as window dressing. And last year after a victory over Air Force, he told me to remember, look, I'm the cake boss. I just tell them what to cook, what kind of cake to make,

and they do everything. They design it. That's all Coach Jasper and his staff. And in that game against Air Force, even though the quarterback lined up in the shotgun, they used the same three-back triple option type plays with the same zone-blocking schemes. It's just a different look to confuse a defense.

Again, eye candy. Doing a bunch of stuff to confuse the defense, but still running the core components of your offense. Which brings me to Bill O'Brien and Deshaun Watson. Because a lot of people remember last year, and before he was drafted, people were wondering if Deshaun Watson could run an NFL offense. So what does Bill O'Brien do?

He takes an NFL concept, the Yankee concept, something we've talked about on the show, deep post route, somewhat less deep crossing route, two receiver, max protection type thing, and he gives it a ton of eye candy. I've got a piece now on insidethepylon.com talking about eye candy and how the Texans used this last year. You look at their game against Seattle, and they dress it up, but everything is the same for Watson. Remember Fisher's words, it is the same high-low read for him regardless of the formation. I can get creative with the formations and the motion,

but he's still thinking post, over, flat. It's the same thing here. Against the Texans, they have a first-and-ten situation with the football on their own 39-yard line. Watson's in the shotgun. They have 11 offensive personnel, one runner back, one tight end, three receivers. They've got the tight end in the backfield to the left of Watson with Lamar Miller also in the backfield

to the right of the quarterback. Two receivers are on a slot to the left to the right, excuse me with Will Fuller split alone to the left. And what they do on this play is they bring slot receiver Bruce Ellington in motion towards the backfield going starting behind the quarterback. That's before the play. And right at the snap of the ball, he then flares out back towards the sideline where he came from to show a swing route.

So you've got that. You've got the pre-snap motion and then the swing route from the slot receiver. The two guys in the backfield, the tight end and the running back, they then implement what looks to be a split zone running play. The tight end who's on the left, he blocks to the right end. Watson fakes a handoff to Miller. So as this play begins, you've got the motion and then the slot receiver swinging back towards that right sideline where he started from on that side of the field.

You've got the run action up front. Watson takes a snap. He fakes a handoff to Miller. He fakes a swing route to that slot receiver. Then what happens? All it is is the Yankee concept. All it is is the deep post route and that dig route over the middle, that deep dig route.

Watson does all these fakes and stuff, but all he's really thinking is post to over. It's just like what Fisher was talking about. That eye candy. All it is is window dressing. It's showy for the defense to get them to, as Saban talked about, forget their keys. Forget their responsibilities.

And what happens on this play is linebacker K.J. Wright gets caught looking at all of that stuff before finally realizing what's going on, getting back into his zone, and by the time he does that, Deshaun Hopkins has run right past him. It's a simple throw, but all of that eye candy in the backfield has screwed up this defense, has screwed up one particular player, K.J. Wright. And DeAndre Hopkins just runs right by him. So that's something that the Patriots have to start being worried about

as we look ahead to the Houston Texans. The eye candy. Because to ease Deshaun Watson's transition into the National Football League, Bill O'Brien stuck with some core concepts, threw some eye candy on it, and was able to fake defenses out of their shoes. The Patriots are going to have to

be very, very disciplined on Sunday when they go up against this offense. That will do it for today's show. I will be back tomorrow helping to get you ready. We're into Texans week now. We are on to Houston. So we're going to start getting you guys ready for that.

Loaded shows for you this week. We're going to do some crossover stuff. We'll get a guest on. We'll have a game day edition. Before you know it, it will be Sunday morning and that's Sunday morning tailgate show.

And again, before I go, remember we've got the conversation going 24-7 over at the Locked On Patriots Slack channel. Shoot me up. Hit me up for an invite at Mark Schofield on Twitter. Mark.Schofield.

That's InsideThePylon.com. Happy to get you in there. Like I said, the conversation is nonstop over there as well. Until next time, have a fantastic end to the summer, everybody. Here with the unofficial end to the summer with Labor Day weekend. For those of you, including my son, Owen, who are going to be headed back to school on Tuesday. Enjoy that last, last night of summer.

But the school year is going to be fun. It's going to get off to a great start for all of you as well. Until next time, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots.