Bill Belichick on being informed that the NFL issued a statement praising Brandon Meriweather and was asked if he ever remembered the league doing that before.
"No, I think that would be a first for me. The officials are now evaluating the players and their performance. That's great. I can't tell you how much that means to me, really."
Ian Rapoport reports Jerod Mayo is taking pride in how many guys made stellar plays Sunday.
"Hey, let me tell you," Mayo said after the game that saw him make 11 tackles. "This whole defense is no-name and we love it. But Coach [Bill] Belichick does a good job of getting guys ready to go. No matter if you’re the third-string or first-string, you’ll be ready to play on Sunday."
Tom Brady responds to Brad Childress calling the Patriots "one of the all-time great signal-stealers."
"We’ve been called a lot worse than that. … That’s come and gone. That’s been not a part of football here for a long time, and we’ve still won a lot of games. In ‘07, they changed the rule and so forth. I don’t buy a whole lot into that. The team that’s going to win this weekend is the team that plays better. I promise you that."
TEAM TALK
- Bill Belichick Monday Presser. (19.19 min. video) plus transcript.
- Patriots Today - Patriots Tailgate Club in San Diego. (2.28 min. video)
- Patriots Today - Pats' D holds off Chargers. (4.38 min. video)
LOCAL LINKS
- Ian Rapoport writes the Patriots won Sunday because they had more football smarts and poise under pressure than the Chargers.
- Shalise Manza Young reports the Patriots offense was ineffective against the Chargers until they went to the no-huddle.
- Ian Rapoport details the 4-year contract given to Sergio Brown, and the $250K raise given to practice squad player Darnell Jenkins to keep him.
- Ian Rapoport notices the tight ends' touchdown celebrations feature the old-school high-five and asks G-force about it.
- Thomas Grillo reports Tom Brady, Vince Wilfork and Jerod Mayo are teaming up on their day off to build a playground at the Waltham Boys & Girls Club today.
- WEEI highlights Bill Belichick's appearance on The Big Show yesterday afternoon. Hoodie acknowledged he needs to 'do a better job' with his 4th-and-1 play-calling.
- WEEI highlights Tom Brady's appearance on the Dennis & Callahan show this morning.
- Christopher Price reports on the less-than-civil relationship between Brad Childress and Bill Belichick.
- Danny Picard notes Bill Belichick expects Favre will play Sunday.
- Tom E. Curran notes Brett Favre's fractured ankle is only part of the Vikings' problems.
- Sports Tonight Gary Tanguay and Michael Holley say that if Brett Favre doesn't play on Sunday, it just won't be as fun as it could be. (1.41 min. video)
- Tedy Bruschi puts together five observations from Pats-Bolts. The Chargers were generous hosts Sunday and the Patriots took advantage of that.
- Mike Reiss says there's no need for second thoughts on the Pats' failed fourth-down call this time.
- Mike Reiss notes the Patriots will focus on handling onside kicks.
- Gary Marbry offers a few observations from the stat sheet from Sunday's squeaker over San Diego.
- Mike Reiss notes that by exploding early in the season like kickoff returner Brandon Tate did, opponents started to alter their plans.
- Mike Reiss reports the Patriots own ball security was solid Sunday, placing New England in a tie for the fifth best mark in the NFL.
- Mike Reiss notes Sunday was the first game in which one could definitively say the team missed Logan Mankins. He breaks down sacks per pass attempt so far this year.
- Mike Reiss observes one reason the Patriots promoted Sergio Brown to the 53-man roster was for special teams. He looks at who played on three or four ST units Sunday.
- Mike Reiss looks at three players who should be added to the "Up" list from Sunday's win.
- Mike Reiss takes a closer look at the coverage of TE Antonio Gates, who finished 4 for 50 and 1 TD.
- Mike Rodak rewatched Sunday’s game against the Chargers and offers his observations. First quarter, Second quarter, Third quarter and Fourth quarter.
- Ian Rapoport Patriots Notebook: Sergio Brown, part of Mayo's "no-name defense" came up with a big play Sunday; Pats' going no-huddle in the second half made a big difference; Stephen Gostkowski felt bad for fellow kicker Kris Brown when he missed his kick; WIlfork's value and effectiveness can't be measured in stats; Patriots hope to be able to capitalize better on turnovers in the future.
-
WEEI Patriots Monday: Vince Wilfork and Brandon Meriweather highlights.
- Boomer Esiason made his weekly appearance on WEEI Monday and highlighted the difference between New England and San Diego.
- Alex Speier reports the NFL applauded Brandon Meriweather for his clean aggressive play.
- Kirk Minihane Patriots Week 7 Report Card and some myth-debunking.
- Ron Borges Patriots Week 7 Report Card.
- Michael Felger Patriots Week 7 Report Card.
NATIONAL NEWS
- Tim Graham (ESPN) Belichick knows 'how fragile' 5-1 record is.
- Judd Zulgad (Star Tribune) Favre's the Vikings' bone of contention.
- Brad Childress (Vikings.com) Monday Press Conference. Patriots stole their signals in 2006.
- Matt Bowen (Nat'l Football Post) Is the magic gone? Reality has set in for Brett Favre and the Vikings.
- Jason Whitlock (Fox Sports) Bad moves abound on Sunday. Chilly calling out Favre in public is one of them.
- Clifton Brown (Sporting News) Adding stress to Favre's season.
- Shutdown Corner (Yahoo! Sports) How to be great and awful at the same time, by Norv Turner.
- John P. Lopez (SI) Inside the NFL: Cowboys' season of discontent hits new low with Romo's clavicle injury.
- Nolan Nawrocki (Pro Football Weekly) The high price of locker-room chemistry.