New England Patriots Links 12/08/10 - Forget The Jets, Bring On The Bears

Bill Belichick addresses the media Tuesday morning, following the Patriots' epic win over the Jets Monday night.

Well, after last night, it was certainly good for the final result to be what it was. I think we can all see from the film that there are still a lot of things that we can work on and do better. Some things turned out well that maybe weren't as great as they looked. We'll try to take care of that and then move onto Chicago.

Chicago's been really impressive. They really do everything pretty well: offensively, defensively, special teams. They have a great returner, [Devin Hester]; Robbie Gould, a great kicker. Defensively, they really do well on third down. They haven't allowed many points, have a lot of negative plays in the running game [and] cause a lot of fumbles. They definitely thrive on turnovers. I think, offensively, [Jay] Cutler is playing as well as I've seen him play. He's done a great job with Coach [Mike] Martz's offense. He's really carrying a lot of the offense on his shoulders, along with their receivers. Certainly [Matt] Forte and [Chester] Taylor do a good job in the back field. [Greg] Olsen and all the receivers - [Earl] Bennett, [Johnny] Knox, Hester - are a good group with a really good quarterback. Cutler's made a lot of plays running as well as throwing, so he's very dangerous in and out of the pocket, throwing or running. So, I think the Bears' record really speaks for itself: 9-3.

Vince Wilfork reveals what Bill Belichick told the team when they huddled up late in the game.

"He basically told us we’re going to finish this game, and we’re going to play for 60 minutes, so don’t let up. And you know what, he took the words out of my mouth, because I was getting ready to tell the defense the same exact thing. That’s why I kind of smiled and chuckled about it, because sometimes we think alike and it comes out.

"And you know what? Everybody felt it. Everybody felt it. We wanted to win. We did everything in our willpower to go out and play a good football game against a good football team. And I think it started in practice. But Bill said it best: 60 minutes of football. And we’ve been saying it all year: Let’s see how 60 minutes of good football looks. Because we didn’t do it all year. We never played 60 total minutes of good football. And I think last night was the first time that we did that, and you saw the results."

TEAM TALK

• Game Preview - Patriots at Bears: Broadcast info, series history, team connections and more.
• Ask PFW: Mixed mailbag.
• Tuesday Conference Calls: Bill Belichick (10.20 min.), Nick Caserio (7.53 min.) and Bill O'Brien (7.55 min.)
• Patriots Today - Rest of the AFC looking up at Pats. (4.02 min. video)
• Patriots Today - Rookies shine on defense. (3.08 min. video)
• Patriots Today - Belichick on WEEI. (5.08 min. video)
• WEEI Patriots Monday audio: Tom Brady (28 min.), Vince Wilfork (15.05 min.), Brandon Meriweather (5.20 min.) and Bill Belichick (37.16 min.).  Links to transcript highlights below.
  

LOCAL LINKS

• Ian Rapoport notes Tom Brady ignored Revis and threw to receivers covered by Cromartie and lesser defenders.
• Shalise Manza Young reports Tom Brady was named the AFC offensive player of the week for the second straight time.
• Tedy Bruschi breaks down Monday's win, calling it a night to remember.
• Ian Rapoport posts a "meet the Woodheads" photo moment from Monday night at Gillette Stadium.
• Jim Donaldson sees Tom Brady continue rewriting the record books as the Patriots continue winning.
• Chris Gasper points to Deion Branch as an official difference maker, who makes the team better with him on it over Randy Moss.
• Jeff Howe focuses on how Devin McCourty continues to excel, earning praises of 'Best in the League'.
• Paul Kenyon details how the newcomers helped the Patriots win big.
• Tom E. Curran knows coach Belichick doesn't get the logic behind anyone wondering if the Patriots poured it on the Jets.
• Christopher Price tells us the five most important things we need to know Tuesday. The first is what Bill Belichick really told his team when they huddled up late in the game.
• Tom E. Curran hears Bill Belichick channeling his inner Herm Edwards, "You play to win the game." There's no running up the score in football.
• Ian Rapoport reviews Devin McCourty and James Sanders using Santonio Holmes and Braylon Edwards, 'Flight Boys' celebration Monday night.
• Mike Reiss looks at the positional groupings utilized in the Patriots 45-3 win over the Jets and says the diversity, balance and versatility of the offensive approach really stands out.
• Mike Reiss looks at and analyzes the snaps played by offensive skill-position players.
• Mike Reiss takes a look at the snaps played by Patriots defenders Monday night, while identifying possible trends that could be a factor in Sunday's game.
• Mike Rodak re-watches the TV copy of Monday night's game against the Jets and offers some of his observations: First quarter - Second quarter - Second half.
  
