Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots September 30, 2018 - Glorious Victory Edition

Episode Date: October 1, 2018

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Don't Worry Cause every little thing's gonna be alright And you don't worry about a thing How's everybody feeling right now? You feeling a little bit better? You feeling a little bit relaxed? I'm feeling a little bit more relaxed. Mark Schofield here with you on this glorious victory edition of Locked On Patriots. And as you heard, a little bit different music. I thought it fit.

I thought it fit for a number of reasons. One, it just kind of soothes you, the message. Every little thing, it's going to be all right, everybody. Number two, look, you're probably going to be listening to this on Monday, October 1st. That means, look, I'm one of those people that, you know, what did I do Sunday? Among other things, I got into the crawl space. I dug out all the Halloween decorations. I got the big bin out.

I'm ready to go. I'm going to put up some Halloween lights. It's decorative gourd season. I love October. I'm one of those people that just absolutely loves October. We got fall baseball. You hear that song? If you're a Red Sox fan, you flash back to 2013 and some good memories there.

But it just felt better today. All that angst, all that consternation. I was chatting with Erica Pearl at Erica Holmes for you on Twitter after this game. This one, no sky falling, right? It just feels better. So every little thing, at least for the today, is all right. The New England Patriots taking care of business, reestablishing themselves as a team to at least not forget about, let's put it that way,

with a 38-7 victory over the previously undefeated Miami Dolphins. We've got a loading show for you today. Going to do the great, going to do the good, going to do the bad. Some game balls, the take of the game from the Locked On Patriots Slack channel. Got a new sponsor to talk to you guys about. Before we get into all of that, a reminder to follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. Check out the work at places like

InsideThePylon.com, Pro Football Weekly, The Score, Matt Waldman's Rookie Scouting Portfolio, Big Blue View, part of the SB Nation family of websites. And it just feels better today. It's good to have a glorious victory episode

because let's face it, while I do love my friends over at Spike Seltzer, I don't need to rely on them. I don't need to turn to them for cold, cold, crisp, and refreshing comfort this fine morning, or actually it is still uneven because the Patriots take care of business. Some big picture type stuff,

some big picture type stuff on the great portion of this show. The defense. Feel much, much better about the defense right now than you did sort of coming into this game. Coming into this game, I think everybody was pretty terrified about what this defense might look like,

how this Dolphins passing game might sort of expose some of the deficiencies we've seen on this defensive side of the ball. But you look at what the defense is able to do. You hold Ryan Tandentill to just 100 yards passing. You hold Frank Gore to just 41 yards rushing. Their leader receiver, Kenny Stills, has three catches for 40 yards. We'll get into third down stuff in a minute, but just generally speaking, Dolphins, 3 of 11 on third downs. 45 plays, 172 yards on 11 drives, just 3.8 yards per play. Just a very, very impressive stand from this defense. You also have two turnovers from the defense, one a fumble in a sort of a botch snap

situation, one an interception. JC Jackson not seen his first career NFL interception. So a defense, very impressive. Building off of that, run defense was impressive. We're going to talk about some specific stuff in a little minute. Offensive run game execution, the guys up front, James Devlin, both Sonny Michelle and James White just a tremendous effort from those guys we're going to talk about some specific places we get through things both great and good but I thought generally speaking the run game on both sides of the ball I'm going to highlight a specific player here Kyle Van Noy I was very impressed with his day from early through the fumble recovery through late chasing down guys from behind

you know on the stat sheet he just had four tackles two of them solo one quarterback hit and yes the fumble recovery which is a fantastic effort play i mean you've got some other guys with great numbers as well laurence guy five tackles two of them solo two quarterback hits john simon we're going to talk about him in a bit but he is nauseous a sack five tackles two solo and he was basically been with New England for about 15 seconds. And so just a fantastic game from a lot of guys up on that defensive side of the ball, but I sort of wanted to highlight Kyle Van Noy there.

We mentioned the third down stuff. Dolphins just 3 of 11. Patriots 10 of 15 on third downs. That's a complete flip of the script over the past couple of weeks when they struggled to stay on the field on those third down situations, struggled to convert some third downs. Fantastic job by the Patriots on third down in this game. Some specific plays.

All three of the touchdown passes were just things of beauty, whether it was Philip Dorsett. Another fantastic red zone route. We talked about that against Houston, that route he ran on the back line of the end zone, that toggle concept, while another one where he just runs that out route, sinks his hips, gets into his break, and just a fantastic catch, just a fantastic sort of hands grab in the end zone for a touchdown.

