Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - November 26, 2017 - Glorious Victory Edition

Episode Date: November 27, 2017

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Good evening everybody and welcome to your glorious victory edition of Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield here with you in the big chair and for the 7th straight week we get a glorious victory edition. 7 straight wins for the New England Patriots after today's 35-17 victory over the Miami Dolphins. I hope you listened. I know I got that game day edition out a little bit late. Holiday weekend and all. But I said give those 17 points.

I know it's a big number, but give them. I said take the over. Both of those hit. Hope you guys listened. Those of you that are so inclined. But look, seven straight wins. And think back to where we were, you know, that game against Carolina, that loss, wondering how the defense was going to fare in the weeks ahead, wondering what was going on on that side of the ball.

Quick turnaround against Tampa Bay, down in Tampa Bay. We had Trevor Sikama on that week, wondering how New England was going to contain all those weapons. They go down, they do that, play a lot of zone looks. And then seven straight wins now. I'm recording this Pittsburgh's tied right now with Green Bay. and then seven straight wins now. I'm recording this. Pittsburgh's tied right now with Green Bay. Who knows how that game's going to finish up, but Patriots get to 9-2.

Great to see from them. As we do on our glorious victory editions, we're going to do some great. We're going to do some good. We're going to do some bad. Some stuff to talk about in all those categories. I'm going to have a game ball as well. Somebody really stood out to me today. So I'm going to talk about him. Also, quick shout

out and a quick dilly dilly. To the Baltimore Patriots fans, they get together every Patriots game at Dog Watch Tavern down in Fells Point. They have a little fun with that Bud Light commercial, like many people do. I know it was a great atmosphere today. I'm trying to get to one of those games. Maybe even record a special live version of Locked on Patriots at Dog Watch,

but shout out to everybody there. But let's hop into it. Let's start with the bad like we do. Get the bad stuff out of the way. First, some sort of general themes. Penalties have been something I've talked about in a lot of these glorious victory shows.

They read their head today. We had seven for 70 yards. Seven penalties, 70 yards. And some of those were in some bad spots. I mean, you get some false starts. Gronkowski had one. Waddell had one.

They were able to make plays after those. I mean, the Waddell false start turned into a first and 15, but they got a 12-yard gain from Cooks on the next play. They had another false start. That was one could probably charge it to the team. It seems like everybody jumped. Turned a third and nine into a third and 14, but Brandon Cooks was wide open on a crossing route,

so they converted that one. We got Brandon Cooks get flagged for both an offensive pass interference as well as a block in the back on a quick tunnel screen. Kind of awkward to see that. So penalties an issue. Injuries another issue. A big one today. Nate Ebner the first to go down on that fake punt early.

He goes out with a knee. Trevor Riley, who was having a good game on the defensive side of the ball, although he did miss one tackle in the backfield. He goes out with a head injury on a kickoff. Kyle Van Nooy had a great game as well, but he goes out with a leg injury. Waddle, we mentioned him, had a fairly good game, and he was handling Cameroneron wake we'll get to the protection about with for tom brady in a second but waddle leaves with a lower leg injury

left gillette stadium in a walk-in boot trey flowers with a rib injury marquise flowers with an undisclosed injury a lot of guys get banged up today, so that's something to watch going forward. The protection for Brady. Brady said of himself after the game in his post-game press conference, his quote, they got some good shots on me, but I'll be back at it and ready to go Wednesday. So it does look like Brady's okay. He was

held out with the Achilles injury this week, missed one day of practice, but he took some shots today. He was only sacked one time, but he took some shots. Of course, he finishes the day 18 of 28 for 227, four touchdowns. What interception would we get to? But he got knocked around a bit. So that's something to watch going forward.

And finally, sort of the last general thing, their turnovers. Brady did have the one interception which we'll get to. They did have that fumble on the snap. Center snaps it. Karras snaps it before Brady was ready. Dolphins return it for a touchdown, so that was an issue as well. Some specific things in the bad category. Brady got off to a bad start.

Missed his first two throws. Their first play, a spot concept. He misses on a low throw there to Gronkowski. Third and nine. A throw to Gronkowski again, low and outside. That leads to the fake punt. No, but Brady got off to a slow start. Then, of course, there's the bad snap, the fumble by Karras.

