Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots September 30, 2018 - Sunday Morning Tailgate

Episode Date: September 30, 2018

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Good morning, everybody. It is time for your Sunday morning tailgate edition of Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield in the big chair for Sunday, September 30th, 2018. Got a huge slate of NFL action to talk about this morning. Some injury stuff. We're going to do some DFS plays and recommendations. And a little later in the show, recap some of the action that was on your college football schedule last Saturday. This Saturday. Yesterday. Where's my head at? I've got to wake up. It's game day.

Before we dive in, 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 Scouter Portfolio, portfolio and big blue view part of the sb nation family of websites also football guys i was part of the staff roundtable this week check that out footballguys.com let's start off off the top with some injury stuff starting with your one and two new england patriots only one player was missing from new england's final practice before their test against the miami dolphins that's cornerback eric rowe he was absent from friday's final practice before their test against the Miami Dolphins. That's cornerback Eric Rowe. He was absent from Friday's procession.

Still dealing with a groin injury. He was limited in practice on Wednesday, absent Thursday, absent Friday. You've got to imagine that he's not going to be able to go today. It's not likely that Jason McCourty will start opposite Stephon Gilmore, our cornerback, for the second straight week. Patriots have 11 players listed as questionable for today. Marcus Cannon with a calf who has limited participation all week, as was Patrick Chun with his concussion,

Keon Crossan with a hamstring, Nate Ebner with a hip, Trey Flowers with a concussion, Josh Gordon with a hamstring, Daniel Grissom with an ankle. Rob Gronkowski with an ankle. Jacob Hollister with his chest injury. Also questionable, Brandon Kinn with a foot, who did not participate on Wednesday.

Limited participation Thursday and Friday. And again, as we mentioned, Eric Rowe. He's listed as questionable with that groin injury. Limited participation Wednesday. Did notin injury. Limited participation Wednesday. Did not participate Thursday. Limited on Friday. That's how the Patriots listed him for Friday in their final injury report. As for the Miami Dolphins, Chase Allen, Andre Branch, and A.J. Derby,

a linebacker, defensive end, and a tight end, they are all listed as out. Five players listed as questionable for the Dolphins. Davon Garcha, a defensive tackle with an ankle. Rashad Jones, safety with a shoulder. Devontae Parker, wide receiver with a quad injury. Cameron Wake, their defensive end with a knee injury. And Sam Yon, a tackle with a shoulder injury. Of note there, Cameron Wake, he did not participate on Wednesday,

but he was back to full participation, so he will probably be a go. Devontae Parker, he was limited only on Friday, did not have a designation, was not on the report Wednesday and Thursday, so that's more of a recent injury. Let's sort of look around the league now, some other players of note as we start looking ahead to today's slate of games. And it's a week four that get kicked off in grand fashion with Jared Goff, you know, lighting up the scoreboard on Thursday night, throwing six touchdown passes. So we're already off to a huge start. One other thing to note with the Patriots, though, they released Corey Coleman from the practice squad. So no more Corey Coleman. So you get that to think about.

Around the league, though, Chargers wide receiver Travis Benjamin, he's going to be a game-time decision today for Week 4. He's been a game-time decision the past two weeks. He's yet to get in a full practice. He's probably not going to come back today. Even if he plays, look, he's probably behind Keenan Allen, Tyrell Williams, and Mike Williams for targets in that offense. DeAndre Hopkins looks like he's going to go.

He's dealing with ankle, hamstring, and thumb injuries as the Houston Texans try to get off the schneid here and get their first win of the season. Randall Cobb, he was held out of practice yesterday for the Packers. He's dealing with a hamstring. He's listed as questionable. Saturday practices are more than just walkthroughs for the Packers, so this is is notable he was not downgraded from questionable to doubtful but it's still a bad sign for his week four status we're going to talk in DFS about this guy Chris Carson running back Seattle Seahawks he's expected to be fine for their game today against the Arizona Cardinals in addition Doug Baldwin their wide receiver it's reported that he's going to be back it's been said that he's back but he's only two weeks removed from a torn MCL. He's also dealing with another issue with his left knee that has limited him in practice. He's going to be back today, but I would not expect too much

from Doug Baldwin. Eric Berry, this is something to watch. That defense for the Kansas City Chiefs, it's struggling. As much as that offense is great, that defense is struggling right now. NFL Network's Mike Ruffalo is reporting that Eric Berry is dealing with a Hagelin's deformity in his Achilles. It's a bone spur that digs directly into the Achilles. That shows you why he's missed so much time with that injury. He won't play this week. It looks like this is going to be more of a pain management issue than something that can get fixed. So that is something to watch. In addition with that game than something that can get fixed. So that is something to watch. In addition with that game, you've got two Broncos players that are going to be banged up for Monday night.

