New England Patriots Links 4/21/10 - Patriots Open Up 2010 Season At Home Against Bengals

Shalise Manza Young catches up with DL Myron Pryor who is relieved to have survived his rookie year.  The sixth-round draft pick played in 13 games, mostly backing up Vince Wilfork.

"It was like everybody said it would be: it was real hard. It was real tough," Pryor said. "Coaches are real hard on you. You have to withstand the pressure...you don't want to break. There's a lot of pressure, but once you get through it, it's a big relief. Everything just begins to get a little easier."

As for what he's been working on, Pryor said he's focused on "reading my keys much faster. Obviously learning the defense is very hard, so learning what your responsibility is and responding to the play, that's something I want to get better at. And I think working on my double-teams, because that's hard."

Mark Farinella analyzes the Patriots 2010 schedule, noting they will play five nationally-televised games.

Six of the Patriots eight home games in 2010 will be against teams that made the playoffs in 2009, including a matchup against the defending AFC Champion Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, Nov. 21. New England will be home against the Colts after traveling to Indianapolis in each of the last four seasons. The Patriots will be facing the Colts for the eighth straight year and for the first time in Foxborough since 2006. The home schedule also includes a Monday Night Football game against the New York Jets on Dec. 6.

The Patriots’ 2010 opponents had an aggregate record of 136-120 (.531) in 2009, which is the sixth most difficult schedule in 2010. Nine of the Patriots’ 16 games will be against teams that finished with a winning record in 2009. New England will play five games against opponents that won 10 or more games in 2009. The Patriots will also play all of the teams from the AFC Playoff field last season and two of the six NFC playoff teams, with home games against Green Bay and Minnesota.

TEAM TALK

• Patriots sign veteran WR Torry Holt.
• Andy Hart breaks down the 2010 Patriots schedule and offers his thoughts.
• Ask PFW: This week's mailbag, as expected, is dominated by draft-related questions.
• Andy Hart compiles a list of his favorite linebacker prospects and top defensive linemen in this year's draft.
• PFW's Draft Prospect Notes: Tight End.
• Pro Football and Patriots Hall of Famer John Hannah will be at the Patriots ProShop on Wednesday, April 21st from 3-4:30pm and will sign autographs for free with any Patriots ProShop purchase.
• Patriots Today - A look at the schedule, video style. (3.44 min. video)
• Patriots Today - Draft Preview: Defensive Back. (5.25 min. video)

LOCAL LINKS

• Albert Breer takes a closer look at the Patriots' 2010 schedule.
• Mike Reiss offers a few quick-hit points of analysis when looking at the Patriots' 2010 schedule.
• Christopher Price presents his early thoughts on the Patriots schedule.
• Ian Rapoport sees a tough road ahead for the Pats in 2010.
• Shalise Manza Young reports the Patriots open up their season again at Gillette, this time against the Bengals.
• Tedy Bruschi and co. dissect the Pats' schedule.
• Shalise Manza Young gets a scout's perspective on Torry Holt to gauge what the 33 year-old wide receiver has left.
• Tom E. Curran weighs in on the Pats signing of Torry Holt.
• Jeff Howe feels Torry Holt should bring more reliability to the Patriots than Joey Galloway.
• Mike Reiss breaks down the Pats WR corps following today's news that the Patriots have reached a one-year contract agreement with receiver Torry Holt.
• Ian Rapoport says the Pats must find an outside linebacker, and Belichick agrees that there are some outstanding prospects in this year's draft.
• Albert Breer notes having a glut of end/rush linebacker hybrids in the draft could be difficult to sort through.
• Monique Walker catches up with local BC center Matt Tennant, who is looking for his new home in the NFL.
• Karen Guregian writes about LB Brandon Graham, proclaimed by the experts to be a Belichick-type guy, and wonders if he'll be "the one". 
• WEEI Mocks the Draft for the 10th time.  Pats take DT Jared Odrick (Penn State) at 22.

NATIONAL NEWS

• NFL.com 2010 Schedule Release.
  
• Tim Graham (ESPN) New England Patriots schedule analysis.
• Tim Graham (ESPN) Which AFC East QB has the most pressure to produce in 2010?
• Peter King (SI) MMQB Tuesday Edition: Ten people under most pressure on draft weekend. He lists Bill Belichick as one of them.
• NFL.com NFL Draft MVP's Tracker.
• Kevin Kleps (Northern Ohio News-Herald) Nick Caserio talks about working with Bill Belichick, Josh McDaniels and the NFL Draft.
• Vic Carucci (NFL.com) Expect new draft schedule to result in more moves, excitement.
• Matt Waldman (NY Times) A few draft sleepers who could jolt the NFL.
• Sigmund Bloom (NY Times) Five trades that need to happen during the draft.  No. 5: Chicago trades Greg Olsen to New England for pick #53 in the 2010 Draft.
• Kerry J. Byrne (Cold Hrad Football Facts) Kiper the klown: Our annual mock-draft scorecard.
• Joe Fortenbaugh (Nat'l Football Post) Ten biggest top-ten draft busts of the past decade.
• Michael Silver (Yahoo! Sports) Race factors into evaluation of Gerhart.
• Sean Jensen (Chicago Sun-Times) Colts DT Foster hit with sex-assault civil suit.
• Chris Brown (NY Times) The most tepid defense of scouting you'll ever read.