Monday New England Patriots Links 11/29
One week from tonight the New York Jets will visit Foxboro for their second meeting against the Patriots at Gillette Stadium. The players are off again today after head coach Bill Belichick gave them four days off following their win over the Detroit Lions Thursday, and they'll be returning to work tomorrow. Belichick will reportedly be holding a conference call with the media later today, as will director of player personnel Nick Caserio.
Otherwise it's a fairly quiet morning news-wise, but here are today's headlines:
Ian Rapoport has an article this morning on former Jets runningback Danny Woodhead, who told him that he's not planning on using his release by New York as extra motivation.
“I’m not, man,” Woodhead told the Herald after Thursday’s 45-24 Thanksgiving win against the Lions. “That’s not how I am, not who I am. People might say different because I was a Jet. But we got to go into it as another game.”
Rapoport also has an article this morning on the upcoming showdown, and spoke to Vince Wilfork, who told him that he thinks the team will be O.K. if they just play the way they know they're capable of.
“One thing I do know, it’s a division game. It’s the Jets. A tough football team,” nose tackle Vince Wilfork said. “They beat us the first time. So, we got to walk away with a ‘W.’ That’s plain and simple. I think if we play the way we need to play, I think we’ll be OK. I really think we’ll be OK.”
Jim Donaldson of the Providence Journal feels that it's too bad that this game is still over a week away. Donaldson writes that if the game was tonight even though they really wouldn't be ready to go, the fans definitely would be.
Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com takes a look at what's on the line when these two teams finally do meet, and points out how important it is for the Patriots to take care of business next Monday night from a standings and seedings perspective.
Reiss also has an entry this morning "cleaning out the notebook" with some bits of information, including the fact that tomorrow is the deadline for the Patriots game against Chicago in two weeks potentially being "flexed" out of the 1:00pm spot. Reiss believes the game will likely be moved to 4:15pm to reach a larger audience.
Kirk Minihane of WEEI.com has a report card from Thursday's game and wonders if Tom Brady has ever looked any better than he did against the Lions last week.
Shalise Manza Young of the Boston Globe has an article this morning on tight end Alge Crumpler, who according to Belichick has been exactly what he expected.
“As a player I’d say probably [Crumpler is] what we expected,’’ Belichick said. “You hear about guys, and you research them, but you never really know until you’re with them on a day-to-day basis for a long period of time. So everything about him was positive and good, but I’d say after being with him that he’s really up there in the exceptional range, as good as we’ve had kind of guy.’’
Glen Farley of the Patriot Ledger has an article this morning on Patriots defensive back Devin McCourty, who he feels has played with a 'veteran's presence' so far this season.
Dan Shaughnessy has a column this morning on "SpyGate II" out in Denver, and feels that it's unfortunate that this incident brings back memories of 2007 because the national media is associating the Patriots with it since former New England assistant Josh McDaniels is now the Broncos head coach.
USA Today has an article on McDaniels, who claims he had no inside knowledge of the Patriots version of "SpyGate".
Tom Curran of NECN has a different opinion, after Fox' Jay Glazer reported that McDaniels told his Broncos coaching staff on Friday that the Patriots practice of videotaping opponents was something "that was practiced, that was coached, that was worked on."
We'll have more on this in tomorrow's "Tuesday Morning Quarterback".
That's it for this morning. Hope everyone has a good day and we'll have more from some of the other guys later on this afternoon.
