New England Patriots Links 8/27/10 - Belichick: 'Back To The Drawing Board'

Rob Gronkowski on having to work so hard for his second quarter touchdown.

"I just give it 100 percent every play, so when I catch the ball, I just make sure I get up the field, tuck the ball away, get up the field, and try to get as much yardage as I can. I saw the end zone right there, so it was a touchdown."

Bill Belichick sums it up in a few sentences after the game.

We obviously didn't have a very good night tonight. I don't think we did very many things well and we've got a lot of work to do. There really isn't too much to say. We've just got to get back to the drawing board and just do a better job in every area. That's really about it.

Tom Brady echoes Belichick's sentiments about needing to get back to work.

Well, we lost. The first half we didn't play our best, certainly wasn't very complimentary. We just couldn't stay on the field offensively and defensively, they just couldn't get off the field. We weren't complimenting each other very well. We put four touchdown drives together there in a row, which was good, but we obviously don't have everything solved at this point. So, we've just got to come back to work.

TEAM TALK

• Erik Scalavino offers his Patriots-Rams post-game analysis: New England raises more questions than it answers in its crucial, third preseason game.
• Game Notes: Patriots vs. Rams.
• Post-Game Quotes: Patriots and Rams.
• Post-Game Pressers: Bill Belichick (4.35 min. video), Tom Brady (7.46 min. video) Plus transcripts.
• Locker Room Uncut - Comments after loss to Rams. (3.44 min. video)

LOCAL LINKS

• Ian Rapoport reports the Patriots took a step back last night with the performance by the defense raising questions.
• Shalise Manza Young reports the poor execution in the loss to the Rams shows there's much work to be done.
• Albert Breer suggests we consider last night's more-bad-than-good performance part of the learning curve.
• Robert Lee says the Pats let rookie Bradford look like a star.
• Mark Farinella sees Brady looking for positives in the loss.
• Mike Reiss offers his first impressions from the Patriots 36-35 loss to the Rams.
• Tom E. Curran gives us five things to remember from the Patriots loss last night.
• Comcast Sports Network NE crew gives us the Best and worst from Pats-Rams.
• Mark Farinella lists his Hots and Nots from Pats-Rams.
• Ron Borges says the saving grace is that the game meant no more, in the grand scheme of this season, than the previous two.
• Mike Reiss points out Rob Gronkowski as an individual bright spot for the Patriots.
• Monique Walker focuses on rookie TE Rob Gronkowski's stellar play in last night's loss to the Rams.
• Mike Petraglia writes Brandon Tate proves he has speed to burn.
• Karen Guregian sees Laurence Maroney's idle status as a mystery, but we shouldn't rush to judgment.
• Christopher Price lists the ten things we learned Thursday night.
• Mike Reiss presents his three up and three down for the Patriots.
• Ian Rapoport dissects Belichick's cut-right-down-to-the-nitty-gritty press conference last night.
• Mike Rodak offers some soundbites from Pats players following the preseason loss.
• WEEI Friday morning appearances: Jerod Mayo and Stephen Neal.
  
• Albert Breer points out Gostkowski's contract just another example that the team is willing to spend on specialists.
• Mike Reiss and Mike Rodak predict how the Patriots' 53-man roster will look (version 3).
• Ian Rapoport notes Rodney Harrison called Meriweather and Chung "two young studs."
• Albert Breer takes a statistical look at the preseason thus far for Tom Brady and his group.
• Mike Reiss offers the transcript of his weekly online chat.
• Ian Rapoport Patriots Notebook: Brady and the offense started slow but found their rhythm; Rob Gronkowski and Alge Crumpler impressed; Jonathan Kraft says Nick Mangold's contract extension isn't comparable with Logan Mankins' situation; Edelman, Cunningham and Alexander didn't dress.
• Globe 10.0 Are the Patriots better than you thought? Chris Gasper and Dan Schaughnessy debate. (2.41 min. video)
• Gary Marbry previews the Pats schedule: Cleveland Browns.
• Karen Guregian offers her opinion on the seeming inevitability of an "enhanced" regular season pushed by the commissioner and the owners.

NATIONAL NEWS

• NFL Game Center St. Louis Rams at New England Patriots.  Recap, analysis and highlight clips.
• Tim Graham (ESPN) Sights from Rams-Patriots observatory.
• Tim Graham (ESPN) Video: Brady outshines Bradford. (33 sec)
• Adam Caplan (Fox Sports) Rookie Bradford performs like veteran against Patriots.
• Chris Chase (Yahoo! Sports) Camp Sunshine! Tom Brady and his hair are ready for 2010.
• Eli Kaberon (Pro Football Weekly) Having Tom Brady and Rex Ryan hate each other is good for everybody involved.
• Chris Chase (Yahoo! Sports) HBO "Hard Knocks" recap: The Jets get down with magic and Icy Hot.
• Joe Kay (Yahoo! Sports) Ochocinco tweets apology for in-game tweeting, calls commissioner "Dad".
• Mike Wilkening (Pro Football Weekly) Goodell, owners want 18-game regular season.
• Vinnie Iyer (Sporting News) 18-game NFL schedule? Risks and rewards.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) In exchange for 18-game season, some players want to change offseason schedule.