Tuesday's New England Patriots Links 9/6

Ian Logue

Sep 6, 2011 at 8:23am ET

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After a quick spin around the internet this morning, here are today's top stories:

Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald has an article on Brandon Meriweather, who Bill Belichick talked about yesterday.  Belichick told reporters that the reason they cut him was because they were trying to look ahead to who would be the best fit going forward - and unfortunately Meriweather wasn't.

“You have to pick them based on what you think is going to happen this year, and that’s relative to the competition, to the make of your team, and player’s performance,” Belichick said yesterday. “Brandon played a lot of good football for us. We kept the players this year that we felt would be the best makeup for the 2011 team. It’s not the 2009 team; it’s the 2011 team.”

Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com points out some quotes by Meriweather to the Chicago media yesterday in this entry.

Rich Garven of the Worcester Telegram also has a notebook that leads off with notes on Meriweather this morning, however he also mentions the fact that Rob Gronkowski saw both of his brothers cut over the weekend, with one brother - Chris Gronkowski, a fullback - being released by the Cowboys.  His brother Dan, who is a tight end,  was let go by the Broncos.   Gronkowski said yesterday that it was tough to see them both go through it.

“It's definitely a tough time,” Rob said. “You see your friends and your family let go. You just have to stay positive and stay motivated and keep on grinding.”

Tom Curran has a practice report from yesterday, with Taylor Price, Kyle Arrington and Sebastian Vollmer among several names who were missing yesterday.

Mike Petraglia of WEEI.com writes that with both Will Yeatman and Lee Smith getting cut over the weekend, he wonders if Aaron Hernandez and Gronkowski will be enough for New England at the tight end position.

Chris Forsberg of ESPN writes that health will be the key this season with the team down to just those two players at that position.

Monique Walker of the Boston Globe has a notebook this morning that leads off with the fact that Belichick didn't give a reason yesterday as to why so many former Patriots were in high demand as teams made more than 15 waiver claims over the weekend.

Tom Curran of CSNNE.com also has a similar piece, and writes that despite drafting poorly from 2006-2008, the interest in their players shows that the team still knows how to pick talent.

Glen Farley of the Patriot Ledger has an article this morning taking a look back at the 2007 draft, and writes that those players are gone and now completely forgotten.

Monique Walker of the Boston Globe has an article this morning on Patriots safety Josh Barrett, who with Meriweather and James Sanders now no longer part of this football team suddenly finds himself with more responsibility.

Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald writes that Barrett and Sergio Brown, who he writes now have a golden opportunity to shine at the safety position this season.

Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald has a piece this morning on newly acquired guard Brian Waters, who she writes became the latest veteran to join the team looking for a shot at winning a ring.

Monique Walker of the Boston Globe also has an article on Waters, who Logan Mankins said yesterday that he likes Waters because he plays the game exactly like he does.

Rich Garven of the Worcester Telegram writes that Waters said yesterday that the veteran offensive lineman said New England "is the perfect fit" for him.

“Oh yeah, that’s why I was a fan of him,’’ Mankins said. “He plays like I do. We like that here.’’

Mike Reiss takes a look at their roster and points out that the team ranks as the 9th oldest team in the league, with an average age of 27.1.

Chris Forsberg of ESPN has an article on the fact that with training camp out of the way, the team began their preparations for the Dolphins yesterday and are completely focused on that match-up.

"It's been a tough camp and now it's time to move forward to the Dolphins," veteran defensive tackleVince Wilfork said. "We have our plate full. I know one thing, they'll be ready to go Monday night. It's a test for us, going on the road, a division game. Hopefully we can match their intensity. That's where we're at; we're getting started. We have to put everything into this week."

“It’s real time, real games, so now they all count,” New England Patriots safety Patrick Chung said. “Now we have to bring our ‘A game’ for every single game for all four quarters.

“It’s time to go. It’s time to play football. So let’s go.”

Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald also has a similar article, with Wilfork talking about how excited he is to work with this current group of players.

Hector Longo of the Gloucester Times has an article on New England's defense, and writes that if the Patriots take care of business up front, the questions about the changes in their secondary will likely take care of itself.

Mark Farinella of the Attleboro Sun Chronicle files his notebook this morning, and focuses on the upcoming film on Bill Belichick called "A Football Life," with the head coach talking about the project with reporters yesterday.

"When they approached us on it, it was the Patriots' 50th season and my 35th season in the NFL, so it was a little bit of a unique situation," Belichick said at his Monday press conference.

"Organizationally, they captured the team's 50th year along with what I did, and they really did it in a way that was not intrusive, and they didn't really know what they were going to do with it."

An odd article in the New York Post this morning, with Steve Serby writing that Belichick and the Patriots will bring their fourth title to Foxborough this season.

USA Today is running a poll for fans to vote on whether New England has the best offensive line in the league.

There's an interesting article in the Boston Globe this morning on the fact that the issue of high pricing from secondary ticket markets is in the process of being addressed by Massachusetts.  Unfortunately it doesn't sound like the $100 markup that seems to exist with places like Ace Tickets and StubHub will be going away, but they're looking to give consumers more protection.

And finally - because these always seem to get clicked on so obviously people seem to care for some reason - PopSugar.com has photos of Gisele taking Benjamin for a stroll recently.  There are about 10 photos in this gallery for those of you who want to check them out.

That's it for this morning.  We'll have updates throughout the day so be sure to check back - and you can also follow me on Twitter @ianlogue.