Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Patriots A to Z Part 1 - Locked On Patriots June 24, 2019

Episode Date: June 24, 2019

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Hey there everybody, welcome on in to the debut, the first piece in part two of the off-season program here at Locked On Patriots. Patriots A to Z, this is part one, we're going to do letters A and B today and how these are going to work. We're going to give you the players, some plays, and some moments using these letters, working our way through what will be at the end of this exercise, a full-on encyclopedia dedicated to your New England Patriots. As always, I am Mark Schofield slotted into the big chair for this first installment. Kind of curious to see how this all sort of pans out, but I am excited about going through some Patriots history.

Again, look, I've said this before. I'm upfront about this. This is the offseason. This is June. I could tell you about how I spent my Saturday, which was doing a lot of yard work, curing some garlic and some onions and some shallots, braiding some garlic. But you probably don't want to hear that.

So we're going to talk some Patriot stuff. Before we do, your usual set of reminders. Please do follow along the old Twitter machine at Mark Schofield. Check out the work at a variety of places. Inside thePylon.com, Pro Football Weekly, The Score, Matt Waldman's Rookie Scouting Portfolio, and that trio of SB Nation websites, including Big Blue View, Bleeding Green Nation, and, of course, Pat's Pulpit. Let's talk Patriots.

Let's talk players to sort of start things off. And what we're going to do, as I said, we're working our way through letters A and B today. We're going to start with the letter A. We're going to start with players. Now, I may miss some players. Again, we've got a lot to cover, not a ton of time to do it. But starting with the letter A, surprisingly, some important members of this franchise with the letter A. We can start with Sam Adams, offensive guard from Prairie View A&M who played for the Patriots from 1972 through 1981.

The one and only year in which he started a game for this franchise was that final season where he started all 16 games but for the new orleans saints he never started a single contest for the patriots but who better to kick this off with than sam adams a little beer drinking reference but there was another adams that played for this franchise julius adams a defensive end drafted in the second round of the 1971 n Draft. 27th overall. Again, a defensive end from Texas Southern. And he did not start a game for this franchise until 1981. But started in 1982.

He had some pretty impressive seasons for the Patriots. In 1982, that strike-shortened season. Nine games, nine starts, two sacks. 1983, started all 16 games. His best year as a pro. Eight sacks. 1984, just started one game but appeared in all 16 with four sacks and the 1985 that year that ended obviously with a super bowl appearance 16 appearances 12 starts five sacks and in that year he had a start against the jets in november of 1985 where he tallied three sacks in a 16-13 loss.

When you're talking about letters, the letter A in Patriots, you've got to think Bruce Armstrong. Offensive tackle for the New England Patriots from 1987 through the year 2000. One of the members of the New England Patriots to have their number retired. Bruce Armstrong's number 78, retired by the franchise. He appeared in 112 games and started, I mean, excuse me, he appeared in 212 games and started 212 games for this franchise. He was drafted in the first round out of Louisville,

23rd overall in the 1987 draft, 12 games and 12 starts that first year. And again, every game he appeared in, he started it. Bruce Armstrong, just a rock on the offensive line for the New England Patriots over that period of time. Some other names. With the letter A.

Obviously Danny Amendola. Huge player for this team. We think of his postseason. Perhaps turning it on against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Obviously a Super Bowl that ended in that loss. And two. The one and only Philadelphia Eagles. But it was a great game for him in that appearance. Caught a big touchdown late during his time in New England.

Didn't start all the games that he wore the uniform in, but had some great success with the New England Patriots. And you look at what he did in the postseason, particularly that 2017 postseason run. Three games, two starts, 26 receptions for 348 yards, and a pair of touchdowns. That's over three games. That offense pretty much ran through him in that 2017 postseason. So Danny Amendola, obviously a Patriots player to remember. We have some current Patriots. Steven Anderson, center David Andrews, punter Ryan Allen. Can't forget Joe Andruzzi,

offensive guard for this franchise for a number of seasons from Southern Connecticut State. He was with the Patriots for five seasons including the Super Bowl runs. The 2001-2002 team, the 2003 and the 2004 teams as well.