You don't like to see that, but more than anything, since this is a Thanksgiving season, so to speak, let's just be thankful that Brady didn't get hurt. I don't know what you were thinking at that moment, but when I saw Brady going back after that, that's an awkward play. Quarterbacks can get hurt on that because you might lunge for the ball

if somebody lands on your shoulder or something. I was just glad to see TB12 get up and walk away from that play. But that's a miscommunication that can't happen, especially at home. There's no crowd noise. Gillette's pretty quiet when the Patriots have the football, so that was a mistake that he can't have.

The flea flicker that Miami ran on their third drive of the game, it's a second and 10 play, sort of near midfield, and the one guy has a 14 point lead. The ball is underthrown. Butler gets beat on it, recovers, commits the defensive pass interference. I understand, you know, wanted to give it a play there, but you'd like to see him not get beat in that situation.

More bad stuff here before we get to the good and the great. Brady's interception, he does a good job climbing the pocket, but to the good and the great. Brady's interception. He does a good job climbing the pocket, but he underthrows the route. Bobby O'Kane comes under it, makes the interception. He gets ejected later in the game, so to the loot for him. More bad stuff before we get to the good. We talked about it earlier, but Cooks with the offensive pass interference

and then a block in the back penalty. Again, the penalties, you can't have it. We talked about, I talked about tackling being important. There were some missed tackles in this game. David Harris missed a couple. Butler missed one. You know, we had Landry, I believe, in in the flat Landry made a spin move around him

gave up some yardage but we're going to talk about the tackling in a bit because I think the Patriots did a pretty good job there but that's your bad stuff sort of generally and more specifically that I saw my takeaways from Sunday up next the good and then after that the great

plus a game ball. That's ahead on Locked On Patriots with me, Mark Schofield. All right, let's get to some of the good stuff now, and sort of as we did with the bad, just generally speaking, offensive numbers were really good. Deion Lewis, 15 carries for 112 yards. Also, we had some big first-down runs again in this game. I tweeted about it during the game.

Look, you had Lewis had on their first drive an 11-yard run on a first down. He had a 21-yard run on a first down. I haven't run the numbers yet. Burkhead had a 20-plus yard run on first down. So first down running, again, I'll run the numbers probably Monday or so, but first down running, again, critical for New England, at least viewing it and going through it live.

Like I said, Lewis, 15 carries for 112 yards. When you're averaging 7.5 yards a carry, you're having a good day. Offense, red zone, five trips, five touchdowns. That's good, too. So those are some general stuff. Some specific stuff that stood out to me. I mentioned, again, having to tackle quickly you probably saw it you know they saw the way the Dolphins ran their offense a lot of quick throws or a crossing routes trying to get yardage

after the catch well their first pass and play was a crossing route to Devante Parker Stephon Gilmore with an immediate tackle. They did a really good job tackling today. I mean, they ran a play-action boot on their second drive. Kyle Vannoy did a great job staying home. Doesn't get fooled on it. He covers it well. Forces more out of bounds for basically a minimal gain. They ran one of those little fly sweeps to Jarvis Landry

on their third drive of the game. Kyle Vannoy with a great tackle in open space. That's a tough ask, asking Kyle Vannoy to tackle Jarvis Landry in space, but he does it there. So a flat route to the running back on Miami's sixth drive of the game, Patrick Chun with an immediate tackle. Malcolm Butler on a hitch route to Kenny Stills, a quick tackle there. So they did a really good job tackling. I didn't get the sense that there were a lot of yak plays from Miami today.

That's what their offense is built upon. That's what their offense is looking to do. So I think they did a really good job in that area. Miami second drive of the game. Malcolm Butler on an in-cut against Jarvis Landry. Jarvis Landry cut into the inside. Butler with a great pass breakup. Other good stuff.

Pocket movement from Tom Brady. We've seen it all season long. New England's fourth drive of the game. They've got a second and six. We see that little duck move from Brady when he's got edge pressure coming behind him, trying to avoid the strip sack. Great feel in the pocket from Tom Brady there.

