Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Patriots A to Z Part 11 - Locked On Patriots July 8, 2019

Episode Date: July 8, 2019

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Hey there everybody, welcome on in to a Monday installment and part 11 of Patriots A to Z here at Locked On Patriots. I am Mark Schofield, as always, back in the big chair, post-holiday weekend here in the States. Hope all of you get some chance to get a little time off, enjoy, relax by the pool, the beach, with family, friends, whatever you did this holiday weekend. I hope it was a good one. We're going to get some Women's World Cup final action on Sunday.

Congratulations to the champions. We're excited for that. But now it's time to get back into it. We're going to do UNV today in part 11. And then obviously we've got WX and then YNZ to close out phase two of the offseason program here at Locked On Patriots. And then phase three is Papa Bear gets a little break. We're going to be running some best of stuff over the next two weeks, leading us up into

training camp. And then boom, new season. We're already back to it. Before we break down the players, the people, the moments, the plays, with the letters you envy that have made this franchise your usual reminders, please do follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield.

Check out the work at places like InsideThePylon.com, Pro Football Weekly, The Score, Matt Waldman's rookie scouting portfolio, Big Blue View, Bleeding Green Nation, and yes, Pat's Pulpit over at SB Nation. Now, Letters UNV. We actually had, I was surprised the amount of players on the Letters UNV.

That gets me excited. But only one U, T'Quan Underwood, who bounced around with a number of teams in the National Football League. He was drafted in the seventh round of the 2009 NFL draft out of Rutgers. Spent some time with the Jaguars. And then signed with the Patriots. And he signed with the Patriots August 29th, 2011. On September 3rd, five days later, he was cut. On November 8th, 2011, he was signed to the 53-man roster to boost the kick return team.

He was released on November 12th. He was re-signed November 23rd. But the most notable transaction with Mr. Underwood, February 4th, 2012, the night before Super Bowl XLVI, he was released. He was re-signed to the Patriots two

days after the Super Bowl. February 7th. He was cut again on May 3rd after the Patriots signed Jabbar Gaffney, but he did get an AFC championship ring. He then spent some time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Carolina Panthers, then moved over to the CFL, the Hamilton Tiger Cats, Montreal Alouettes, and he's currently an offensive quality control coach with the Miami Dolphins. But that's T'Quan Underwood. Now to the Vs. Vincent Valentine, defensive tackle from Nebraska.

He was a player that I liked coming out of Nebraska. Was drafted in the third round, 96 overall. Spent one season with the Patriots. Started two games. Tally 19 tackles. Last year he was with Arizona. Mark Van Egan. A running back for years with the Oakland Raiders.

From 1974 to 1981. And he had three straight 1,000 yard seasons. From 76 to 78. He was kind of like the face of their offense in a sense. I remember seeing him on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Yes, I'm that old. I didn't see the actual issue. Again, 76 to 78, I was born in 77,

but I remember seeing pictures of the cover that he was on. His final two years were spent in New England while he was with the Patriots. Started 16 games, had two Russian touchdowns. Both of those came in 1983. Randy Vataha, wide receiver, spent the bulk of his career, six seasons with the Patriots, caught a number of touchdowns for New England. All 23 of his career touchdown receptions were with the Patriots.

He spent his final year with Green Bay. John Vaughn, running back in the early 90s, a player that he was fantastic in Michigan, but fell in the draft, fifth round pick by the Patriots, spent two years in New England, started seven games in 91 and 92, combined three Russian touchdowns, then bounced around a bit, Seattle, Kansas City, finished his career with the Rhine fire. NFL Europe. I want NFL Europe back. I used to love the World Fire, NFL Europe. I want NFL Europe back. I used to love the World League slash NFL Europe.

All those Frankfurt Galaxy Rhine Fire games. Loved those. Joe Villano, defensive tackle out of Maryland. Spent two seasons with the Patriots. He was actually with Atlanta in that 2017 season. Raymond and Ross Ventrone. Raymond Ventrone, speaking of NFL Europe, started his career with Cologne, then spent two seasons in New England, a defensive back, out of Villanova,

then four years with Cleveland, then finished his career with San Francisco. And then there's Ross Ventrone, who spent one year with the Patriots, then two seasons with pittsburgh when he was with new england he did this sort of foxborough flu where he'd be active and then get sent you know caught and then signed to a practice squad they always moved him around shane vereen running back out of cal drafted by the patriots in the second round of the 2011 draft 56th overall four years in New England, three with the Giants. Tremendous running back, but more importantly, a tremendous receiver out of the backfield, Shane Vereen.