Joe Andruzzi. And when we think of Andruzzi, we obviously think sort of that post-9-11 moment of him taking the field, carrying the flag. So Joe Andruzzi, obviously a valued member of this franchise. Kyle Arrington, defensive back out of Hofstra. He was used sometimes as a edge safety, you could say. They lined him up at defensive end at times. Some other players I'll point point out Willie Andrews,

defensive back out of Baylor, played for a couple of seasons for the Patriots. Dwayne Allen, in tight end with the Patriots for the past couple of seasons as well, helping them with a couple of playoff runs. Sam Aiken, wide receiver from North Carolina. That's an interesting name.

Let's make our way over to the B's now. And look, we got to start when you talk about the letter B. You talk about players, and I guess we're going to include coaches here. Tom Brady, Bill Belichick. It's hard to look anywhere else than those two gentlemen. And obviously, when we get to the third part of the show, we talk about moments. We're going to talk basically about the Brady and the Belichick era, but quarterback Tom Brady, head coach Bill Belichick. Basically, a huge reason why this team has grown into the franchise that they are today. We've got current Patriots, Jake Bailey, the punter from Stanford, a current member of this franchise. Andrew Beck, the undrafted tight end. Michael Bennett, welcome to the roster. Juwan Bentley, the linebacker from franchise. Andrew Beck, the undrafted tight end. Michael Bennett, welcome to the roster.

Juwan Bentley, the linebacker from Purdue. Berrios Braxton, yes, we're all sort of hoping that Berrios Braxton lives up to the promise that some of us identified in. And Brandon Bolden, obviously the running back back with the franchise. Special team stalwart. Yes, Tom Brady. But Nick Brissett, undrafted running back out of louisiana state terence brooks from florida state rex burkhead adam butler there are a number of members of this franchise

the letter b but also some former members of this franchise members of super bowl winning teams brandon browner for example just one season with this franchise but perhaps one of the biggest plays of this franchise in its entire history. Where he sort of jammed the receiver off the line of scrimmage. Which allowed Malcolm Butler to make the interception on the goal line. To win Super Bowl XLIX. Obviously, you can't ignore him. Some other Patriots of lore.

Teddy Bruschi. Troy Brown. Deion Branch. The letter B is a massive part of Patriots of lore. Teddy Bruschi, Troy Brown, Dion Branch. The letter B is a massive part of Patriots history. Patriots lore. I mean, there are going to be players that you'll be talking about

forever. Drew Bledsoe led the Patriots to his Super Bowl parents and famously gave way to Tom Brady. LeGarrette Blount, obviously a member of some Super Bowl winning teams. Michael Bishop, the quarterback that once was promised, but never materialized. So the letter B, part of Patriots folklore. I mean, you could go on down the line.

Tully Buttecain, Kenji Barner, The story about his Super Bowl win was making the circles on social media this week. And so the letter B, obviously a huge part of Patriots history when it comes to the players that have suited up for the New England Patriots. And I've probably missed some guys. There are a lot. Don Blackman, for

example. There's a name from the past. A linebacker out of Tulsa in the 80s. I'm trying to scan through to see if I missed anybody else. Jacoby Brissett? He's had a couple of starts for New England. That Houston game, the short week after Jimmy Garoppolo went down.

Got to mention that one. I have to double down on Troy Brown. My mom's favorite player of all time. I would be remiss not to do that. Nick Bonacone, a linebacker for this franchise during the 60s. Big staple of the Patriots defense during that era. Darius Butler, defensive

back out of Connecticut for a couple of seasons. I did mention Malcolm Butler, but we'll double down on him again. One of the biggest plays. And we'll probably talk about that a little bit later in the third part of the show. But up next, we're going to talk some plays. These are obviously going to have an offensive slant to them, pun intended, because let's face it, a lot of what I do is on the offensive side of the ball.

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Mark Schofield back with you now on this debut installment of Patriots A to Z. We've talked about now some of the players with the letters A and B that have been important to this franchise over the years. Now let's talk about some of the plays. And again, this is going to have an offensive slant to it because let's face it, the playbooks I read, the studying I do, it's on the offensive side of the ball. I'll try to work in, especially in tomorrow's show when we have C, we're going to talk some coverages, obviously cover A, cover, I mean,

cover one, cover three, things like that. But let's talk first some routes, some pass routes with the letters A and B. And we can start with Bowe. Again, I'm going to work through playbooks here, so it might not be in pure alphabetical order. But Bowe is a route in the Patriots playbook, which is basically an out route where the receiver tries to release inside, gets to about a depth of 15 yards, and then breaks outside, drifting to about 20. And sometimes when we talk about the wide receiver position, people scout wide receivers, gets to about a depth of 15 yards and then breaks outside drift into about 20 and sometimes

