Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Mac To Basics: Zone Runs, Mac Jones Strengths and More from New England Patriots Training Camp

Episode Date: August 5, 2022

The New England Patriots are less than one week away from their first preseason game of 2022. As they continue their march through training camp, quarterback Mac Jones and the Pats’ offense continue to adjust to a new style. Joining host Mike D’Abate is Mark Schofield of USA Today. The duo discuss the legal implications of the Miami Dolphins tampering issue, Mac Jones’ performance in camp, and the Pats struggles in incorporate zone read runs into their offense.Find and follow Locked On Patriots on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-patriots-daily-podcast-on-the-new-england/id1140512627 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1c5ZxFmwg3WbfxAU3tR5Ve?si=k196wH-yRqifUcQQz8SjIQStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-patriots And follow host Mike D’Abate on Twitter, where he’ll be sharing the latest news about the New England Patriots and talking with fans.On Twitter: @mdabateNFLSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!DaveDownload the Dave app from the App store right now for an Extra Cash account and get up to 500 dollars instantly. For terms and conditions go to dave.com/legal. Instant transfer fees apply. Banking provided by Evolve. Member FDIC.BetterHelpIt’s not a crisis line, it’s not self-help, it’s professional therapy done securely online, available to people worldwide. And they have a special offer for my listeners: get 10% off your first month at Betterhelp.com/LockedOnBuilt BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tampering with Tom, Matt gets back to basics, and what will it take to fix the future in Foxborough? This and much more today, you're about to be locked in to the Locked On Patriots podcast. You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all of you, Foxborough faithful, and welcome to this Bless the Rain Thursday with a host of meritists here on Lockdown Patriots. My good friend, the legendary Mark Schofield, joining us on the pod today. Of course, we are your daily podcast covering your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New

England Patriots, and of course, a part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you as always for making Locked On Patriots your first listen every day. Don't forget free and available on all the podcast apps, including YouTube as well. So smash that subscribe button, download and follow Locked On wherever

you get your podcasts. I am your host, Mike DeBate. I cover your New England Patriots for Patriots Country of Sports Illustrated. Feel free to reach out to me on Twitter at MDABATENFL. While you're out there showing some love to the Twitterverse, follow the Lockdown Patriots account as well at LO underscore Patriots. And folks, this podcast today is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp is not a crisis line.

It's not a self-help. It's professional therapy done securely online, available to people worldwide. And they have a special offer for my listeners to get 10% off of your first month at betterhelp.com slash locked on. Pats fans, we are in depth now in training camp. The pads are on. They were off on Wednesday. But that does not stop us from evaluating anything and everything going on on the practice field.

And maybe even some things that are happening away from the practice field. We are esteemly honored to be joined today by the host emeritus here at Locked On Patriots. That's right, folks. I said it before. I'll say it again. We are blessing the reins by welcoming back my predecessor, my mentor, my good friend, Mark Schofield of USA Today. Mark, thank you so much for joining me today.

Welcome back home. Mike, it's always an honor to be here. Can't thank you enough for the kind words. And it's been far too long. And I say that because it's been maybe 48 hours since we've been on our show together. And it's great to see you again. It's great to be on here. It's great to have football back as well. So I'm excited to dive in. And I know we got a lot to talk about and I'm ready to get to it. Absolutely. And we're ready to get to it as well. Of the new england patriots now over a week in training

camp practices mark a lot going on offensively defensively we know that you are the quarterback whisperer so if you think we're going to talk about mac jones a little bit today folks you're absolutely right mark is the guru when it comes to all of this and we'll pick his brain when it comes to not only to mac but also also the Patriots' new look offense and why some of the fan base, actually a large section of the fan base, is a little worried about what they're seeing and hearing coming out of Foxborough right now. But, Mark, it wouldn't be a New England Patriots podcast. It wouldn't be a Locked On Patriots appearance unless there was a little legal action

that seems to always trickle into the air whenever we get together on the microphone to do a show here for Locked On. While the legal implications are not directly involving the New England Patriots this time in terms of punishment and in terms of sanctions, the Patriots are involved in this one. And, of course, we're talking about former quarterback Tom Brady and the Miami Dolphins tampering with him as far back as 2019, trying to negotiate with Tom, getting him to take his talents to South Beach.