Broncos inside linebacker Brandon Marshall is questionable for Monday night's game with a knee injury. And Broncos corner Tremaine Brock with a thigh. He's doubtful for Monday night's tilt with the Kansas City Chiefs. Up next, we're going to talk some DFS stuff. That's your quick injury whip around as we get you ready for today's slate of games. We're going to talk some value picks, some blue chip selections. If you're going to go the DFS route today,

we're going to do some scheme stuff in there. And a little bit later, quick look back at the day that was in college football. That's ahead on this Sunday morning tailgate edition of Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now on this Sunday morning tailgate edition of Locked on Patriots.

And guys and girls, it's time for your daily fantasy recommendations here. I've got a slate of recommendations for you at the core positions. I've got a blue chip pick as well as a value selection here. A quarterback, a runner back, a wide receiver, and tight end. Let's get into it now. Your blue chip quarterback selection is Matt Ryan coming off another huge game

he had against the New Orleans Saints. They're taking on the Cincinnati Bengals. Ryan going for 8,100 over at FanDuel, going up against a Bengals defense that has given up about 23.5 points per game on FanDuel to the quarterback position. This is a Bengals defense that's still trying to figure its way here. You look at this Bengals defensive roster and there are still some positions,

some areas where they need to address. Pass rush hasn't been what they've expected from this team, even with the addition of guys like Sam Hubbard. And so they're still giving up some points. They've slotted in Jesse Bates as their starting free safety, a rookie that a lot of people really liked, rookie out of Wake Forest. They moved on from a talented free safety there. But still, they're giving up some points in bunches,

so I would go with Matt Ryan if you're going to spend some money with the quarterback position. If you're going to stay on the cheap though Eli Manning and I know this Giants offense has really sort of struggled to get on track he's going for 7,100 on FanDuel up against the New Orleans Saints Saints are giving up 32.6 points per game on FanDuel to quarterbacks and if you want to know how bad this Saints defense is right now Patrick Mahomes, the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback who's thrown 13 touchdown passes, no interceptions, just lighting

up scoreboards. His adjusted net yards per attempt on the season right now is 11.8. If you look at the Saints defense and what they've done to date, they've given up an adjusted net yards per attempt of 11.8 to opposing quarterbacks. That's worst in the league. They are turning opposing passers into Patrick Mahomes. So Eli Manning is your value pick at the quarterback position this week in our DFS slate of recommendations. Going to running back now. We're going to go your blue chip pick, Ezekiel Elliott of the Dallas Cowboys against the Detroit Lions.

Other than last week, the Detroit Lions still struggle against the run. For all the things we talked about last week, how the New England Patriots were going to be able to get on their way, get their run game going against the Detroit Lions, obviously the Patriots fail to do that. I think the Cowboys

have a little better shot at doing that. Even with the struggles that the Patriots failed to do that. I think the Cowboys have a little better shot at doing that. Even with the struggles that the Patriots run game had last week, the Lions are still giving up almost 30 points per game to running backs on FanDuel. That's third most out of all defenses so far here in this 2018 season. I think Ezekiel Elliott is due for a big day against this Lions defense. He's your blue chip pick. If you want to go cheap at the running back spot, we talked about him in the injury segment. Chris Carson at Arizona, 6,400 on FanDuel. That is an Arizona run defense that is struggling.