when we talk about the wide receiver position people scout wide receivers people will point out oh he doesn't make great cuts he doesn't make good breaks he drifts upfield and away from the ball well on this route bow b-o-w the patriots playbook wants you to basically drift upfield stem to the inside edge of the numbers. Break no shorter than 15 yards and speed cut off of inside foot. Get in depth to 20 yards. Depth may vary. Now there are some coach's points associated with this route. For example, if you get press coverage, you run a 16-yard comeback. You must get on the safety's toes and attack leverage. Work to flatten your route after the cut. So they don't want you drifting too much.

You want to try to flatten it. But still, you're going to get upfield because of your momentum. Split the corner in the safety. If run with motion, you are locked into this route. So if there's motion into a stack or if you're in motion yourself, you're running this route. No matter what, you don't adjust it to that comeback against press. Now, this is also run out of the backfield they have in their playbook just when they come to single routes backfield routes and one of them is bow and when you're running this out of the backfield free release outside this is the this is how they describe it for running backs aiming

for width to the top of the numbers a seam seam release, and a depth of eight yards while keeping the defender on your inside shoulder. Speed cut off of inside foot and work to flatten at 12 yards. Possible double set versus outside leverage, meaning a double move. Come downhill versus man-to-man coverage. So if you get man, you want to work back towards the football. Another backfield route with the letter A, angle. We talk about this one a ton. Free release outside, sell the diagonal, plant outside foot two yards outside the tight end or the ghost tight end,

meaning where the tight end would be aligned, and two yards downfield, come in under the defender at a 45 degree angle. Catch the ball outside the nearest hash mark. Pull out if walled off by inside defender. What that means is if you start this angle route, you run that sort of diagonal, you start to cut inside and you see a Mike linebacker, that middle linebacker squatting, you pull out, meaning you stop and you break back towards the outside on what looks like a double move out route. And so that's angle. It's a backfield route in the New England Patriots playbook. Now, those of you that have seen the Patriots playbooks, you know that the one-man routes, as we've just been talking about, are just part of the foundation. Then they have two- and three-man route concepts. And a lot of the

Patriots offensive plays are these named two- and three-receiver concepts. We talk about, for example, the tosser concept, which is a double slant. That tells two receivers what they're doing. And some of these also start with the letters A and B. For example, bell, which is an under and an in combination. You have the outside receiver runs that under route, which is a five yard and you break to the inside. The inside receiver, the slot receiver runs basically a dig. 12 yards, break to the inside. Now, coaching points on this one. The receivers on both of these routes,

either the five yard in or the 12 yard in, can break back to the outside, similar to what we were just talking about with angle, if you get walled off. So if there's a defender to the inside that takes away your cut to the inside, then you break to the outside, just like we were talking about. Arc, which is an angle and a rock out. I know that sounds like a lot, but here's what it is. There's an angle route out of

the slot formation. The outside receiver runs an angle route, basically the reverse, the mirror image of the angle route we were just describing. You break to the outside and then you cut underneath. So you show an out route and then you cut under on a slant. And then the inside receiver, the slot receiver, runs the bow or the out route where you get to 12, you drift up to 15 when you break to the outside. We're going to get into a lot of these tomorrow because the Patriots have what they call their entire D or diagonal series where you've got a

pair of routes together. So you might have D slant or some of the other ones that they have in that D series include, as I'm scrolling to it, D slant, D fast, D pivot, D slim. There's an entire D series which we can get to, but those are some of the two-man route concepts in the Patriots playbook beginning with the letters A and B. Now some three-man concepts. The Patriots have bullet, which is a three-man route concept out of a bunch where the outside receiver runs that under route. The apex receiver, which is the one that's on the line of scrimmage in the middle of this, runs a post, and then the inside receiver runs what they call a ram,

which is similar to that angle route, where you break to the outside, you stutter for a second, and then you come back and you sort of basically follow those two routes that are also breaking to the inside. So if you can picture this, you have three receivers in a bunch. The outside receiver runs that under route where you come inside on a slant and then you flatten it out at about five yards and you stay down the line of scrimmage. Then the middle receiver who's on the line of scrimmage is that apex receiver,