But the problem was, is in 2019, Tom was still under contract with the New England Patriots. And it's not sitting well with some fans up here in New England. Some are looking at it as bygones being bygones, water under the bridge, but there's a section of Patriots fans that I've been speaking with throughout my time at training camp and throughout social media that are not too happy with Tom and what went on in that regard. Mark, in your former incarnation, you were in the legal practice.

You were a lawyer at one point. And from a legal perspective, this doesn't have a direct impact on the New England Patriots, but what essentially does this case mean for New England going forward? Really, what does it mean for the NFL going forward in terms of the harsh hand that the NFL came down with when it comes to tampering? Yeah, Mike, there's a lot going on here. And I think what's interesting is I saw somebody did some research into the tampering penalties that have been levied by the NFL over the past 40, 50 years.

And this is by far the most severe set of sanctions handed down by the league for a team violating the anti-tampering rules and regulations and basic tenets of the National Football League. And in reading the release that the National Football League put out on Tuesday, Commissioner Goodell basically goes deep into the fact that this is the most severe sanctions and basically the most severe actions by a team in terms of violating the sort of tampering clauses within the league. And it's quote, I know of no prior instance of a team violating the prohibition on tampering

with both a head coach and star player to the potential detriment of multiple other clubs over a period of several years, because it's not just with Brady. It's not just one instance. It's Brady in two separate occasions, one while with New England, one while with Tampa Bay, as well as, you know, head coach Sean Payton while he was with the New Orleans Saints. And so the league dropped the hammer here. One, I think, as a means of, you know, this is a form of deterrence. You know, it's don't you dare, if you're another 31 member,

one of the other 31 teams, don't you dare ever think about doing something like this because we will drop the hammer on you. I think that's something that's at work here. I think there's also something, two things that we can't ignore, sort of dual tracks. One is the Brian Flores lawsuit because we remember former head coach Brian Flores lawsuit. Cause we remember have former head coach,

Brian Flores raised allegations of tanking and the league investigated them. And they found that while, you know, the dolphins did not lose games on purpose. They also confirmed that yes, owner Steven Ross talked about at times that losing games in their 2020 draft stock should take priority over their win-loss record. He apparently said in jest that, you know,

people like Brian Flores should be paid bonuses for losing games. Now the league said that there were no violations of tanking and there's nothing to be found that, you know, the Dolphins actively lost games on purpose, but they confirmed some of Brian Flores' allegations. And I think it's important to sort of remember that the severity of the tampering penalty might have to do with the league saying, look, we don't want to go down this road of tanking. We don't want to open that door. We don't want to potentially expose the league to literal discovery on this issue. So we're going to brush that aside, drop the hammer down on the tampering side of things. So that could be at work here. The other track is this.

This came out the day after the Deshaun Watson suspension. And I think it's important to point out Watson's current six game suspension runs through week six, October 16th. Stephen Ross got suspended until October 17th, one more day. And in Judge Robinson's decision, which I have right here printed out, you take the lawyer out of the courtroom, but you can't take the courtroom out of the lawyer. She basically says that the proposed indefinite suspension for Watson was far and beyond anything the league has ever done. It was unprecedented. And while she found that the league has ever done. It was unprecedented. And while she found that the league had shown that he committed sexual assault and put somebody at risk

and threatened the integrity of the league, there was no notice to Watson or any other player that the conduct Watson engaged in would result in such a suspension. It was too unprecedented. It would be unjust. That's what she came down on. Whether you agree with that or not, there's some legal reason behind her decision.

The NFL turning around and dropping the hammer on Ross for one more day might give them a pathway to then turn around and appeal the Watson decision. Now we'll record this on Wednesday and the deadline to appeal that is Thursday, unless extended by the parties. But the decision to suspend Ross for one day more than Watson could be a lead into or window into what the NFL is going to do. Now, that's a lot. I know you also asked about Tom Brady. What should Patriots fans make of this? We knew Brady was in some way unhappy in 2019. Yes, he played well on the field. We're recording this on the 3rd. It's his 45th birthday.