The James White touchdown, we'll have to ding Brady a little bit as we get into the bad section of this show because he did miss some stuff. But if you want to talk about a high-level type play, Tom Brady on that throw to James White, I mean, he's pressured. It's kind of a chuck and duck situation where you know you're going to take a hit as a quarterback,

but just lofts it towards the back corner of the end zone. You want to talk about an anticipation throw. That's an anticipation throw. And then finally, the touchdown to Patterson. That was on one of those real concepts, R-E-E-L, as pointed out by zach dunn at zach as done on twitter somebody pinged me and zach and matt bowen right when that play happened on twitter about you know how it was a great little design and you know zach pulled it up right out

of the patriots playbook you know it's called the real concept you've got the inside receiver running that wheel route the outside receiver runs sort of a return route where he starts to slant on the inside, but then breaks to the outside. But in the playbook, the coaching point is you basically want to aim for the guy over that inside receiver. It's a designed rub or pick play. You want to aim for his shoulder. You want to get in his way, at least force him to go over the top of that, you know, to allow that receiver, in this case Patterson to sort of break to the outside and break vertically great catch and then run after the catch by Patterson fantastic fantastic stuff over there some other individual stuff I thought Dante Hightower had a

great game but a good game we're to talk about him in the next segment but the Miami's second drive of the game second 10 situation you know he has a fantastic play where he reads the hole, recognizes it, explodes, fits with the run fit perfectly, sheds the block, stops the running back, no gain, fantastic play there. At the end of this drive, it's another third-intent situation, one of those you've got to get off the fields. Tannehill in the gun alone. Seven defensive backs. Pressure late from Kyle Van Nooy impacts the throw. It's short of Kenny Stills. Dolphins

have to punt. Fantastic job. We talked about the Patterson touchdown already. Some run blocking stuff here. New England's fourth drive of the game. We're into the second quarter now. James Devlin, fantastic, fantastic lead block on a power design. Marcus Cannon blocks down. Devlin fills the hole and kicks out the defensive end. You get a great run behind him. A couple of plays later, another great hole. Joe Tooney with a quick little pull. You get a nice little kick out there as well. A nice big hole, which is for a five-yard game, but it's great execution. And they come back to that they come back to that on their next drive the reason they're able to come back to it so

quickly kyle van noy you know with that fumble recovery great effort play from him gives the patriots the ball then they run the same trap you get the same trap as we just talked about with you get an initial hole joe thudy comes around white with great vision when he cuts back Shaq Mason gets the second level and get it blocked downfield from Josh Gordon as well for that touchdown run just a fantastic job of play calling there by Josh McDaniels you get the quick turnaround you come back to a play that just worked for you and you get a touchdown run on a great vision there from James White you know there was another zone lead play with James Devlin

dapping up Sonny Michel after the run. James Devlin had a great game. James Devlin had a great game. I'm going to do some Sonny Michel stuff in a minute, but I'm very impressed with him. We're going to get to him in the good part of the game. A play that actually went for a big game. This is after it's already 31-0.

I just wanted to highlight this. This is one of those don't-do-box-score-scouting. Stephon Gilmore. There's a play late in the third quarter. It's already 31-0, so this matters not in the stat sheet because it goes for a good gain for Miami because Tannehill gets to his second read. But Tannehill opens under center, opens to his right.

He wants to throw a slant route to that side. Gilbert jumps it, gets inside of it, takes it away, forces him to get to his second read. That's one of those moments where probably not a play people will talk about, but it's just one guy doing his job and doing it well and forcing the quarterback to make another read, go through his progression. I thought that was a fantastic play. The touchdown run, Sotomayor's first NFL touchdown, lo and behold, Trent Brown, get it into space, pulling in front of it. Man, the guy must listen to the show because I was out there saying, look, I'm not so sure he can pull.

I'm not so sure that he can do stuff like this. I'm really not sure about it. Well, he's making me eat some crow because he really did a great job getting out in front of that, getting out into space, showing some athleticism. I was very, very, very impressed with him. Up next, we're going to do the good stuff from New England's 38-7 victory over the Miami Dolphins on this glorious victory edition of Locked On Patriots. But first, look, we all love a night out, whether it's seeing our favorite band in person or being there in the crowd to cheer on our New England Patriots. With Vivid Seats, you can attend the concert, show, or sport event of your choice at a great price.