runs a post, then the inside receiver breaks to the outside and then slowly works back between those two depths. So you have the post over the top, the under underneath, and then that ram route that comes between the two of those. Out of this, they also have a three receiver concept called blank, where you have the number one receiver, who's that inside receiver, runs a deep out route. Then you have the number one receiver who's that inside receiver runs a deep out route then you have the what they call the blank route you start in motion then you come back and then you run basically an in and then a return route where you start on a slant and then you come and break to the outside so that's the blank concept in the new England Patriots playbook. Some others that

have either A or B, all in, which is a three receiver concept where the outside receiver runs a deep dig. The middle trips receiver runs either what they call an indigo seam route, where you run a seam, but if the middle of the field is open, meaning there's a two safety look, there's no safety right in the middle of the field, you're going to run a seam but if the middle of the field is open meeting there's a two safety look there's no safety right in the middle of the field you're going to run a post and then the third that inside receiver runs what they call a jiggle which is an option route where you can either run a 10 yard dig a 10 yard curl or a 10 yard and then you break to the outside again that's all dependent on the coverage you see from the defense. Another three-receiver concept, all slant. Three receivers, the two inside guys run slants.

The inside receiver, the number three receiver, runs a one-step and a slant. Then you get a two-step and a slant, and then you get that under route from the outside receiver. That's their all slant concept. Angle, it's another three receiver concept where the outside receiver runs a go. The other two receivers in this trips are in a stack. The one on the line of scrimmage runs an out. The one off the line of scrimmage runs an angle. That's angle, a three receiver concept. And now let's sort of kick the difficulty up a notch. There are two more we could talk about. Bobcat, which is a go, an option, and a slant. And then Bruin, which is what the Patriots have. Viper, it's either a post corner or a corner post

option route, then a deep out route, and then a diagonal route to the flat. That's Bruin. But I want to get really sort of interesting here. Blazer, for example, the Patriots could go zero, near right, R134, Blazer. That is a play call. Zero the formation. Zero and near right, that's the formation. R134, that's the protection. And then Blazer, which is an in, an under, and a post. So in this alignment, near right, you're going to have a tight end and a Z receiver to the right and an X receiver backside. And then you have the in,

which comes from the Z receiver, the under comes from the tight end, and the post comes from the X. So if you think about it, looking at the formation from left to right, you will have the post route from the X receiver, that under route from the y receiver and the z route i mean excuse me the in route the dig route from the z receiver there is also some city routes believe it or not in their playbook they have two that we can talk about here atlanta and boston first we can talk about atlanta which is a three receiver concept where the tight end runs a 12 yard in cut the x receiver runs a three yard under and then the other receiver is tagged with a route concept and that they can return if they are sort of walled off. So, for example, G, trips right open, 64, Haas, Y, Atlanta, H, trail. That's a lot, but here's what happens.

Atlanta refers to the routes that the X receiver, the Y receiver, and the running back, the H receiver, are going to run. So, Atlanta, you get Y running that 12-yard in cut. That's the tight end going to run a 12-yard in. And if it trips right open, the tight end is going to be off the line of scrimmage in a wing. He's going to run a 12-yard in. And then the next receiver on this Atlanta concept is X, who's backside alone in a 3-by-1. He's the single receiver to the left running that under route.

And then H trail is basically an out route out of the backfield, but he can return if he's walled off to the outside. Now you heard a magic word in there, Haas. The other two receivers to the right in that trips, the Z, who's the middle trips receiver and the X, they're running Haas. So the Z receiver is going to run the slim. The X receiver is going to run the hitch, and those can be adjusted. Now let's finish this up with Boston. And it's a similar design where the Boston refers to the routes

between two receivers and the running back, and the rest is going to be identified in the play. So a play call could be for New England. Zero out slot fing, that's a motion. Flanker in, but not all the way across. You just motion towards the ball, but not all the way across. 66, that's a protection. Out, why Boston flare? And so the Boston refers to 12-yard in cut, and it's now Z, not X, on a three-yard under. So these plays are similar. It's just Boston, it has the Z run in the under, and Atlanta has X run in the under. And then Flair, that's the running back running the swing route to the left. And on this one, you get out,

so it's those two receivers, the others, X on the left, F on the right, running out routes. So that's zero out, slot finged, 66 out, Y Boston flair. Playbooks are fun. Up next, we're going to talk moments. And really, we're going to talk about the Brady-Belichick-Bledsoe sort of era and Malcolm Butler and Brandon Browner. That's ahead on this Patriots A to Z part one installment of Locked On Patriots.

