Thursday's New England Patriots Links 8/25

A bit of a late start this morning, but here are this morning's headlines:

Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald has quotes from Jets head coach Rex Ryan, who did an interview with Michael Irvin of the NFL Network, and told the former Cowboys receiver that Bill Belichick is the 'best coach' in the league.

"I can put my resume out there, stats, with anybody that's ever coached in this league. That's a fact," Ryan said. "Defensively, that's a fact. But I don't need any credit; I just want to win. I want what Bill Belichick's got. I think Bill Belichick is the best coach in this game; I don't even think it's close. But I'm trying there.
"I know one thing, and he knows: I'm going to compete with him every time we play him. If it ever comes down to just me versus him, we're going to end up on the short end of the stick. But when it's about us and it's about our football team versus his football team, that's where I have even more confidence."

This article from Guregian was missed during yesterday's links, but she also had a good article on the fact that the Patriots would have their hands full against Detroit's defensive line.

Julien Benbow of the Boston Globe has an article this morning on Taylor Price, who is reportedly set to return to game action Saturday night after Price being leveled by Jacksonville's Courtney Greene while fielding a punt in the fourth quarter.

Mark Daniels of the Boston Herald also has an article on Price, who is focused on building on his 5 catch, 105 yard performance from two weeks ago.

Steve Buckley of the Boston Herald has an article on Ras-I Dowling, who he writes did a meet-and-greet with the media that was actually 'a whole lot of fleet-and-retreat' on Wednesday.

Mike Riess has a video report on ESPNBoston.com talking about a variety of topics, including a conversation with new Patriot Mark Anderson.

NESN's Jeff Howe has an entry this morning on the fact that Belichick gathered the team for a film viewing Wednesday night of the movie 'The Fighter', with Micky Ward giving an inspirational speech to the team after it was over.

Jennifer Toland of the Worcester Telegram has an article on Patriots linebacker Brandon Spikes, who finds it troubling that he hasn't seen the field since August 5th while sitting out with a reported ankle injury.

Toland also has an article on Tom Brady, who is looking forward to what she writes will likely be his final preseason tuneup this weekend against Detroit.

Shalise Manza Young has an article on Brady, who was reportedly working on the speed of his progressions this week.

Karen Guregian of the Herald has a similar article on Brady, who was in a hurry-up mode against the Bucs which left Tampa Bay linebacker Gerald McCoy asking Brady if the defense could at least have time to line up first.

Mark Farinella of the Attleboro Sun Chronicle has another article on Brady, who is aware once again that the Jets are planning on winning the Super Bowl (again).

"The Jets? Yeah, we've heard that for a few years," Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady said Wednesday at Gillette Stadium. "You don't ever hear us talking too much about that."

Glen Farley of the Taunton Daily Gazette also has a piece on Brady, who isn't ready to raise any banners at Gillette Stadium just yet.

Paul Kenyon of the Providence Journal writes that Brady told the media that getting knocked around is something he looks forward to.

Chris Forseberg has an article similar to Kenyon's although he goes into some deeper detail in this piece.

Guregian has an article on Lions coach Jim Schwartz and defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham, who both had good things to say about Albert Haynesworth yesterday. Both coaches previously worked with the Patriots defensive lineman when he was in Tennessee.

Tom King of the Nashua Telegraph wonders if the Patriots are where they need to be in terms of the regular season preparations.

Christopher Price has a great article this morning on the fact that this year's group of undrafted free agents really have the odds stacked against them considering the amount of talent on the roster.

Jimmy Toscano of NECN writes that Brady got burned by a 'waterslide joke' during yesterday's media session.

Kenyon writes that the Patriots will likely do a little 'wheeling and dealing' heading into the final weeks of this preseason.

Tom Curran of CSNNE writes that Patriots Player Personnel Director Nick Caserio indicated yesterday that the trade winds could be blowing in New England.

Jeff Howe of NESN had indicated yesterday that linebacker Brandon Spikes may not have been happy here in New England, but Mike Petraglia of WEEI.com writes that Caserio told the media yesterday that Spikes is here and working hard with the team and didn't indicate any issues.

And finally Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald has an entry with a video on Jerod Mayo, with some comments from the veteran linebacker while he was talking to reporters.

That's it for this morning. We'll have updates in a bit, including an entry on what's going on out in Detroit - so be sure to check back.