We talked about the Lions giving up 29.5 points per game on FanDuel to the running back position. Who's worst in the league overall? The Arizona Cardinals. They've given up over 35.4 points per game to running backs on FanDuel. So if you want to be smart here, you can save some money, go with Carson. He's expected to be a good goal with that hip. Now, I understand why you might want to sort of hedge yourself with that,

given the injury. But still, since he's going to go, I think he makes a ton of sense for you. Wide receivers. If you're going to spend some money, I'd go with Odell this week. We talked about the Saints and their struggles against quarterbacks, how they're turning opposing passers into Patrick Mahomes. Well, it probably makes sense that they're having similar struggles against wide receivers. You go over to Pro Football Reference, you see stats per game for defenses. They're giving up 55.3

points per game to wide receivers so far on FanDuel. That is over 13 points higher than the Chargers, who are second worst in the league in this category. This Saints defense is bad. Take advantage of it. You can go with that Eli Odell stack, and you're probably going to have a nice little Sunday for yourself, at least at those two positions. But if you want to go cheap, I hate to do this. This is locked on Patriots, but Albert Wilson, 5,000 points. That's it on FanDuel. We know how this Patriots defense struggles against crossers. We know how the Miami Dolphins like to run crossers. It's a match made in DFS heaven, my friends. So I would go with Albert Wilson if you want to go cheap at the

wide receiver position. Tight end, tight end always a wonky slate right now. I've talked about tight end when we did our week one Sunday morning tailgate. These are the guys I'm feeling right now. If you want to go cheap, and both of these guys are pretty cheap. Both of them are in that 5,000 range. If you want to go cheap, I'm going to start cheap first. David Njoku, 5,200 at Oakland, the Browns. The reason being the Baker factor. Baker may feel much more comfortable attacking the middle of the field.

Baker may feel much more comfortable working those seam routes. Baker Mayfield, much more comfortable making anticipation throws. Baker Mayfield is going to benefit the Cleveland Browns, yes. But he's going to be a big boost to David Njoku's fantasy stock. I wrote about it this week in the roundtable over at Football Guys. This is the guy I would expect to see the biggest boost in his production with the addition of Baker Mayfield. Get on this train early. If you want to go cheap, just $5,000 on FanDuel.

There you go. If you want to spend a little more money, trade Burton for Chicago against Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay giving up over 17 points per game and two tight ends on FanDuel. And I know that Mitchell Trubisky has struggled a bit, but look, you look at what the Buccaneers are doing. Only the Steelers are giving up more.

17.3 points per game on FanDuel as opposed to 17.1. So Burton should be a big part of their game plan, and hopefully this is a game where Mitchell Trubisky gets himself on track. This is a defense in Tampa Bay that has struggled against the pass. And I know a lot of fans, since I do a lot of work about the Bears and Trubisky over Pro Football Weekly, Bears fans are expecting that sort of offensive production to be much better today against this Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense.

And so if you want to take advantage of it, Trey Burton, she's 5,600 over at Fando. Both of these options, I think, make a ton of sense for you. They'll allow you to go big at other positions. You could go with a nice little stack here of Ezekiel Elliott, Eli Manning, Odell, and one of these two tight ends, and that's a nice little core group, guys and girls, for your fantasy DFS slate this Sunday. If you do decide to play, I wish you all the best of luck.

We'll revisit the recommendations I made today in next week's show. Up next, we're going to close things out, look back at yesterday's college football slate of action, obviously with an eye at the quarterbacks. You know that's my heart truly is. That's ahead on this Sunday morning tailgate edition of Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now on this Sunday morning tailgate installment of Locked On Patriots.

Going to close it out now revisiting some of the games from yesterday and a level below the college football action. And some interesting storylines played themselves out on fields all over from coast to coast. We're going to start Syracuse and Clemson. Obviously a strange situation playing out with Clemson. Dabo Swinney making the decision to go to the true freshman, Trevor Lawrence, in place of senior Kelly Bryant. Now, he did that, made that move, so Bryant could still transfer, save some eligibility, and play next year. And I do

think I have a spot for him in mind that I'll talk about in a minute, but they go to the freshman, and he gets banged up. And with Bryant already indicating that, yes, he is going to transfer, that left an opening. That opening was filled. But first, though, let's talk about Eric Dungy, a player that obviously doesn't get a ton of attention, but he's somebody you should be keeping an eye on. Talking to some people in and around the league, there's a little bit of buzz starting to grow about the Syracuse quarterback. Now, he was 26-41 for 250, no touchdowns, one interception yesterday. And so, you know, weren't great numbers, but you look at what he's done to date this year. Dungy has put up some huge numbers. You know, so far this year, you know,