Vivid Seats is the top source for tickets for all the live events you want to go to. Like me, going to Toto in just about a month. I cannot wait. Friends, you got to follow me on Twitter at MarkSofian because you know you're going to see me sit in Africa live. I digress though. Vivid Seats, you can sort by price or look for seats in the section or row of your choice. And to make things even better, Vivid Seats has given listeners an exclusive promo code for new customers to receive $20 off orders of $200 or more to save even more money. Go to the App Store or Google Play and download the Vivid Seats app. Then use promo code LOCKEDON for $20 off orders of $200 or more as a new customer of Vivid Seats. Every purchase, it's backed by a 100% buyer guarantee from the biggest concerts and games to the hottest

theater shows and more and vivid seats has it all download the app enter promo code locked on for 20 off orders of 200 or more as a new customer of vivid seats make a memory that lasts a lifetime and that vivid seats helped you get there i'll be next with the good from today's 38-7 victory over the Miami Dolphins. Mark Sofio back with you now, basking in the warm glow of a glorious victory episode of the Locked On Patriots. New England Patriots taking care of business today against the Miami Dolphins. Let's talk about some good stuff now. Some big picture Brady pocket movement. You guys know, if you've listened to this show long enough, you know that I could wax

poetically about Tom Brady's pocket movement for hours and hours and hours on end. I won't bore you with it right now, but again, Tom Brady just moves around the pocket so incredibly well. Sonny Michel. We can talk big picture on Sonny Michel's day. We're going to spend a lot of time talking about Sonny Michel and the phrase getting skinny over the next couple of minutes here. But 25 carries for 112 yards and one touchdown. I thought the Patriots did seemingly a much better job in terms of getting away from the predictability factor that we talked about last week. It didn't seem like they were forcing touches his way. He wasn't really involved so much in the pass game.

It was more of a run game focus. You know, you look atelle and his involvement in the passing game he wasn't even targeted it wasn't like they were forced feeding on targets now some of that might have been the josh gordon factor gordon two catches for 32 yards you know we're going to talk about one of his plays here in a minute but i thought getting him involved in the goal line how bad did you guys want to see josh gordon scoring that first catch but back to sony michelle a very impressive day, I think. And this is something I talked about with Evan Lazar and Adam Kirchhen

on their show, the All-22 podcast, late last week. It seems like he's starting to get a better feel for the timing of blocks developing in front of him. At least it felt that way today.

So huge day for him. JC Jackson, getting on the board with the interception. And that was a fantastic, fantastic play from him. That was a vertical route, stays right on the hip with the interception. And that was a fantastic, fantastic play from him. That was a vertical route. Stays right on the hip.

Does a great job getting his head around right at the right time to sort of pick up where the ball is, track it in flight, make the interception. The pass, sure, it was underthrown. But I'm not going to let that get me down. I'm not going to let that get me down at all. I thought that was a fantastic play. Something to give the young cornerback some confidence as we head into the rest of what will be a short week here.

We've got a quick turnaround to take on the Indianapolis Colts. Dante Hightower. Talk about another man that probably listened to the show and read the tweets because he was basically left for dead over the past couple of weeks. People not excited at all about what Dante Hightower was doing. I thought he had a very, very solid day. We already talked about one of his plays.

Not a huge day numbers-wise. Two tackles, one solo. But I thought between that play, I thought between a couple of times when he was down helping set the edge, really forcing guys like Gore and Kenny Drake to turn it back to the inside where he's got help. I thought it was a very solid do-your-job type of performance from Dante Hightower,

and so I was very happy to see that. And speaking of this defense, the pass rush, they were getting home or at least forcing some pressure with three, with four. In terms of sacks, they only notched two, but you get five quarterback hits on Ryan Tannehill. When Tannehill only dropping back 20 times or more, approximately 25 or so, that's pretty good. I thought they did a very good job generating some pressure,

getting some hits on them. Guys like Lawrence Guy gets a couple of hits on him. Simon got a hit. Kyle Van Nooy got a hit on him. We already talked about that play. So I think it was a much better performance from this pass for us up front. Let's talk about some of the good stuff we saw. Miami had a 3rd and 10 situation on the second drive now we get

a penalty we're talking about penalties in a minute but you get pressure that causes a high throw and it's an incompletion now without the penalty you're off the field on third down pressure influencing it there same thing on a second and ten play just a couple plays later play action pass from ryan tanhill he's forced off a spot due to pressure takes a deep shot and you get great coverage from Stephon Gilmore another good play Cyrus Jones he had a good punt return to help set up New England's first touchdown drive you know he catches it near his own 10 yard line gets upfield gets it up to about the 30 I thought that was a really good play helps you know getting him into the flow of the game getting getting the New England Patriots in a better field position.

