Monday New England Patriots Links 11/1
A late entry this morning, however these include all the New England Patriots headlines from throughout the morning.
Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe has an article this morning on Brett Favre, and says he predicted #4 would start but wouldn't finish - and wasn't surprised with how things turned out.
Zuri Berry has an article on Brandon Tate, who high stepped his way into the endzone after breaking open during a broken play where Tom Brady scrambled away from pressure and fired a strike to Tate, and ended up with a 65-yard touchdown.
Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com takes a look at the personnel groupings from yesterday, with the Patriots lining up in a 2 receiver, 2 tight end set for the majority of the game.
He also breaks down Sunday's win as the Patriots find themselves back in a familiar place as one of the NFL's top football teams.
Tim Graham of ESPN writes that the Patriots have stated their case for being the NFL's best team, and are in great shape after winning their 5th straight game yesterday.
Michael Hurley of NESN writes that after yesterday's postgame rant, Randy Moss sounds an awful lot like he definitely misses being a Patriot.
Kirk Minihane writes that it's too bad Moss didn't realize the grass was green enough at the start of the season here in New England - he might be better off.
Jennifer Toland writes that fans should have an easy time forgetting about Moss, since it was Brandon Tate who stole the show yesterday against Minnesota.
Toland also has an article on BenJarvus Green-Ellis, whose second half performance yesterday ended up being the difference in the game.
Monique Walker of the Globe also has an article on Green-Ellis, who says he is just trying to get better each week.
“I’m pretty cool right now,’’ he said. “I want to continue to improve, that’s one thing I want to do. Each week I want to build on what I did last week and correct the mistakes.’’
Greg Bedard has the Globe's "On Football" column this morning, and writes that there may be plenty of new faces, but as always Bill Belichick has managed to turn this team into a solid group of contenders as they currently sit at 6-1 on the season.
Shalise Manza Young writes that on what was a strange afternoon, to wide receiver Deion Branch the way this team is playing is reminding him of some of the past championship teams he played on where they always found a way to win football games.
“I hate to talk about the past,’’ said receiver Deion Branch, “but there is a resemblance to the past teams: sometimes the offense isn’t pretty, sometimes special teams or defense, but we’re finding a way.’’
Boomer Esiason appeared onDennis & Callahan and Jerry Spar has comments from the interview, including the fact that he feels Favre is doing a good job of alienating his teammates.
Spar also has comments from Brady's appearance this morning on WEEI, who said that there's no better coach in football than Bill Belichick.
“I like to think we have a pretty tough, smart team, and that’s what he’s been trying to build," said Brady. "I think a lot of guys have taken his coaching, and I think that’s been a very fun part to this season for the players. What he comes in and says is usually the way it plays out in the game. There’s no better coaching a player can have than a coach who goes in there on Wednesday and tells you the way the game’s going to go, and that’s how it happens on Sunday.”
Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald has an entry this morning on the fact that the phrase "mental toughness" was the big term of the day as New England has been doing a better job in the second half of games so far this season.
“It’s getting better,” linebacker and captain Jerod Mayo said. “Last year, second half (of games) was terrible. This year, there was more of an emphasis on second halves of football games in practice,and it’s really helping out. … Mental toughness. Just chipping at the rock, and eventually something good will happen.”
Jeff Howe of NESN writes that Patrick Chung's knee injury apparently wasn't quite where it needed to be, since Chung was held out of the line-up yesterday.
Mark Farinella of the Attleboro Sun Chronicle has an article on the defense, who once again bent, but didn't break - and more importantly made big plays when it counted.
Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald also has an article on the defense, who he writes continued their great run and left Vikings runningback Adrian Peterson tipping his cap when this one was over.
Dan Duggan writes that the goal line stop of Peterson ended up being the difference in the game, and there were plenty of guys on the defensive side of the football who were extremely happy when they realized the Vikings were going to go for it on that play.
Steve Buckley of the Herald has a column on Favre this morning, and feels there's not too many guys who can accomplish what this guy has and almost did again yesterday.
Ron Borges has an article on Tate, who he feels opened some eyes yesterday after his performance against the Vikings.
Tom Curran writes that it's the Patriots "smarts" that have been the difference in their season so far.
Danny Picard of NECN writes that Devin McCourty continues to make big plays in his first season, and came away with another clutch interception yesterday.
Nick Coman of NESN reports that after yesterday's loss - which dropped his team to 2-5 on the season Vikings head coach Brad Childress could be on the hotseat if things don't improve.
That's it for this morning. We'll have more later this afternoon.
