New England Patriots Links 8/21/09 - More Work to do after Sloppy Snoozer of a Loser

Bill Belichick Post Game Presser (Transcript plus 5 min. video.)

I think it's pretty obvious out there tonight that we certainly have a lot of work to do and a long way to go. I think we were pretty sloppy in every area of the game: had a lot of penalties, didn't convert on third downs, missed too many tackles – just generally had too many mistakes, too many errors in every phase of the game with every unit, pretty much in every area. It's just an inconsistent performance that even though there were some positive things out there, especially offensively, [they] were overridden by mistakes. Quite a few of them were self inflicted. We had our opportunities and didn't take advantage of those as well as we should have either and the same thing in the kicking game. We have a long way to go. We have a lot of work to do. We'll have to get back at it tomorrow. We have a long week for Washington and we'll take advantage of that time and try to get a few of these things straightened out so we can perform a little bit better in game conditions. So that's it.

Ian Rapoport Patrick Chung learns a lesson.

Patrick Chung suffered because of a simple mistake. The rookie safety was trying to return a punt in the second half, when the ball slipped through his arms for a fumble. When he returned to the sideline, coach Bill Belichick wasn’t there to scream at him.

"Coach said, ‘I know what you’re trying to do,’ " said Chung, who had three tackles. " ‘Trying to make a play. But you got to catch the ball first.’ I said, ‘All right, coach. I got you.’ "

Karen Guregian Rodney Harrison's response to Jets' head coach Rex Ryan's recent comments about the Patriots.

"Of course it (charges up the Patriots). As a player, you’re always going to get motivated by someone running their mouth off or talking smack, I don’t care who it is," the former Patriots safety said. "It’s bad enough you have to find ways, at times, at practice to get motivated, but now you have someone serve you a fresh can of motivation, right there in a nice big warm plate. . . . I think the Patriots should be excited about it, because they now have added motivation to go out there and hate the Jets and kick their butts.

TEAM TIDBITS

• Game Notes: Patriots vs. Bengals.
• Erik Scalavino Bengals-Patriots analysis: Assessing the positives, negatives and in-between results.
• Patriots Postgame Quotes: Brandon Meriweather, Joey Galloway, Shawn Springs, Terrence Wheatley and Richard Seymour.
  

LOCAL LINKS

• Ian Rapoport notes Tom Brady took some hits in the Patriots' sloppy loss.
• Chris Gasper called last night's loss a sorry exhibition, not worthy of the enshrinement festivities beforehand.
• Christopher Price lists Ten things we learned last night as the Pats struggled in preseason loss to Bengals.
• Shalise Manza Young observes that "after the hit from [Bengals LB Keith] Rivers, Brady seemed to rush his throws and wasn’t stepping into his passes, causing them to float away from receivers."
• Mark Farinella says the Pats looked rusty last night, but results will be seen when the games count.
• Mike Reiss focuses on RB Fred Taylor's debut, "I can do better, but that's a start."
• Mark Farinella discusses who's hot and who's not in last night's game.  Can we say "see ya later Slater?"
• Karen Guregian reports the Bengals repeatedly took advantage of CB Terrence Wheatley, and most of the time had their way.
• Ian Rapoport Patriots Notebook:  O'Connell gets a shot; Taylor starts; Galloway better; Chung learns a lesson.
• Shalise Manza Young Patriots Journal: Welker, Warren, Taylor, Springs, Bruschi back on the field; Hoyer debuts.
• Ron Borges reports on Chad Ochocinco's prowess as a kicker, some fun in a dreadfully boring exhibition game.
• Mike Reiss's blog has lots of notes and analysis from the game.  Check it out.
• Jim Donaldson informs us that Chad Ochocinco provided a break in the boredom, and Tom Brady was not in mid-season form. (duh)

NATIONAL NEWS

• NFL Game Center: Post Game Cincinnati at New England, 7-6.  (3.29 min. video)
• Tim Graham (ESPN) Thoughts from Patriots-Bengals exhibition.
• Albert Breer (Sporting News) Brady takes his lumps.  "The issue, it seemed, was Brady failing to step into his throws with the pocket closing around him."
• Don Banks (SI) Backup Power: Ranking all 32 NFL team's No. 2 quarterbacks.  Andrew Walter listed 25th.
• John P. Lopez (SI) All Indispensible Team: Players AFC teams can least afford to lose.  Vince Wilfork for NE.
• Eric Edholm (Pro Football Weekly) Owners discuss ramifications of cap-less season.