As I was just talking about Dante Hightower, there's a second and 10 situation where him and Wise are really on the edge. They force Gore back into the inside to give Miami a third and eight situation. And on the next play, Gilmore is step for step with the wide receiver. The pass goes incomplete. Dolphins have to punt. That was a very good play. And it's an example of what we were talking about with Devlin. The pass goes incomplete. Dolphins have to punt. That was a very good play. And it's an example of what we were talking about with Devlin.

Philip Dorsett. This is a play that I loved. A third and 11 situation. This is the drive that he capped off with a touchdown catch. But they had a third and 11. That touchdown of his doesn't happen if he doesn't make a play here on this third and 11. Brady is pressured. You see that great pocket movement.

Then he attempts a sort of fadeaway long throw on this comeback route to Dorsett that comes short of the sticks. Dorsett makes the catch short of the sticks, but he's able to make a move on the defender, get around him, get upfield, and get the first down. Makes that first defender miss, gets that critical yardage after the catch, keeps the drive alive. That's what you've got to do.

You want to get in the end zone? You've got to keep drives alive. Get a sack on Miami's ninth drive of the game. Adrian Claiborne forces him to climb, and Butler's there to clean it up with the sack. Adam Butler will refer his sack on today. Fantastic play there. Let's talk Sonny Michel.

One of the things that I was chatting with Evan Lazar and Adam Kirchner about when it came to Sonny Michel was I felt he needed to do a much better job of sort of getting skinny, getting skinny through the hole. When he was at Georgia playing behind guys like Isaiah Wynn, he was running through some pretty big holes. And there you sort of saw the burst and the athleticism and the change of direction and things like that to get through big holes. But there's holes in the college game, and then there are holes in the NFL game. And holes in the NFL game are much smaller, much narrower, much thinner.

So as a runback, you've got to do a very good job of sort of getting yourself skinny, not giving the defenders a targeting, getting through those, and then bursting into the second level. Think of Deion Lewis. Evan actually brought Deion Lewis up. He was a guy that's able to do such a great job at getting skinny. And I thought Michelle, throughout this game, did a great job of those moments of getting skinny, identifying that, look, okay, when I was in college,

I saw that. I didn't think it was a hole, and I looked elsewhere. Now in the NFL, I now know, look, that's a hole, and I can get through it. You know, there's an expression, sort of running through smoke. Ted Wynn, now of the athletic form, relieved inside the pylon. He did a great series for us over at ITP. He talked to Penn State's running back coach, the guy that was coaching Saquon Barkley, and he talked about running through smoke.

It's kind of like that scene from Days of Thunder where you've got to trust that you can get through there and you've got to find a way to do it. So, DeMichel is starting to run through smoke now, and that's an incredible thing to see for his development. So, that's some of the good stuff that we saw from the New England Patriots. We're going to do some bad. Yeah, even when we still talk about the bad stuff, that's ahead. But first, I want to let you guys know about a fantastic, fantastic new partner we have to the Locked On Patriots podcast. That's our great friends over at Loci. You want a little extra swag for game day?

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to take advantage of this amazing deal. Trust me, these are low-K eye bracelets. They will help keep you grounded while flashing those Patriots colors while you do it. Up next, some of the bad from New England's 38-7 victory over the Miami Dolphins. Mark Schofield back with you now to close out this glorious victory edition of Locked On Patriots. And we do have to talk the two Brady interceptions. We can sort of deal with the second one first.

That came late in the game, and the game was already decided. And he was pressured. It was a set and reset type of moment. And I think he just kind of forced one in to Philip Dorsett, And, you know, he was pressured. It was a set and reset type of moment. And I think he just kind of forced one in to Philip Dorsett, who he had a good relationship with today. So that was a decision that, you know, I sort of questioned that. Probably didn't need to force that in that situation.

But, you know, it happens. The other interception, wasn't quite sure. I think, you know, the color analyst during the game mentioned this too. They were running what's called a dagger concept, where you have the outside receiver running the dig route, inside receiver is running the seam. So basically the way this is supposed to work is that inside seam route clears out that area of the field, whether it's zone or man, and then that dig route is what you want to throw working in right behind it.

The problem was McLean, the defender who was covering that seam route, whether it was film study or just veteran player intuition or whatever, he sees that dig route coming, so he just drops off. He passes off the seam route to the safety and then just quickly comes under. I think more than anything, Brady never would have expected that. That was just a savvy veteran play. The second interception I have more of a problem with, I think this first one was just a savvy veteran play from McClain. So you kind of just tip your hat to him. You say, look, call him my daddy.