He seems he's battled some injuries at the end of his career, but notable running back for the Patriots. Garen Varas, defensive end during the 80s, was part of that Super Bowl XX team. Started four games that year and had 10 sacks. He started out incredibly well as a sack man. Defensive end out of Stanford. Drafted 48th overall, second round of the 85 draft.

10 sacks as a rookie. 11 in his second year. Then 7, then 2, 2, and 4. All 36 of his career sacks came in his six years with the New England Patriots. Finished his career again with the San Francisco 49ers. Denny Villa, center for the Patriots for a number of years from 87 to 91. Then he spent some time with the Cardinals, the Chiefs, and back to the Patriots. Then finally finished his career with the Carolina Panthers.

Started 70-70 games in his NFL career. 74 of those were with the New England Patriots, then finally finished his career with the Carolina Panthers, started 70-70 games in his NFL career. 74 of those were with the New England Patriots. We're going to talk more about this man to close out this show, but you can't get through the letter V talking about the New England Patriots without talking about Adam Vinatieri. And I gave you guys the okey-doke. Gave you guys a little bait and switch. I teased the snow game, and then I pulled it back because I thought, we're going to have to talk about it again

with Vinatieri, so let's save it for V. Forget snow game, forget tuck rule. We're going to talk about it more with Vinatieri. Sebastian Vollmer, offensive tackle for the New England Patriots. Spent his entire career with New England, 88 games, 80 starts. Offensive tackle out of Houston, selected in the second round. Mike Vrabel, player that bounced around, selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers out of Ohio State. Four years with Pittsburgh, then one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight years

with the Patriots. Ran out his career with the Kansas City Chiefs. He was part of that Mack Castle deal, if memory serves me. Had 57 career sacks, the bulk of which came during his time in New England. Matter of fact, in 2007, that 16-0 team, 12.5 sacks. Started 15 games that year. probably his career year. Although he did have in 2005, he had 108 tackles, which was his career high. Also reserve tight end. Caught some touchdowns in the Super Bowl against the Carolina Panthers. Now currently the head coach of the Houston Texans. And if you get a chance to bump into a senior bowl, really fun guy to talk to, especially at night.

But what happens in Mobile stays at Mobile. Also, Kyle Van Nooy, originally drafted by the Detroit Lions in the second round of the 2014 draft, 40th overall, but then acquired by the Patriots. And he's been a tremendous player for New England since then. He's a player that, in his time in the NFL, nfl five seasons has 11 sacks 10 of those with the patriots nine of those in the past two seasons the patriots have figured out how to use him and it's kyle van noy is a prime example matter of fact the example i go to when i think about how the patriots use their scouting department they find ways that guys can contribute. What can he do? Van Noy is the prime example of that.

And Kyle Van Noy, obviously, a big part of last year's Super Bowl team. Tremendous defensive effort. So Kyle Van Noy, obviously, a tremendous part of the Patriots' current roster. So that will do it for the people. Up next, we are going to talk about the players. But before we do that, friends, let's talk about sex. Good sex. That's right.

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that is great copy. Blue Chew, one way to spice up the offseason. Mark Schofield back with you now on part 11, almost the home friends, but part 11 of Patriots A to Z here at Locked on Patriots. And let's talk about some of the route concepts, some of the plays that have made this franchise what it is. And we do have a number of U's and V's to get to. First, look, we've talked about this route a lot. It's been in a number of the two- and the three-man concepts

that we've broken down on this series, and that's under. And in the Patriots playbook, under is a quick five-yard vertical release, break inside and cross the field no deeper than five yards. You've got to stay under the linebackers and you have to sell the go. That's another coaching point on this. Sell the vertical, get him to bite on it, then break under no deeper than five yards. But that's under. Then another route that we've talked about a ton, and I'm glad we're finally getting to it because I feel like every time we have a two- or three-man concept, this is in there.

And that's Viper. We finally get to Viper. I'm going to give you all of it here. This can be run by inside or outside receiver. Run off the leverage of a safety versus a post safety. Attack the post safety and run a flag route, breaking away from them, run a corner route. So middle of the field, close, post safety there. You can run a post corner. Now, if you get a split safety look, if the middle of the field is open, you will run a post or a flag dependent on the safety's leverage.