Mark Schofield back with you. Now I'm going to close out this first installment of Patriots A to Z. And I know I threw a ton of nerdy terminology out at you right there, but that's what we're going to do. We're going to talk players, plays, and moments. And maybe you won't remember what we were just talking about.

Maybe about, did I just say about? I've been watching that episode. Can't let it get me a ton. Maybe you will never remember what zero out slot fame, 66 out wide Boston flair truly all means. But you might know that the Patriots use terminology like this. And if you hear Tom Brady in the huddle say Boston, you might know, hey, tight end's going to run an in and the Z receiver's going to run a three yard under. And if you identify something like that in the living

room or at the bar, people will be impressed. I'm not saying you should take notes, but don't skip through these episodes. Trust me, you're going to learn something. Let's talk moments. And when you think Patriots A to Z, when you think the letters A and B, you think Brady, you think Belichick, you think the Brady-Belichick era in New England. But I think we'd be remiss if we didn't ignore Drew Bledsoe, who the Patriots drafted first overall, much to the dismay of a young high school kid, a quarterback himself,

who was praying to the gods that the Patriots would draft Rick Myra. Not going to mention who that is. Okay, it was me. But obviously Drew Bredsoe led the Patriots through Super Bowl. Huge arm. Lived up to the first overall villain. He had that awkward

arrest when he was moving into the New England area where he was literally, it was move-in day. He was moving everything to his house. Somebody tossed him a beer from the porch and he caught it, started drinking it when he was still on public property and got cited for it. He had the stage diving incident. So there were some incidents in Bledsoe. But suffered the injury, gives way to Tom Brady,

comes back in the AFC Championship game, throws a touchdown, led to the whole speculation who was going to start. Super Bowl XXXVI, Brady does the comeback, and it begins. But you've got to talk Drew Bledsoe. You talk Bill Belichick and what he's done for this franchise, and, of course, Tom Brady. The Brady-Belichick era has been perhaps the most impressive run of dynasties in football history.

Because the Patriots, they win, you know, three Super Bowls, three out of four. And now they've run another three Super Bowls, this time three out of five. And appeared in three straight, winning two of three. And in one case, incredible fashion, the 28-3 comeback. That's the Brady and Belichick era and you heard we just got done revisiting Super Bowl 53 and you heard Tony Romo don't close your eyes you will never see this again and I know we often say never say never but it's hard to envision another organization having the kind of run that the Patriots have had under the Brady

and Belichick era. And part of the reason they were able to do that was due to two men who we mentioned already, Brandon Browner andks probably should have run the ball, but they decided not to. They decided rather to throw the ball and put the game, even with Marshawn Lynch on the goal line, to win a Super Bowl, that kind of moment. They decided, look, we're going to put it in Russell Wilson's hands. And that's what they did.

And while the Patriots, they had studied, they had prepped for that moment, they knew what the Seattle Seahawks might do. And so they decide that, look, we're going to be ready. We're going to go three corners. So when Russell Wilson looks to throw here's what they had to do it's going to be out of a stack at the point of attack

Brandon Brown had to get a good jam to prevent a rub and Malcolm Butler had to break on the slant route he breaks on the pass intended for Ricardo Lockett makes the interception and the Patriots win Super Bowl XLIX. So part of the Brady and Belichick era and the success of it

was due to two other Bs on one particular play, and that's Brandon Browner and Malcolm Butler. But that will do it for this installment. Others might not run as long. Others might run longer. It all sort of depends on the names and the players and the playbook. But I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you maybe learned a little bit.

I'm going to have some fun doing this because we get to do a lot of nerdy football stuff, so I'm going to really enjoy these. But I hope you do too. If you do, leave a review on iTunes, five stars only, please. No, I learned from the bad ones too. There haven't been many, but I learned from those as well. Tell your friends, tell your loved ones that you've been enjoying the show. Until next time, tomorrow,

where we do C&D. We've got a whole D series. We've got a lot of plays in the playbook to get to. We've got, obviously, some players to get to as well, so that's going to be a ton of fun. Until next time, keep it locked right here

to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots. you