Again, another baseball reference. I mean, the baseball mood. Red Sox, you know, best team in baseball. Well, you know, they didn't end it thex, you know, best team in baseball. Well, you know, they didn't end it the best, but look, best record in baseball. Pretty excited about that. But anyway, some other bad stuff. Penalties, penalties, penalties, penalties, penalties, penalties, penitent man. Only a penitent man will pass. So numbers-wise, the Dolphins had more penalties. Dolphins, you know, they were penalized. What are the numbers here? Eight, no, they were penalized 10 times for 89 yards.

New England, 6 for 57. But some of the penalties came in bad spots. We talked about one. There was a 3rd and 10 situation in Miami's 2nd drive where you get an incomplete pass, but there's Holden on Jonathan Jones, so it gives him an automatic first down. You can't have that. There was a penalty on what would have been a 39-yard game.

It was called back, Joe Tooney, for a Holden. This was a well on what would have been a 39-yard game. It was called back, Joe Thune for a hold, but this was a well-designed play. I was so excited. Patriots, as I talked about, they were doing some running back screen stuff. I thought that was great. They had a great one where they bring Patterson in jet motion. They fake to him, then they throw the running back screen back to White. This would have gone for 39 yards, but it comes back due to a penalty.

You've got to clean that stuff up. And I know penalties happen and things like that, but, you know, you want to see – you know, there was one play where the Patriots had two hold-ins and a trip-in on Shaq Mason. It's like three penalties when the ref came out to Anatole. He had three penalties all on the offense. It's just like, well, okay. All righty then.

Okay. Josh McDaniels, I thought, did a like, well, okay. Alrighty then. Okay. Josh McDaniels, I thought, did a fantastic job today. Okay. Kudos to him. Kudos to him. Kudos to him. But the Patterson bubble screen, I think we're going to take that one out of the playbook for

the time being because they ran it again and again Patterson basically stumbled and fell. Now, I don't know if it's what it is, but we're 0-2 on that play, so it's time to get rid of it. The other bad thing to remember here, Gronkowski did leave this game with an injury. He's been battling some kind of ankle and on a short week. That's not good. So we're going to have to see how that sort of turns around. Let's do some game balls and the take of the game.

Got a bunch to give out. Kyle Vannoy, we talked about him and the effort that he showed today. Very impressed with him. The offensive line, left to right. Yeah, there were some penalties. Yeah, there were three penalties on these guys on one play, as we just talked about. But I think this much maligned group after last week,

including James Devlin, who I thought had a fantastic game. You know, game balls to all those guys. Josh Gordon, yeah, he only had two catches, but he had the catch down of the goal line. He had that fantastic catch and breaking tackles run later in the game. You know, they targeted him on another slant route, which was into a tight window. They couldn't connect, but I was very impressed with how he acclimated himself. He got the start today. Very impressive to see that from him. JC Jackson, your first interception. Seanie Michelle, your first touchdown in your first 100-yard game.

And John Simon, welcome to the New England Patriots with a sack. That was fantastic to see as well. The guy's basically been here long enough to figure out where his locker is and probably doesn't even know how to get to and from the stadium. He has to use Google Maps all the time. Already notched a sack.

Your take of the game. Through our friend Dave Archibald, at Dave Archie on Twitter. I'm very happy with the run block and never going to be perfect, but a lot of clean holes. Far better than last week for sure. Again, if you want to be part of the experience over at the Locked On Patriots Slack channel, we have the conversation rolling again today and into the night. Hit me up on Twitter at Mark Schofield. You can also shoot me an email, mark.schofield at gmail.com.

We're going to close it out here again with our great friend Bob Marley. Every little thing's going to be all right. Feeling better right now than we certainly were this time last week. Will that continue? Well, we've got a short turnaround here. We've got the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday night. So yes, very quick turnaround here,

but the Patriots, they get back to 2-2. Now you're hosting the Colts, a team that, you know, they're coming off a tough loss for them. You know, they're coming in at 1-3. You know, Patriots are obviously going to be favorites in that game, so hopefully they can keep it rolling. And if you want to be there, again, check out our friend Vivid Seats.

They can help get you there. Check out that experience. And then don't forget our great new partners over at Low-K. Get yourself one of these game day bracelets. Use that promo code PATRIOTS25 to get 25% off. I will be back on Tuesday for a Tape Tuesday show. And because it's a quick turnaround, we're going to talk Colts on Tuesday. Wednesday will be your crossover

event, Thursday your game day edition. Boom, boom, boom into this week, friends. But hey, every little thing feels all right right now. Until next time, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield in Locked on Patriots. Everything's gonna be alright Don't worry

I got a thing on the road