Bill Belichick touches on what he knows about Chiefs' backup QB Tyler Palko.
He's a player we have to do some work on and spend more time watching him. We of course haven't seen a lot of him in regular season game film. We can go back to preseason. I'd say an athletic player, quick release, can move around back there in the pocket, left-handed, and sees the field pretty well. I think they have a lot of confidence in him. He played ahead of [Ricky] Stanzi this year in preseason and I know Stanzi is a guy they drafted.
There's a lot to like about him too, so we'll have to be ready for both those guys. Obviously he played well enough to move into that second spot. Again, we all know from the 2008 season here and many other examples of teams we played against. Everybody wrote us off in 2008 when we lost Tom [Brady] and Matt [Cassel] led us to 11 wins. We're playing against a football team, not just one player. We know that whoever they have in there, whether it's Palko, Stanzi or whoever it is, that we're going to have to play a good football team. Again, this is a team that won their division last year. They have good coaches, they're well coached, they're disciplined [and] they have good depth.
Nick Caserio talks about scouting Jeff Tarpinian and what he could bring to this team.
Jeff was a player who had some injury issues his senior year at Iowa. He was slowed a little bit his senior year, but he was on the field. He was productive in their defense - was a smart player, pretty instinctive, ran well. Like I said, he just kind of had his season short-changed a little bit. He came into camp and was making some progress and then he got stalled there a little bit along the way, but he played and started, played in the kicking game for us when he finally got on the field. He played about, I want to say, 15-20 snaps defensively. I think he, along with a lot of other players, made the most of their opportunities. Hopefully, he can learn from what happened during the game on Sunday and make some of the corrections and try to improve and get ready for the next opponent.
Bill O'Brien responds to a question about the Kansas City defense.
I think they're a very well coached defense. They have a lot of players in that defense that are playing well right now and have a good knowledge base, knowledge of the defense obviously. With Coach [Romeo] Crennel there doing a great job. I just think it's a disciplined defense, it's a defense that doesn't give up a lot of points, doesn't give up a lot of big plays and so it's another big challenge for us.
TEAM TALK
- Game Preview: New England Patriots vs. Kansas City Chiefs. Broadcast info, series history, team connections and more.
- Paul Perillo looks at Rex Ryan's strange decision to replace punt returner Jeremy Kerley with Joe McKnight, that led to a costly turnover.
- The Patriots activated OL Marcus Cannon from the reserve/non-football injury list, released S Ross Ventrone, and signed DB Malcolm Williams to the practice squad.
- Patriots Today - Tuesday news and notes. (3.17 min. video)
- Patriots Today - Surprise starters aid Patriots. (3.02 min. video)
- Patriots Today - Carter, Belichick on WEEI. (3.31 min. video)
- Patriots Today - Players celebrate volunteerism. (2.28 min. video)
- Conference Call Transcripts: Bill Belichick - Nick Caserio - Bill O'Brien.
- Tom Brady has been nominated for the FedEx Air Player of the Week for NFL Week 10. Cast your vote here.
- PFW in Progress - 11/15/11: The PFW crew discusses the Pats' 37-16 win over the NY Jets. (2 hour program)
- Patriots Playbook - 11/15/11 - John Rooke and Erik Scalavino break down the win over the Jets. (2 hour program)
LOCAL LINKS
- Karen Guregian points out that thanks to Rob Gronkowski and BenJarvus Green-Ellis, the Patriots are 2nd best in the league in the Red Zone.
- The Herald staff put together some of Rob Gronkowski's numbers that have helped make him and Tom Brady one of the best duos in the NFL.
- Christopher Price writes about the best tight ends in Patriots history.
- Chris Forsberg notes Bill Belichick was gushing to the media that it's impossible to overstate just how much G Brian Waters has meant to the team.
- Danny Picard reports Brian Waters has been a pleasant surprise to the Patriots coaching staff.
- Chris Forsberg examines each of Chad Ochocinco's catches on Sunday.
- Stan Grossfield reveals Andre Carter is as proficient at the piano as he is on the defensive line.
- Christopher Price gets an AFC Scout's five-point plan of attack for the Patriots against the Chiefs.
- Greg A. Bedard gives us a scouting report on Chief's inexperienced backup QB Tyler Palko, and the other positions.
- Chris Forsberg suggests the familiarity between the Chiefs and Pats is more than Belichick is letting on.
- Greg A. Bedard notes the Patriots walked out of MetLife Stadium Sunday night with their biggest victory of the season, without playing their best game.
- Greg A. Bedard compares his pre-game keys with what really happened on the field - and then explains why he was WRONG in picking Jets to win 20-17.
- Mike Reiss answers his weekly reader mailbag, advising Pats fans to just sit back and enjoy the ride this season.
- Chris Forsberg serves up some leftover nuggets from Tuesday's conference calls.
- Monique Walker reports Matt Light was honored with the 2011 Legends Award by the Hockomock YMCA at the 2011 YMCA Legends Ball.
- NESN reports Deion Branch and Jerod Mayo used their off-day to volunteer at Greater Boston Food Bank.
- Christopher Price charts out which New England defenders have done the best job of getting after the quarterback through nine games.
- Mike Reiss takes a look at the weekly Patriots tackle leaderboard. Matthew Slater had a big day on special teams.
- Mike Reiss catches up with former Patriots who were with the team in training camp, and tells us how they've been doing.
- Boston Herald Patriots Notebook: Andre Carter and teammates were at Roxbury Crossing playing squash and lacrosse with youth; The football journey of Marcus Cannon keeps getting better as he was activated to the 53-man roster yesterday; Belichick has been impressed with the "high-quality" addition Brian Waters has been to the team.
- Monique Walker Patriots Notebook: In the same year he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, Marcus Cannon might get a chance to play in the NFL; Belichick says he's still not sure what ultimately will be Cannon's best position; Chief's QB Tyler Palko is a mystery man who has only played in 4 NFL games; For the first time in his career Gary Guyton was active but didn't play.
- Thomas Smith reviews Michael Holley's newest book, "War Room" that looks at how Bill Belichick made the Patriots the envy of the NFL. It's at the top of my wish list.
- Mike Cole shows us Chad Ochocinco's new 'Lethal Weapon 3'- inspired Twitter avatar co-starring Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Pretty funny.
NATIONAL NEWS
- Matt Bowen (Nat'l Football Post) With Gronkowski, Patriots have a matchup weapon.
- Nolan Nawrocki (Pro Football Weekly) Scout's eye: Hungry Patriots defense finishes strong.
- Kevin Fishbain (Pro Football Weekly) Patriots 60-second rant: Run game, secondary will be under microscope.
- James Walker (ESPN) Can Patriots secure home-field advantage?
- Sam Farmer (LA Times) Patriots' Rob Ninkovich, 49ers' David Akers get career upgrades.
- James Walker (ESPN) AFC East Stock Watch.
- Kevin Fishbain (Pro Football Weekly) Patriots rookie report: Week 10.
- Jonathan Comey (Cold Hard Football Facts) 10 things we learned: Week 10. It'd be tough to be much better than Tom Brady was on Sunday night.
VIEW FROM KANSAS CITY
- Sam Mellinger (Kansas City Star) Pioli demands consistency, but Chiefs have been anything but.
- Kent Babb (Kansas City Star) Ex-Chief Thigpen knows what Palko is up against.
- Josh Looney (KCChiefs.com) Palko takes center stage.
- Josh Looney (KCChiefs.com) Rookie QB Ricky Stanzi readies for new role.
- PR Staff (KCChiefs.com) Q&A with Todd Haley.