I did a piece over at USA Today, highlighted some of his greatest moments over his 22-year career. And I was going down memory lane and watching Super Bowl 36 and John Madden, what he did just gave me goosebumps. And even Brady's slide and scramble against the Chiefs in his final season, where he gets up and gives the first down sign on fourth down and Belichick's out there fired up the crowd and it brought back some moments and memories of Brady's time but we also knew he was unhappy his dad had even said and I've quoted this so many times it often ends and it often ends badly are we surprised that other teams were probably reaching out to try to get in touch with Tom Brady I don't think we should be. Should we be disappointed? I mean, maybe, but we knew it was coming to an end. And let's not forget, this was all very unprecedented.

There's that word again, because, you know, 2014, the cliff is coming. Like there were thoughts that this team needed to move on from Brady because you're talking about a quarterback at this age playing at that level. It could end at any moment. Now, again, we're recording this on the day of his 45th birthday. He still slid it extremely well, but there was tension, and I don't think we should sort of be surprised that people were sending feelers out, you know, whether Brady would be willing to come play for them. Now, obviously the Dolphins went about it in a way that runs contrary to the league's rules, regulations, and procedures?

But I don't think we should be surprised. Yeah, completely agreed. And look, bottom line, I think there is that inevitable disappointment in Patriots fans because or on behalf of Patriots fans, simply because they wanted to believe that right up until the 11th hour, there was still a chance that Tom was going to come back. I was one of them at that point that still believed that there was always a chance that he would and ultimately i thought he would finish his career here in new england it didn't work out that way and now we know that there were other things uh behind the scenes in 2019 going on that essentially knew that that whole season was basically an end of the relationship but i like the information that

you've given and we will definitely keep a sharp eye on the legal aspects especially as this relates to the watson case mark you always nail it in your previous uh incarnation your previous knowledge is always welcomed and we're going to pull upon some more of that previous knowledge not from a legal standpoint though but from a quarterback standpoint as we move from tom brady to the present day quarterback of your new englandots, folks, Mac Jones. What is Mark seeing, hearing and feeling as he looks at what Mac is doing on the practice fields of Foxborough during training camp? We'll get into that in just a moment when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. But first, folks, summer is here.

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back my good friend and predecessor mark schofield of usa today mark in the previous segment we talked a little ghost of patriots past when it comes to tom br, tampering, Brian Flores, all of that on the table, but now it's time to talk present, and the present of the New England Patriots, especially at the signal caller position, is Mack Jones. Mack has looked good at times during training camp, there's no question about it, a little more zip on his fastball, so to speak, stepping into his throws a little bit better, showing the leadership, showing that poise, and really commanding the huddle when the Patriots players, especially his pass catchers, are listening to him. But it hasn't all been sunshine and rainbows. Mac's thrown a couple of interceptions. There have been times where he's been maybe a little less than enamored with

his play on the field. Saturday, particularly, I was in attendance in Foxborough covering practice, and Mack uncharacteristically walked toward the locker room very despondent, described it as a shot to the heart when the defense beats him on the day, even in practice. Mark, I know you've been covering remotely, and you've been keeping an eye on everything that's going on in Foxborough, listening to what Mack's looked like, reading his statistics, going through his progression. When you look at Mac Jones, what have you seen that has encouraged you, that leads you to believe that he's going to have a good season this year? And what have you seen that is still a concern of yours that you'd like to see him work on before camp is all said and done?

Yeah, I mean, there's a lot on, you know, primarily on the first side of that ledger. I mean, there's, there's a lot on, you know, primarily on the first side of that ledger. I mean, there's something in particular on the second side of the ledger that I'll talk about in a moment, but with respect to what's gone, right. I think the pocket movement combined with the velocity, the increased zip on throws are two areas that if you think back to Mac Jones pre-draft, when everybody, myself included, was writing about Mac Jones, the prospect, the idea of ceiling, right? You know, he's not the athlete that other guys in the league are, that other guys in that quarterback class were.