So what you will do is you will attack the leverage of the safety. And if he overplays you to the outside, you will run the post. If he overplays you to the inside, you will run the flag. You must attack the safety and get on his toes before making your break. 18 yards slash toes. That is the depth of this route. When it runs against a split safety, try to get up on the safety as much as you can. If you're running this as an inside receiver, it is run with a straight stem. There is also a way to convert this differently. If the middle of the field is closed, completely closed, you are going to bend this to the inside more. You're going to basically

run right at them and then break away again that's the attack the post safety it's not just a simple post corner or corner post if the middle field is closed you will run in right at him and then break it away this route is designed to attack and exploit leverage so that's Viper then there's V this is similar to the bow out you start inside diagonally, get to six yards, then break vertically to 15, then bow back to the outside working 15 to 20. Inside release, stem to six yards.

Push vertical to 15, give a stick, and aim for 20 yards downfield. Your landmark for the break point is halfway between the numbers in the nearest hash mark. Sell the cross with your stem. It should be like the same. Remember that shoot cross where you go diagonally to 16? You're selling that route.

There is also what they call the true V. So this was V, which is more bowed. True V is just like an angle. Diagonally, get to about six yards. Do not break the flag until you make eye contact with the quarterback. So you're going to break diagon flag until you make eye contact with the quarterback. So you're going to break diagonally. You make eye contact with him.

Then you break out to the flag. So that's a true V. I wanted to incorporate that here rather than with T because they go together. There are also some two-man concepts. First is Utah, which is an under and an in.

So this is a two-man concept, Utah with an under and an in. You get the inside receiver running that in route about 12 yards with the potential to return if you're walled off. Outside receiver runs the under. So that's Utah in the Patriots playbook. There is also Vine with an invert, which I don't think we talked about, and a Viper.

They have a whole Viper series. Vine is one of them. Outside receiver runs a 46-yard invert. So your outside receiver released vertically, then you go outside to get to a depth of about six yards, and then you stop and peel back to the inside. So it's kind of like the inverse of a return route which is why they call it invert because the return route is the exact opposite then on the inside you're running that viper route so that's vine in the patriots playbook patriots also have visor which again has a viper route with it visor has a stab and a viper so one receiver

runs sort of the stab route what's a stab route since we haven't talked about it yet well stab route is this it's an outside receiver you arced release to the outside get to a depth of about 12 yards, stop, turn to the inside. Now, if you get sort of man coverage, you can then break away from this out towards the sideline. That's an outside stab route. Inside, again, is the Viper. Finally, we're going to have some three-man concepts to talk about here. First one is Uzi. Yes, it is in the play Patriots playbook a lot of these will have unders as you might expect you under so this is a three-man trips concept inside receiver runs the inside under the shallow under slant to two to three yards step or two upfield then break across at a depth of five yards

you want to cross the middle linebackers face inside receiver runs a ram which kind of that angle route. And then outside receiver runs an under. So that's Uzi in the Patriots playbook. There's also, as you might expect, under, which has two under routes, both from the outside receiver. So the outside receiver runs an under at five yards. Middle trips receiver runs it at three yards.

You want to look for a potential rub with the number three receiver who's going to be inside of you and then that number three receiver runs the Viper now you sometimes see a concept by other teams it's called double in or China or double China this is kind of similar to that but on those concepts you have a locked corner route. So you're running a corner no matter what from that inside receiver. Here, you've got the option depending on middle field open

or middle of field closed. But if you run this kind of concept against, say, a cover one look, this is a great concept to throw that inside corner route. Even here, if it's Viper, if it's cover one, the middle field is going to be closed, so you're going to be running that corner route. Even here, if it's Viper, if it's cover one, the middle field is going to be closed, so you're going to be running that corner route anyway because you create the traffic and you create some space.

That's why they have the coaching point in here. Alert for a rub with that number three receiver. You create a little traffic, maybe rub off that cover one man coverage corner over that corner route. You can get a big play on that. So that's under in the Patriots playbook. There's also vice, which again, shock shocker has a viper route in it so you have a viper route I'm gonna have that seven stop which we've talked about before which is you know it's a route where you basically

look like you're running a corner route and then you stop and then break back so how vice how vice works excuse me it's a motion to a bunch so the outside receiver has a big split and he motions to get in the three-man bunch and he comes sort of to the inside to run the viper the middle receiver runs that seven stop releases outside then vertically then diagonally to the outside again and then stops and then the inside receiver runs the diagonal that three-yard route, releasing to the flat. Two more to talk about. Patriots have Vane.