• WEEI Patriots 'Monday' highlights: Tom Brady with Dennis & Callahan, Vince Wilfork with Dale & Holley, and Bill Belichick on the Big Show.
• Rich Levine takes at the scenes that stick out in his mind throughout Tom Brady's career.
• Ron Borges Week 13 Patriots Report Card. Must be Christmas, he even gave an A to Belichick.
• Ian Rapoport Patriots Notebook: Bill Belichick wasn't rubbing it in by leaving Brady in the game, he just remembers the Pats' trouble scoring in the second half; Tom Brady is receiving plenty of MVP consideration; Red Sox 3rd baseman Kevin Youkilis likes Wes Welker on his fantasy team; Bill Belichick felt empathy for Josh McDaniels getting fired from Denver; The Brady-to-Gronkowski connection is the NFL's best.

NATIONAL NEWS

• Mike Freeman (CBS Sports) Patriots prove they're best team in NFL, let alone division.
• Kerry Byrne (Cold Hard Football Facts) The clinic: NE 45, NYJ 3.
• Shutdown Corner (Yahoo! Sports) So, are the Patriots that good or are the Jets that bad?
• Eli Kaberon (Pro Football Weekly) Jets lose in every aspect of the game.
• Peter King (SI) MMQB Tuesday Edition: Mailbag; Pats retool, barely miss beat; K.C. defense's secret weapon.
• Tim Graham (ESPN) AFC East High Energy Player of the Week. WOODY.
• Tim Graham (ESPN) AFC East Stock Watch.
• Clifton Brown (Sporting News) Late-blossoming rookies could tilt the NFL playoff races.
• Mike Pereira (Fox Sports) Online Chat transcript: Why Brandon Tate's catch in the endzone was ruled a Touchdown.
• Tim Graham (ESPN) Trent Dilfer delivers NFL's 10 best players through Week 13, emphasizing "game-plan changers and game-plan breakers."
• Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic break down the reasons the New England Patriots trounced the New York Jets on Monday night. (1.30 min. video)
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) After blowout loss, Rex Ryan incorrectly invokes Dolphins-Bears circa 1985.
• Kevin Fishbain (Pro Football Weekly) Bears provide opportunity for pass rush to shine.
• Kevin Fishbain (Pro Football Weekly) Patriots rookie report: Week 13.
• Thomas George (NFL Fanhouse) Bill Belichick, Patriots answer the call, thoroughly dominate Jets.
• Judy Battista (NY Times) Dismantling shows Jets don't yet measure up.
• William C. Rhoden (NY Times) What matters most is reaction, not rout.

VIEW FROM CHICAGO

• Vaughn McClure (Chicago Tribune) Urlacher says Bears can handle Brady and Patriots.
• Jeff Hughes (Chicago Tribune) Why the Patriots don't particularly scare me.
• Brad Biggs (Chicago Tribune) 10 thoughts looking ahead to Patriots.
• Fred Mitchell and David Kaplan (Chicago Tribune) Ex-Patriot Troy Brown says New England will be ready for cold.
• Mike Mulligan (Chicago Sun-Times) Martz thinks small, gets big turnaround.
• Sean Jensen (Chicago Sun-Times) Bears running backs praise run-and-fun offense.
• Dan Pompei (Chicago Tribune) Belichick and Angelo go back long way.
• Brad Biggs (Chicago Tribune) Belichick: Bears' record 'really speaks for itself'.
• David Haugh (Chicago Tribune) Scotty Bowman sees a lot he likes in Belichick.
• Neil Hayes (Chicago Sun-Times) Lovie close to hitting return key.
• Neil Hayes (Chicago Sun-Times) Team short at LB after Pisa's surgery.