He doesn't have the velocity on throws that the other guys in that class did or that other elite quarterbacks in the NFL had shown. And so there was this notion that because of those two things, Jones would end up sort of that quarterback in that tier of guys that you win with, right? Like that would be his ceiling, a Kirk Cousins, Jimmy Garoppolo-esque type of ceiling. And I think what he showed last year, as he started to chip away at the idea of ceiling. And I think what he showed last year as he started to chip away at the idea of what that ceiling was and what it looked like

was he showed more velocity, I think, than people expected and more athleticism and pocket movement skills than people that even thought those were strengths of his. Like I liked him from a pocket movement perspective more in that realm than perhaps we expected. And so it started to chip away at what that ceiling might look like. It started to sort of bump up. from a pocket movement perspective, more in that realm than perhaps we expected. And so it started to chip away at what that season might look like. It started to sort of bump up.

No, he might not be just that kind of guy at his best. He might creep up into some of the other tiers, some of the elite-type tiers. But we still need to see that not just in practice, not just in bits and spurts and flashes in his rookie season, on a more consistent down-to-down basis, extended over the course and life of a 17-game season. And that's the thing that I'm excited to hear out of camp and people like yourself and others have told me, they're like, yeah, there's more zip. The mechanics are better.

It seems more fluid. There's more violence and torque to the throw and motion. And you're excited to see things like that because that's what you want to hear in a strange way i'm excited to see and hear reports that he's frustrated at times that the defense has you know caused him to be a little bit despondent at times because adversity builds strength as a quarterback like you're not going to complete every throw you know i just got done coaching baseball all summer. I got done every single practice in game,

telling these kids of 10, 11, 12, that hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do over and over and over again. And in the back of my mind, I think of articles where I say, yeah, but then try playing quarterback, you know, because hitting the baseball is tough. Don't get me wrong. And we'll talk a little bit more about that in the third segment here. But playing quarterback and making decisions when Aaron Donald is trying to put you in the hospital, that's pretty tough too. You're going to face adversity as a passer.

And the fact that he's being tested now and he's responding in this way reminds me that he's an extremely competitive player. This is the type of guy we were talking about when he was at Alabama. Getting in Nick Saban's face and saying, oh, you don't want me to throw touchdowns or your defense, get better defenders, Nick. Like you want that as a QB to use a, to paraphrase a top gun line there. You need that as a quarterback. And so the fact that he's frustrated and being tested and things like that, I like that. Now, where do I want to see him improve?

You and I talked about this on my show earlier this week, pre-snap pressure diagnosis and post-snap confirmation of said pressure looks that's an area where i think he can truly improve and i need to see improvement from him he was sacked three times i talked about this this week in the atlanta game one he just didn't have a prayer but in the other two he assumed that things were going to get blocked up pre-snap and he didn't confirm it post-snap and he got sacked as a result now i understand like you haven't done it if you think you've got something blocked up you might not think you have to look but that's the evolution from a good quarterback

to an elite one is thinking you've got it blocked up but then taking that extra glance even just to confirm it and then still staying on time and rhythm with your reads and decisions when he starts doing that on a consistent basis and you're tied in with all the other improvements we're hoping to see that's when he takes the leap from guy in tier three that you win with to guy in tier two that you start winning games because of absolutely so well said and yeah we did we talked about this on your show just a couple of days ago and that when Mack did have difficulty, it was because of those strategically placed blitzes from the second and third level of the defense. And maybe Mack not realizing that things were not going to be blocked up when he was a squad. That's something that we've seen him work on. Hopefully he'll continue, but there is still frustration. And again, folks, it's still early in the process. There's still a lot of practice time left. There's three preseason games coming up. Patriots do have time to right the ship. And with Mac Jones at the helm, the Patriots fans are definitely feeling optimistic. And judging by what I've seen on the field and what you've seen and

said today, they do have reason to be optimistic. And that is definitely a good thing when it comes to the Patriots. But not all offensive news is necessarily settling because the Patriots are installing a little bit of a new look this year, Mark. They're starting to incorporate more zone read runs, and that can be a little problematic to install, especially for an offense the way the Patriots are built. Is this going to be a problem for the Patriots moving forward? Mark and I will discuss that point when we conclude this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast.