There's a defensive hold and penalty as well but those eyes in the back of your head as a quarterback you really need those Brady's the best at it just feeling when that guy's coming from around the edge no one wants to take care of the ball duck under it

great play there from Brady we get a lot of great stuff apparently great play there from Brady. We get a lot of great stuff apparently because that's what we're going to do next. But that was some of the good stuff that I saw from New England's effort today against the Miami Dolphins. But up next, we're going to dive into the great stuff. There was a lot of great stuff to talk about here

and we'll dive into it next right here with me Mark Schofield and Locked On Patriots alright let's dive into the great stuff and the one thing that really stood out to me was Miami on 3rd down 2 of 11 converted only 18% of their 3rd downs

that's huge as a defense. Getting off the field on third down, giving the ball back to Tom Brady, that was great. Now the game didn't start out great. Brady looked slow. It looked like New England was going 3-0. Then you get that fake punt from Nate Ebner

with a great block from Brandon Bolden as well. Just a really great play. Nobody's expecting a fake punt on the opening drive of the game. Great job of situational decision-making there. They must have seen something on film. Looks like Miami, they only had the one gunner to the outside. They bring an extra guy toward the inside.

You can get that guy sealed on the edge. That's what Bolden does. Gets Ebner to the outside. They pick up the first down. Ebner does suffer the injury on that play, but it was a big play because New England goes on. They score a touchdown on that drive. Rex

Burke hit on a short touchdown run. We saw some first down running on that play because their next offensive play is a Deion Lewis 11-yard run on a first down. Their next drive, Deion Lewis opens the drive with a 21-yard run on first down. So again, those first down runs, great to see that from New England. On that play, you get a second, on that drive, that third drive, you get a Yankee concept again.

We've talked about that. There's a piece over at LockedOnPatriots.com. You can read about the Yankee concept again. We've talked about that. There's a piece over at LockedOnPatriots.com. You can read about the Yankee concept. This time, they get Danny Amendola on that shorter crossing route. Quick little change of direction after the catch for a big gain. And then they cap that drive off with a beautifully designed touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski. They start with empty. They bring the runner back into the backfield. They motion to a

stacked slot. Brady knows that he gets man-to-man. All the stuff we've talked about, the movement, the shifting, Brady knows he gets man-to-man with Rob Gronkowski. He knows exactly where he wants to go with the football. You get Gronkowski matched up with number 20 defensive back. That's a mismatch you've got to take advantage of. And that's exactly what New England does. And we saw something similar on Brady's next touchdown pass. The one to Burkhead. You get shifting, motion. Eventually Burkhead shifts out of the backfield to a win.

He gets matched up on a rookie linebacker. That's a one-on-one matchup that Burkhead should win, and he does. Brady, with a great placement on the throw as well, gets it over the linebacker. Just a great throw there. Talk about the defense for a second, because after that Brady interception, it's getting late in the second quarter. Miami's going to receive the second half kickoff. It's a 21-10 game,

but you could see that potential double dip, that potential 14-point swing, because if Miami goes down, gets a touchdown, they get the kickoff, get another touchdown, you might be looking at a 24-21 game. The defense really steps up in this sequence. You get a Trey Flowers,

does a great job of stretching out a run. Patrick Chun comes up and runs support, holds us no gain. Sacks there from Trey Flowers as well on that drive, and it all sort of sets up the Gilmore interception. A little smash concept that doesn't look like Devontae Parker's expecting the football there, but Gilmore interception. A little smash concept. It doesn't look like Devontae Parker

is expecting the football there, but Gilmore reads the play well, rotates over, makes an interception. They get to halftime. You still have that 21-10 lead. Miami is going to get the ball. What happens? They force a 3-0.

You got a 3rd-and-1 situation. Malcolm Brown in the middle of it. Stopping the run. Force a punt. So they don't get that double-dip at all. They don't come away with any points on that. That was a huge sort of sequence in this game. And a great, great sequence in this game and a great great sequence from the Patriots.

And how do they respond? They get the ball now. First play Dion Lewis 25 yard run on first down. Karras make a tone in for that bad snap from the center spot. Gets to the second level immediately on Kiko Alonso. Great block there. That drive capped off with a

touchdown from Tom Brady to Rob Gronkowski. Brady under pressure there, but great placement on the throw. Miami's next drive. Fumbled by Kenyon Drake. Van Noyes around the runnerback's legs. Trey Flowers punches

it out. Patrick Shum with the recovery. So think about how this whole sequence has come together now. Patriots, they get the interception. They force a three and out. They go down and score a touchdown. Now it's 28-10. They force a turnover. So that was another great sort of sequence.