they open up against Western Michigan. You know, he goes 7 of 17 for two touchdowns in that game they blow out wagner he goes 23 of 32 for five touchdowns one interception in that game and the win against florida state is 7 of 15 you know he's been in and out of the lineup yukon game was another huge one for him 21 of 27 for two touchdowns 286 yards passing keep an eye on eric dungey right now i'm looking at him as more of a late day three type guy but he's one of those guys that in this quarterback class you know he gets a you know an all-star game, shrine game, senior bowl type invite. He might rise a little bit. Now as for the game itself though you know this is a game that Clemson ended up pulling out the win. Part of the reason another freshman quarterback Chase Bryce he comes in helps lead this team in a comeback victory score. Two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to take this game 27-23. Interesting situation playing out in Clemson with this

move to Trevor Lawrence, who is the more talented quarterback over Kelly Bryant. But Lawrence goes down, Bryce comes in, helps lead the comeback. Another interesting game in that early slate. West Virginia, Texas Tech. Will Greer. If you want a good look at him, go over to mattwaldmanrsp.com. Matt and I did a video breaking down Will Greer. It's about an hour long. You can see us breaking down some film talking about this kid.

27-41, 370 in three touchdowns. Texas Tech tries to come back. They score 17 in the fourth quarter, but it's not enough. Pick six basically seals the deal, ending this game. But Greer can play. And I know guys like Justin Herbert and Drew Locke and Dwayne Haskins until at least in the early part of this game last night, who was getting some buzz don't sleep on will

greer and speaking of west virginia i mentioned kelly bryant that might be a good landing spot for him next year obviously gray will move on i think that could be a spot where brian can come in you know it is more of an air raid type obviously than jayner holderson but with some vertical elements to it that might be a decent fit for kelly bryant michigan northwestern i mentioned clayton thorson. Wanted to see something from him. Didn't quite see what we were hoping to see, I don't think, because Michigan wins this game 20-17, and it's Shea Patterson who kind of steals a little bit of the limelight there at that quarterback position, going 15-24 for 196. Clean game for him. Clayton Thorson, 16 of 27 for 174.

Neither quarterback threw a touchdown or an interception, but Patterson was more efficient, so to speak. More of a Big Ten-style game. A lot of run in this one. Karen Heaton, 30 carries for 115. Not really impressed with Thorson to this point. He was somebody I was kind of hopeful for coming into the season. Patterson, I'm not a huge fan of his, but he had the better day on Saturday.

Other games that we can talk about here. NC State, UVA, a player that I keep coming back to, Ryan Finley. I really like this kid. He had another solid game against Virginia. He goes, Virginia, they're an okay team, but NC State comes out with a win, 35-21. Finley, 22 of 32 for 257, three touchdowns, no interceptions, very clean performance, 8.0 per attempt. Very good day from him. And he continues to play solid football. You look at what he's done this year. He had a chance for a huge game against West Virginia, but that got canceled, obviously due to the weather situation down in the Carolinas.

But he's thrown one interception against eight touchdown passes. He's completing passes at a pretty high clip right now. He had 68.6% completions coming into yesterday's game. And so another good quarterback that you need to be keeping your eye on is Ryan Finley. Looking around the rest of the games, North Dakota State, South Dakota State. Let's drop it down a level because this was a game I was really excited to see. You've got Easton Stick, North Dakota Bison, the Jackrabbits, Taryn Christian, another quarterback that I really like, and it's the home team, North Dakota State, that pulls out this game.

And between the two quarterbacks, Stick had the better day. Both of them put up some pretty decent numbers, but it was obviously, you know, first and foremost, Stick and the Bison, they come away from the victory. So that's obviously issue number one. You know, you look at what Stick did. He's only 9 of 20 passing. So the, you know, the passing numbers weren't really there. He does throw two touchdown passes, does have one interception in this game, but he also attacks on 15 carries for 63 yards and a touchdown as well. Taron Christian, a better day passing the football, 19 of 29 for 202, one touchdown, one interception.

But in a game like this, the win is really what you're kind of looking for, and it's Easton Sick who comes out on top. I love both of these kids as quarterbacks. In an interesting quarterback class that might see some bigger names fall off, might see some guys go back to school. It's not guaranteed that Justin Herbert comes out. These guys might be in the mix for at least draft positions and getting their names called on day three.