But first, and once again, folks, I remind you that today's episode is brought to us by BetterHelp. BetterHelp is always there for you when you need it, because life is full of twists and turns, and it's important to show up for yourself through it all. With BetterHelp, you can find online therapy that will assess your needs and can match you with your very own licensed professional therapist in less than 48 hours. You can log into your account anytime and send a direct message to your therapist and schedule weekly video or phone sessions so you don't have to be on camera if you don't want to.

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Get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com slash locked on. That's 10% off your first month of online therapy at betterhelp.com slash locked on. That's betterhelp.com slash locked on. Fans, once again, we take it home today by blessing the reins with my good friend and predecessor, Mark Schofield of USA Today. And Mark, we've talked about quarterbacks past. We've talked about quarterbacks present. But right now, the future concern for the New England Patriots is whether or not their

personnel is well-suited to adopting a little bit more of a zone read run complementary offense. We've heard the term Shanahan style or Shanahanian style that the Patriots were looking to adapt. And we saw a little bit of seedlings of this in OTA really during minicamp. But I want to give a lot of credit to Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald, who I think really nailed it. more of a Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams type offense that we're seeing, especially in the early looks that the Patriots are given with a little bit of athleticism coming from the offensive line and incorporating these zone read rubs into the Patriots offense. But it's had mixed results.

More often than not, the defense has taken the day in Foxborough and they continue to be the more dominant unit. And it's causing some uneasiness, squeamishness among some fans and even media that the Patriots may not necessarily have the personnel to install this type of offense, or at least to install it to the level that they look to be doing so. Mark, when you look at this type of offense and what it necessarily means for a team searching for an offensive identity moving forward, are you concerned that the Patriots might be overplaying their hand here? Or is this something that it'll come and it'll come quickly, they just need to put the time in? I come down very strongly on the second sort of option there. And having been

through a number of training camps as a player you know back before I hunt them up you know I always felt year in and year out even years when I was part of teams that have very good offenses that defenses are ahead of the game first I mean especially when you're talking about installing something new conceptually on the offensive side of the ball like it's going to take some time whereas defenses you sort of just really reacted and flow and it's a little bit easier to get up to where you need to be from a mental and execution standpoint earlier in training camp i mean so many years in college where first couple of days the pads come on and it's like man our offense is we're not going to be good this year and then days four five and six it's like oh it starts to click and you're starting to put it

together those were years when we were installing new systems ourselves. And again, not that Division III football is the NFL, but just from a personal anecdotal experience, that's something that I've always sort of seen in this game. Now, with respect to sort of the zone run, zone read type stuff, it is important to remember that while new England has had zone blocking concepts in their playbook for years, I mean, I've got, you know, a playbook in front of me right now, zero flood slot, nasty sprint, 36 sword.

It's an outside zone run and play. When you start introducing variables into anything that you're doing, whether it's in football or in life, it's going to get difficult. I said earlier that we're going to return to hitting a baseball. If you know it's a 60 mile an hour fastball down the middle, every single pitch, you might be able to catch up to it at some point. When you start changing speeds and changing pitches, and now you might see a change up, you might see a split finger, you might see a slider, you might see different speeds, you might see a change up. You might see a split finger. You might see a slider. You might see different speeds. You might see different locations.

It gets tougher to do that. Here's a real world example. I'm one of those people that loves to look at the menu before I go to a restaurant. If I know I'm going to a restaurant on Friday night, Monday morning, I'm looking at the menu. One, so I have something to look forward to, but two, so I know what I'm going to do

when it's time to make a decision. If I sit down and they throw some new specials at me, I'm confused. You've it's time to make a decision. If I sit down and they throw some new specials at me, I'm confused. You've introduced some new variables. Okay. So let's return to zero flood slot nasty sprint 36 sort, right? Outside zone blocking scheme. Run to the tight end side. You might have a combination block between the tight end and the right tackle.

