Monday New England Patriots Links 11/15
A solid performance by the Patriots last night has everyone feeling good this morning after New England handed Pittsburgh a 39-26 loss in front of their home crowd. The Patriots lead this one from the start of the game, and scored 29 second half points en-route to the win.
Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports has an article this morning on Tom Brady, and feels that after seeing the veteran QB fired up last night it's obvious his competitive spirit is as alive as ever.
Christopher Price has his "10 Things We Learned" for last night's win, and it's a great in-depth read as usual as Price breaks down each of the different areas from last night.
Price also writes that last night's performance started with a good week of practice, which was a big problem last week.
Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com has an article on the defense, which set a dominating tone last night from the start of the game and never let up.
Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald writes that one week later, the Patriots atoned for their performance in Cleveland.
Guregian also looks at Fred Taylor's absence last night, and feels New England clearly bought him time last night after delaying his return one more week.
Reiss also has an article on quarterback Tom Brady, who he writes that the performance we all witnessed was 'vintage' Brady, and he was one of the big reasons why New England came in and took care of business last night.
Rapoport writes that Brady and the Patriots are now right back on track following last night's win over Pittsburgh.
Mike Freeman of CBS Sports writes, "loud and clear" - the Patriots are contenders.
Tom Curran writes that Brady's fire ignited the Patriots and helped lead them to a win.
Mark Farinella of the Attleboro Sun Chronicle has some notes on Brady's pregame interview with Bob Costas, where he told him that the long hair and beard is to help keep him warm in the coming months when it starts getting colder here in New England.
He also looks at their overall success last night and while it wasn't entirely pretty, the Patriots will certainly take it.
Christopher Gasper has an interesting message from Logan Mankins, who told the newspaper that Steelers safety Troy Polamalu was engaging in a little extracurricular activity with Brady under the pile following his QB sneak for the touchdown. According to Gasper Mankins wasn't pleased, and took matters into his own hands.
"We don't care how long your hair is we're not going to let you do what you want to our quarterback," said Mankins, after the game.
Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has an article on the defense, with James Farrior telling the newspaper that the Steelers 'couldn't stop anything'.
Rookie tight end Rob Gronkowski had a big night last night, with Monique Walker writing that the rookie's high school coach was in attendence, as Gronkowski had attended at Woodland Hills High there in Pittsburgh so his former coach was there to cheer him on.
“It’s a great atmosphere, the fans are crazy,’’ Gronkowski said. “I knew they would be up for the game because I’ve been here before for one of their games and the fans are awesome for them and it’s a loud atmosphere.’’
ESPN Stats and Info points out that Gronkowski is the fifth different rookie at any position with three touchdown receptions in a single game in the last 15 seasons, joining former teammate Randy Moss - who did it twice with the Vikings in 1998.
Mike Rodak writes about Gronkowski's performance last night, with the rookie bouncing back from a tough outing last week against the Browns.
Ian Rapoport has an article on Wes Welker, who looked more like his old self last night against Pittsburgh, and finished with eight receptions.
Ron Borges writes that Tom Brady is the "real man of Steel" and feels that the Rooney family doesn't own the Steelers - Brady does.
Don Banks of Sports Illustrated writes that the Patriots still own the Steelers, and have always beaten them when it counts.
Greg Bedard of the Boston Globe has an article on New England's defense, which did a great job 'putting the squeeze' on Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger last night.
Jeff Howe writes that offensive guard Logan Mankins showed no rust in this one, playing from start to finish, and that worked out well because Dan Connolly had to fill in for the injured Stephen Neal last night.
Kirk Minihane writes that he's done trying to figure this team out, since we continue see different things from them each week.
And finally, Bill Burt of the Eagle Tribune has "Five Reasons to be a Giddy Pats Fan" this morning.
That's it for this morning. We'll have more throughout the day, so be sure and check back for updates, etc.