So definitely keep those guys in mind. Finally, we're going to talk about two of the late games that I thought were pretty interesting from both just the fact they were great games as well as a really surprising team in the SEC. And first, look, don't sleep on Kentucky. That's right, Kentucky. The Wildcats get the 5-0, 3-0 in the SEC

with a victory over South Carolina at home. And the player to obviously talk about, Benny Snell, their running back, 28 carries, 99 yards and a touchdown. And Snell's only a junior. He could still come out, but he's a player that power, vision, speed, burst. He's got everything as a running back. This was a very impressive win. On the flip side, Jake Bentley, a player that I studied for this summer, taking a look at him. 13 of 28 for 148. One touchdown,

three interceptions. Just a bad, bad, bad performance from him. But don't sleep on Kentucky. This is a very fascinating team right now. And they're in pretty good position right now when you look at how the SEC East is shaking up. They're 3-0, Georgia 3-0, the rest of that division, Florida, South Carolina, Missouri, they're kind of struggling right now. We might

be looking at a game early November. We've got Kentucky at home versus Georgia that might decide the SEC East. That's fascinating to think about. Other game, the late one, the big one. Ohio State, Penn State. And this was a game that is almost the tale of two games. You know, you've got a situation where Ohio State, they come out slow. Penn State is up. They're up three at the end of the first quarter.

You look at how this game goes. It's 13-0 at one point. Haskins is struggling. It's a 13-7 game at halftime. Ohio State does get a touchdown drive before the half to get it close. But then in the second half, Trace McSorley did some great

things. I still come down on the fact of him being more of a great college quarterback. He is a great college quarterback. But I'm not sure about his pro prospects. But the guy can play the college position, had a tremendous game, both running the football, throwing the football. He finished 16

of 32 for 286 and two touchdowns, 25 carries for 175, including the 51-yard run, but in that fourth quarter, Ohio State was down, and it looked like they were going to lose this game. It was 26-14 when Penn State, McSorley throws a touchdown pass to 21-yard, excuse me, Miles Sanders, excuse me, that's how that drive ended, a one-yard touchdown run from Miles Sanders to make it 26-14. Penn State with eight minutes or so left in this game. But then the Ohio State receivers sort of take over. Benjamin Victor, a 47-yard touchdown pass from Dwayne Haskins, and that was a long catch

and run. He's more of a red zone type guy, big, tall, long arms, catches a pass. And I don't know how he got this because Haskins was under pressure throws it high it's behind Victor but he reaches back for it a very impressive catch and then he takes it he houses it he picks up a block from a guy who's like Paris Campbell so then you get it to 26-21 they get four and out from Penn State so Ohio State gets the ball back, but they're pinned. Blake Gilkin, Gilkin, excuse me, 38-yard pump, but it's down at the Ohio State 4.

But their offensive coordinator did a fantastic job coming out of that situation when you're pinned. They come out and they go screen out of the gate and get a really nice gain on that first down to J.K. Dobbins. You get another throw on that drive to Paris.

Campbell on a first to 10 where he shows you some moves from running after the catch. And then the big play was K.J. Hill, a 24-yard screen pass where there was great blocking up front. And they take the lead, two-point conversion pass fails, but they get a one-point lead. Gives it back to McSorley. McSorley opens the drive with a great throw up the seam to get it into Ohio State territory,

but then he's sacked. You get an incompletion on second and 14, third and four. Third and 14, excuse me. He's got to run for nine yards, but then they call a timeout, and they run inside zone, basically, out of the gun.

On fourth and five, you take it out of Trace McSorley's hands. I don't understand that play call. Penn State loses a game that they looked to have had won. Haskins is still legit, but he's got a long way to go. He's got a long way to go. People have been talking about him up and I understand it but he's still raw. McSorley, I still come down on the fact him very good to great if not elite college quarterback. I'm not sure about his pro prospects but a very, very exciting game. But that will do it

for today's Sunday Morning Tailgate edition. I will be back later this evening hoping to break down finally yet again a glorious victory for the New England Patriots. I don't want to do another melancholy in the infinite sadness. Look, kids, I love my friends over at Spike Seltzer. I do. I love them.

They take care of me. But I need a break to deliver, you know. It's hurting right now. Hopefully, we get a little of a nicer, nicer post-game atmosphere tonight. No matter what, though, I will be back. Until then, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield

and Locked on Patriots. you