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TEAM TALK
- Andy Hart reports the Patriots will host the Chiefs in the Divisional round this Saturday.
- Paul Perillo reports now that the Patriots know who they'll be playing Saturday evening, they're focused on taking on the red-hot Kansas City Chiefs.
- Andy Hart and Paul Perillo debate who will be a breakout star for the Patriots Super Bowl run this year.
- Sunday Conference Call - Bill Belichick (11.30 min. audio)
- Belichick Breakdown: Best of 2015. (5.33 min. video)
- Tom Brady: Top 10 Plays of 2015. (3.28 min. video)
- Briana Palma reveals 50 famous figures who follow the Patriots on Twitter.
LOCAL LINKS
- Ryan Hannable notes the Kansas City win streak poses a challenge for Bill Belichick in preparing his team for preparing for the divisional round.
- Ben Volin studies the film from Chiefs-Houston and concludes this is the worst matchup for the Patriots they could have had.
- Karen Guregian discusses the two Kansas City games on Bill Belichick's mind right now.
- Mike Reiss tells us why the Patriots can beat the Chiefs on Sunday.
- Eric Wilbur writes the Patriots will prepare for the red-hot Chiefs and we'll wonder what might have been.
- Jeff Kane (ESPNNH) Patriots: It's on to Kansas City.
- Christopher Price shares 5 early thoughts on Chiefs-Patriots.
- Doug Kyed previews Patriots-Chiefs: Regained health should help New England rebound.
- David Smith (MusketFire) Patriots fans: Don't be afraid of the Chiefs.
- Doug Kyed notes that Bill Belichick says the blueprint to beat the Chiefs 'doesn't exist', as the Chiefs are on an 11-game winning streak.
- Matt Burke explains why the Patriots shouldn't be haunted by the 2014 Chiefs game.
- Phil Perry explores whether this is the same Chiefs team that beat up on the Patriots last season.
- Karen Guregian wonders which Patriots team will show up vs. the Chiefs.
- Jen McCaffrey says the Patriots are looking to avoid mistakes from the last time they faced Kansas City.
- Karen Guregian details how the Patriots went from front-runner to question mark.
- The Herald staff presents a timeline of the Patriots’ slide from a prohibitive favorite to reach Super Bowl 50 to a playoff question mark.
- Christopher Price tells us 7 things we learned on Wild Card night in the AFC playoffs.
- Tom E. Curran is dead-on accurate when he says the NFL deserve some blame for what happened at the end of Saturday’s Wild Card game.
- Steve Buckley points out that with Bill Belichick in command, the mess in Cincy would never happen here.
- Christopher Price previews Patriots potential playoff opponents: Broncos.
- Mike Reiss reports Tom Brady and Julian Edelman are doing extra work together this week.
- Phil Perry passes along a report from WHDH's Joe Amorosino, that Julian Edelman will have to adjust the way he makes cuts.
- Mike Reiss notes that with the Patriots on a bye, Tom Brady was able to relax while watching the first-round playoff games.
- Mike Reiss notes Steven Jackson wants to make the most of his opportunity to play in a playoff game, and is grateful for his chance.
- Mark Daniels writes a nice piece about Rob Ninkovich: How an ironworker's son became the Patriots' ironman.
- Mike Reiss reports Bill Belichick says the 2014 blowout loss to the Chiefs has relevance in game-planning, but adds a lot has happened since then.
- Mike Petraglia highlights Bill Belichick on keeping cool: 'We've talked to our team quite a bit about things like that.'
- Mike Reiss notes Bill Belichick surprised his players by calling off practice on Friday and taking them bowling.
- Ryan Hannable hears Devin McCourty rave about 'intense' defensive coordinator Matt Patricia.
- Christopher Price posts the schedule for the Divisional round.
- Mike Reiss sees the Lions' hiring of Bob Quinn as the latest example of a team trying to capture some of the Patriots' winning formula.
- Bob Socci says the Patriots are prepared for potential departures of Josh McDaniels and Matt Patricia.
- Jeff Howe Patriots Notebook: Patriots lose director of pro scouting Bob Quinn to Lions; Dolphins DE Olivier Vernon was fined $17,363 for launching himself into Brady’s back.
NATIONAL NEWS
- Oliver Thomas (247 Sports) Report: Patriots' Julian Edelman cleared to play vs. Chiefs.
- Bryson Vesnaver (ProFootballFocus) Everything you need to know for Patriots-Chiefs.
- Oliver Thomas (247 Sports) Bill Belichick: 'We've got to figure out a way' against Chiefs.
- Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Belichick, Reid downplay their last meeting.
- Oliver Thomas (247 Sports) Tom Brady a finalist for FedEx Air Player of the Year.
- Sarah Jones (Daily Mail) Gisele Bundchen and husband Tom Brady watch son's hockey practice.
- Peter King (The MMQB) MMQB: 'An absolute aorta-smasher.'
- Don Banks (SI) Wild-card Weekend Snaps: Seahawks have Football Gods on their side again.
- Around the NFL (NFL.com) Twenty things we learned from Wild Card Weekend.
- Darin Gantt (ProFootballTalk) Road team sweep of wild card weekend an NFL first.
- Michael David Smith (ProFootballTalk) Seahawks say headset problems led to early offensive struggles.
- Alex Marvez (Fox Sports) NFL Divisional Round Playoff preview: Home teams have the advantage.
- Chris Burke (SI) 2016 NFL Playoff Primer: Previewing AFC matchups in divisional round.
- Gregg Rosenthal (NFL.com) What to watch for: Divisional Round games primer.
- Will Brinson (CBS Sports) 2016 NFL Playoff Lines: Broncos, Patriots open as big favorites.
- Will Leitch (Sports on Earth) Playoff teams' last playoff wins.
- Michael Tunison (Sports on Earth) Worst missed kicks in NFL playoffs.
- Nasir Bhanpuri (NFL.com) Mathematical model predicts Bengals-Cardinals in Super Bowl 50.
- Chuck Zodda (Inside the Pylon) The best distance control punters of 2015.
- Ken Fang (Awful Announcing) Report: Fox making a concerted bid for Thursday Night Football.
- Bernie Miklasz (101 Sports) Roger Goodell’s anti-St. Louis report was no surprise.
DUMPSTER DIVE
- Kevin Duffy would like the NFL to reveal the psi numbers from the footballs used in Minnesota Sunday.
- Kevin Duffy puts forward his theory of why we're hearing about psi data in the frigid Vikings-Seahawks playoff game.
- Eric Edholm (Yahoo! Sports) Report: NFL worried about footballs deflating in chilly Minnesota.
- Tanya Ray Fox (SportsGrid) NFL thinks cold weather could make balls drop below 12.5 psi in Minnesota.
- Cork Gaines (Business Insider) In the wake of Deflategate, the NFL is 'very concerned' about the footballs being used in the freezing temperatures of Minnesota.