Patriots Links for Thursday, 12/6

There's a lot in the news today about Steelers CB Anthony Smith's guarantee that the Steelers will beat the Patriots this Sunday, but before we get to that, here's one leftover bit from the Ravens game:  it was the highest-rated cable program ever.

Eric Wilbur with the Boston Globe has an opinion piece pointing out that guarantees in sports are meaningless because the results have no impact on the one making them.

Christopher L. Gasper's notes column also features a discussion of this guarantee as its leading piece.

Mike Reiss also has an update to his blog with some reactions to the guarantee from Patriots players.

Over at the Herald, Karen Guregian also has the guaranteed as the lead piece in her notes column.

Guregian also has an article about the Steelers' physical secondary, which is well-suited to playing physical with WRs, a tactic that the Eagles and Ravens have used to reasonable success in the last two weeks against the Patriots.

On the national scene, ESPN.com's David Fleming has 33 reasons the Steelers will beat the Patriots this Sunday.