Okay. You turn to a Shanahan playbook. You've got where, how does he do it? Trips right, 18 support. That's their outside zone to the tight end. But when you start introducing where they do it with an RPO element, runner pass concept of the offensive center leaves first linebacker – with the offensive coordinator, excuse me,

leaves the first linebacker in box for the tight end. You target the second linebacker in blocks. You've got different calls and adjustments and blocking the things that you have to do on the fly so you've now if you think about it like a flow chart instead of having maybe five decisions to make on a straight run play you've got 10 15 20 that have to go happen to have to happen up and down from left tackle or tight end quarterback and running back as well things that have to happen on the fly with more variables let's not forget you have to get the timing of these things down right like it's not like the college game you can go 10 yards down field as a blocker and it doesn't matter ball's

going to be out you've got one or two yards to work with as an offensive lineman and the quarterback has to get that time and with the decision making whether to pull or not now some of that stuff's done pre-snap some of it's done post-snap on the fly. We just sort of talked about Matt Jones from a protection standpoint, getting that time and a decision-making down, and reading the defense down pre-snap to post-snap. So when you start introducing variables, it takes time to sort of figure that out. I think they will get there.

This is Wednesday, August 3rd. Like, we've got a lot of training camp and practice time left to go they can get there to get this done they've had concepts like this in the playbook it's just a matter of ironing it out all those different variables so it doesn't seem so much in the moment when you're asked to run it when the games start counting for real right absolutely and again Mark I think right on the money and i love the fact that you bring it home with reminding everyone that wednesday august 3rd we're recording most likely people are listening to this on the 4th of august there's still a ton of time left to be able to do that but

it's good to know the differences between these types of nuances and how things are going to progress in camp uh the new england patriots right now appear to be committed to this, and we'll see if they're able to put it all together on the field. But once again, my friend, your insight second to none, always top-notch and all-weeping, and I am honored every time

that you agree to come back and check on the place, take a look at how we've redecorated. The total poster is still on the wall. It's on the opposite side of the camera because I want to look at it. I look forward to inspiration every day, Mark. And it will remain up here affixed to the wall because you are truly a Lockdown Patriots family. Before I let you go today, my friend, please let everyone know where they can find you,

all of your great work, what you have coming down the pike from the great pen, the great voice of Mark Schofield. Well, Mike, it's always an honor to be back. It's great to catch up with you. And I think more than anything else, you know, one of my favorite things about this industry is the friendship you and I forged over the past couple of years. It's one of the things I'm most, you know,

I don't want to say proudest of, but maybe I am, you know, because it's been great to get to know you over the years. As far as what you can look for, like I said, I did a piece today on the third about Tom Brady's 45th birthday and highlighted some of the greatest moments, greatest throws, greatest drives, greatest couple of different categories, greatest runs even of Brady's career. So Patriots fans, it's very Patriots centric.

You can check that out at touchdownwire.usatoday.com. But always a blast, Mike. Look forward to doing it again soon. Absolutely. And we look forward to having you back to once again bless the reins here on Locked On Patriots, as you always do every single time that you join me. Again, I return the sentiment. One of the great things that I've been able to experience in this business is meeting some amazingly great people.

You're absolutely at the top of the list. I value you as a colleague, but I value you more as a friend, my friend, and look forward to having you back. And you are the excellence of execution. And every day I take this microphone. I still am doing this in your honor and trying to get this right in your honor. So folks, we thank you, all of you, for taking time out of your schedule to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage.

And now that you've made us your first listen every day, make your second listen, our good friends over at Locked On NFL, covering the latest NFL stories, national stories. Our friends over at Locked On NFL are covering that, and they've got you all set to go each and

every day. So smash that subscribe button on YouTube and download wherever you get your podcasts. In the meantime, folks, continue to stay safe, stay well, be the change that you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone, and we'll see you tomorrow.