It's finally time for some football as the Patriots will take on the Cincinnati Bengals this afternoon to kick off the 2010 regular season, with kickoff scheduled for 1:00pm down at Gillette Stadium.
We'll have plenty throughout the day here, so be sure and check back frequently for updates. In the meantime here are the best of today's headlines.
Firin' up the Sunday Morning Tailgate - Albert Breer of the Boston Globe offers up some articles from the newspaper to get you ready for this afternoon's game.
Rarin' to Go - Ian Rapoport offers up a piece with some quick looks at several different topics, including the fact that opening day is the toughest game to get ready for.
"Opening day is always the toughest day," Belichick said. "There is just so much uncertainty with where your team is, what your opponent is going to do. There are a lot of possibilities. I think once you get into the second, third, fourth game, you start to see what teams are, what they try to do, where they are strong, where they're weak. What they're trying to shore up and where they're trying to attack. It makes it fun, but it gives a coach the butterflies."
Getting to know Jarrad Page - Shalise Manza Young of the Boston Globe has more on the recently acquired safety.
Patriots Will Have Their Hands Full in This Season Opener - Jeff Howe of NESN.com has a live blog today, along with a scouting report for the game.
Patriots, Bengals can Back Up Trash Talk - Rich Garven of the Worcester Telegram looks at the war of words that went on this week, and takes an in-depth look at Ochocinco and the Patriots secondary.
A Sense of Uneasiness About the Patriots - Garven also has five questions that make today's game more difficult than fans may be expecting.
Now We'll Open It Up to Questions - Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe points out the last memory we have of the Patriots is a bad one, and wonders what the 2010 season will bring.
Pass, Fail? - John Powers of the Boston Globe feels that the Bengals receivers, "may take the Patriots secondary to school" this afternoon.
Getcha Popcorn Ready - Mark Farinella of the Attleboro Sun Chronicle feels that the Pats-Bengals game "could be a barnburner".
FARINELLA: Let's See if This Crystal Ball Works - Farinella makes his picks for this season.
Offense Remains Bread-and-Butter - Farinella feels the offense will likely carry the day today against Cincinnati.
Rolling the Dice With An Unproven Defense - Farinella writes that the team has committed to who they have, and there's no turning back now.
Bengals at Patriots - Jim McBride of the Globe has a scouting report for today's game.
Wes Welker Scores Goal - Ian Rapoport has a great piece on Wes Welker, who has acheived his ultimate goal of being ready to play today, and his family will be on hand to watch it.
Tully Banta-Cain holds up as "leader of the sack" - Ron Borges (who has been a busy guy this week) has a good piece on Banta-Cain and hopes he can also get a little help from his friends in getting to the quarterback this season.
Patriots Ready to Kick off - Karen Guregian looks at today's game, with the obvious question being how the secondary will deal with Cincy's passing attack.
That's it for this morning. We'll have pregame notes coming up shortly.
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