Some other great stuff. Landon Roberts had a great game. He got a sack on Matt Moore at one point. Trey Flowers with another sack on Matt Moore. That's when he and Marquise Flowers came hobbling off the field. Roberts had another sack late in the game in the fourth quarter. That was that play where the left guard in the center sort of parted the Red Sea for him, and he came up right through the A-gap for the sack.

Van Noy then followed that up with a sack of his own. That's when he got hurt. But this defense, I think, stepped up really well. They only gave up 10 points. You know, seven of Miami's 17 points came on that bad snap. And so, you know, they only, Miami only gained 67 yards on the ground. Matt Moore completed 23 of 34 for 215 yards, throws to two interceptions, the second one coming late by Harmon.

He and Gilmore sort of fighting for the ball there. But I think this defense is really playing well right now. And they sacked Matt Moore seven times. We've wondered about the pass rush. We've talked about it with guests like Adam Kirchhen. Looks like the pass rush is rounding into form as well. So that's all great stuff to see. But I want to close with my game ball,

and a lot of great performances. Obviously Tom Brady with a great day. Dion Lewis with a great day. Rob Gronkowski catches two touchdown passes. On the defensive side of the ball, you've got Gilmore with an interception. You've got Trey Flowers and Orlando Roberts. Both have two sacks on the day. But the guy on the defensive side of the ball that I came away impressed with the most

was Jonathan Jones. Nine total tackles, all nine of them solo. And going into this game, I stressed how immediate tackles are going to be important. Don't give them yardage after the catch. Well, I have note after note here of Jonathan Jones making immediate tackles on those crossing routes to Jarvis Landry. You know, there was one on a second and ten play on Miami's second drive. That's a potential big gain, but he tackles him immediately. He forces a third and one. They stop Miami on that third and one.

That set up a fourth down and one. They stop Miami on that third and one. They set up a fourth down and one. They actually went for it and converted the fourth down. But still, you get your defense into a situation where the offense has to make a decision on a fourth down. You're doing something good. Jones with an immediate tackle there right away. Another crossing route to Jarvis Landry, an immediate tackle by Jones.

That comes on Miami's third drive of the game, Miami's tenth drive of the game, first and ten, crossing route, immediate tackle by Jonathan Jones, holds him to a one-yard gain. Jones was great in run support as well. There was a toss play to his side of the field, came downfield as well with his run fit.

Immediate tackle there. And he even notched his first sack of the year on a cornerback blitz late in the game. I thought Jonathan Jones really stood out. I was very impressed with what he did today. And knowing what Miami wants to do on offense, needing those quick tackles to prevent those yardage after the catch-type plays, Jones really stood out in that area of the game, in that facet of the game. So if I'm handing out a game ball, Jonathan Jones, congratulations, man.

Tremendous day from you. And a tremendous day from the New England Patriots. Look, they get to 9-2. We're waiting on this Steelers game. Maybe we get a little help from Green Bay and Brett Hundley. Who knows? But look around the AFC. Look around the landscape right now.

Chiefs have lost again. You know, this is a team that started 5-0. They're now 6-5, and they're wondering if Patrick Mahomes is coming off the bench. Jacksonville. They lose out in the desert. So now they're in a tie. They drop into a tie with Tennessee. Does Tennessee scare you right now?

Does Jacksonville scare you right now? Does Kansas City scare you right now? We're waiting on Pittsburgh. We'll see how that game turns out. But New England, dare we say, here we go again. They start 2-2. They've rattled off seven straight wins. Looking great on both sides of the ball right now.

So it's great to see that. And it's great to have another glorious victory edition. I'll be back tomorrow for your Tape Tuesday show. Then we're going to have some great guests this week as well. Really excited about the guests from Wednesday's show. Then we're going to have some great guests this week as well. Really excited about the guests from Wednesday's show. You'll be excited too. But I'll be back Tuesday.

Until then, everybody, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield and Locked on Patriots.