This is, again, a motion to a three-receiver set here. Outside receiver starts out wide. Then he motions to the middle spot. So he becomes the number two receiver, and he runs a Viper. The guy that starts in the middle but then becomes the number one he runs a jiggle so releases to 10 to 12 then you can either break to the inside and stay working inside you could sit down or you can return to the outside again that's that jiggle route and finally like many of these three receiver concepts there's a diagonal route that three yard flat route to the outside from the

inside receiver so that's a vein and finally we do have one of those named convention plays vegas this is another route where you have on the outside hitch routes from the two outside receivers that can convert to a go or a fade versus press or rolled coverage. And then you have a jiggle from the left slot and then the Y, the tight end is on the right wing on the play we're talking about in a second. And he runs sort of a return route. And so the example here is G spread right, 66 hitch, Z Vegas flare. So on this route concept, again, again you get those hitches those six yard hitches which can convert to goes on the outside z receiver is in a slot to the left runs the jiggle route and y runs a potential return where you come inside you can sit down or you can return out

running back checks protection releases to the left on a flare. So that's Vegas in the Patriots playbook. Up next, Adam Vinatieri to close out Part 11 of Patriots A to Z here at Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now to close out Part 11 of Patriots A to Z here at Locked on Patriots. And we're going to spend the third part of the show talking about Adam Vinatieri. Born in Yankton, South Dakota.

Those of you Deadwood fans, you know those guys from Yankton, never to be trusted. Big shots from Yankton. But went to South Dakota State. Started his career with the Amsterdam Admirals in 1996 before moving to the New England Patriots. He was signed as an undrafted free agent. And Vinatieri spent from 96 to 2005 with the New England Patriots. And he was a four-time Super Bowl champion, three-time All-Pro,

although the third time was most recently with the Indianapolis Colts. Three-time first-team All-Pro, 2002-2004, and again 2014 with the Colts. New England Patriots 50th anniversary team, NFL 2000's all-decade team. He has some NFL records included. 44 straight field goals made. Most career field goals made 582 most career points in NFL history 2,600 and we remember Vinatieri for the game against the Raiders obviously where he had a 45 yard field goal into a swirling winter wind to tie the game at 13. I still to this day don't know how he made that kick. But then he had

another 23-yarder to win it in overtime. He kicks a 48-yard field goal in the final play of Super Bowl 36 to give the Patriots their first Super Bowl victory over a team that was 14-point favorite. To close out the 2003-2004 season, he kicked a 41-yarder in Super Bowl 38 to give the Patriots a 32-29 victory over the Panthers. That made Vinatieri the first player ever to be the deciding factor in two Super Bowl games. In 2004, he led the NFL with scoring with 141 points. He was 31 for 33 on field goals

and a perfect 48 for 48 on extra point attempts. He kicked a field goal on three extra points and a Patriots, again, a three-point victory in a Super Bowl. And I suppose now we can talk about the tuck rule because we've kind of ducked it. Let's just say this. It was the right call.

Let's read from the rule book. NFL Rule 3, Section 22, Article 2, Note 2. When an offensive player is holding the ball to pass it forward, any intentional forward movement of his arm starts a forward pass, even if the player loses possession of the ball as he is attempting to tuck it back towards his body. Also, if the player has tucked the ball into his body and then loses possession, it is a fumble. Again, Tom Brady started to throw, tries to tuck it back. It starts a forward pass.

Now, I understand that Raiders fans are still angry about it. I was on a podcast with Amy Trask. fans are still angry about it. I was on a podcast with Amy Trask. She is still angry about it. She mentioned that she said some things in the box that she was in, watching the game that she can never repeat. But it was technically the right call. And also, a couple of things. Raiders fans, let's be honest.

You guys had a couple of shots to put that game away and you didn't. And also, by the way, Charles Woodson blowed to the head of Tom Brady on that play as well. And that wasn't called. So, it was the right call. Finally, about Adam Vinatieri. Look, huge play for the Patriots. So many huge kicks for this franchise. You could make a case, a lot of people have, I have as well,

that his field goal was the biggest play in franchise history. If he misses that field goal to beat the Rams, or even one of the ones to beat the Raiders, say he misses that field goal try and this game doesn't go to overtime. Maybe this team goes in a different direction. Maybe Belichick brings back Bledsoe. Who knows? But it started the dynasty.

Final note about Adam Vinatieri. Third cousin of Evel Knievel. Which in a sense makes him family. Just throwing that out there. But that will do it for today. I will be back tomorrow with part 12 of Patriots A to Z sponsored by letters W and X. I don't know what we're going to talk about.

Let's see. Let's do a quick search. Any Patriots with the last name of X? Negative. We got some Ws, though, which is good. So we got that working for us, which is nice. So that will be it tomorrow. Until then, keep it locked right here

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