New England Patriots links 10/25/16 - Bad QBs call for bland defenses

TEAM TALK

• Press release: Patriots release DL Anthony Johnson from the 53-man roster; release DB Vinnie Sunseri from the practice squad.
• Erik Scalavino breaks down the film of Pats-Steelers, quarter by quarter.
• Paul Perillo tells us who won their matchups Sunday: Pats grind through miscues.
• John Rooke Nitpicks and Nitwits: A win is a win, no matter the sin...kicking around the nitpicks...and the Bills and Jets are both buffaloed...
• Andy Hart highlights Bill Belichick’s morning conference call: Red zone D the huge difference in Pittsburgh.
• Infographic: Breaking down the win over the Steelers.
• Angelique Fiske reports Robert Kraft and actor Chris Evans surprised cancer patients and families at Christopher's Haven Monday.
• Conference Call transcript: Bill Belichick.
• Patriots locker room celebration following the win over the Steelers. (1.23 min. video)
• Locker Room Uncut: Matthew Slater (7.41 min. video) and Rob Ninkovich (3.17 min. video).
• WEEI Patriots Monday: Bill Belichick (16.09 min.) - LeGarrette Blount (11.43 min.) - Patrick Chung (8 min.)

LOCAL LINKS

• Jeff Howe says the Steelers probably figured they formulated the blueprint to stop the Patriots’ offense, but Brady is smarter.
• Ben Volin studies the film and finds Pittsburgh wanted to take the ball out of Tom Brady’s hands. So the Patriots called 30 pass plays and 25 run plays.
• Kevin Duffy states the Patriots will continue to play bland defense as long as they keep facing bad quarterbacks. /Interesting assessment.
• Tom E. Curran says the end result vs. Pittsburgh justifies the Patriots 'bend but don't break' defense.
• Jeff Howe details the game stats after breaking down the film. Malcolm Butler: 6-of-12, 97 yards, INT, 2 pass breakups.
• Kevin Duffy notes Martellus Bennett says the Patriots offense is "like a box of chocolates."
• Michael Hurley takes 'a good old Scrooge McDuck dive" into some leftover thoughts from Sunday's win: Remember when Tom Brady used to never run at all?
• Chad Finn thinks 27 thoughts on the Patriots' imperfect yet impressive victory over the Steelers. 17. Considering what he’s capable of, I thought Malcolm Butler had one of his better games of the season Sunday, if not his career.
• MassLive tells us 10 things we learned from the Pats' close-call win: 4. Patriots pass rush was invisible.
• Kevin Duffy notes Malcolm Butler says it's 'impossible' to stop Antonio Brown.
• Christopher Price looks at the target breakdown through the first seven games of the season. Julian Edelman remains top option.
• Ryan Hannable notes Bill Belichick's post-game message to the team was how a good week in practice generally carries over to games.
• Christopher Price highlights Bill Belichick on D&H yesterday afternoon: We still have faith in Gostkowski; Pats QBs INT-free; More.
• Zack Cox Patriots Notes: Tom Brady, Pats QBs in midst of historic Interception-free stretch.
• Adam Kurkjian Patriots Notebook: Tom Brady anti-domestic violence but won't rip NFL; More.
• Mike Reiss looks at whether it's the shorter kickoffs that are affecting Stephen Gostkowski's field goal tries.
• Ron Borges lectures the Patriots on how they have to improve, before issuing his Week 7 Report Card. QB: A. Special teams: F.
• Mike Reiss believes the Patriots showed a toughness in winning at Heinz Field that should serve them well at Buffalo.
• Ryan Hathaway posts the trailer for Tom Brady's new TV show 'Religion of Sports.' (1.11 min. video)

NATIONAL NEWS

• Sean Wagner-McGough (CBS Sports) Tom Brady finally qualifies for passing stats, leads NFL in every meaningful category.
• Sharon Katz & Jacob Nitzberg (ESPN) Best and worst QBs of Week 7: Tom Brady at the top again.
• Jarrett Bell (USA Today) Patriots are beatable, just not by Big Ben-less Steelers.
• Alex Kirshner (SB Nation) The Steelers made the worst 4th-down decision of the week.
• Robert Mays (The Ringer) NFL Week 7 recap: There are no elite teams in 2016: Sunday reinforced that every Super Bowl contender has at least one fatal flaw.
• Staff (USA Today) 40 things we learned in Week 7 of the 2016 NFL season. 13. Rising above all the ugly, as they usually do, is Tom Brady-to-Rob Gronkowski.
• Dave Dameshek (NFL.com) The Shame Report, Week 7. (4 min. video)
• Mike Rodak (ESPN) Rex Ryan cannot overstate importance of second Bills-Patriots meeting.
• Kyle Hightower (AP) Patriots rolling as they prepare for round 2 against the Bills.
• Eric Edholm (Yahoo! Sports) What's afoot with the bad NFL kicking? Well, a little perspective is needed.
• Michael David Smith (ProFootballTalk) NFL morning after: The decline of Colin Kaepernick.
• Greg A. Bedard (SI) The NFL trades that should happen before the deadline.
• Jonathan Jones (SI) Mad As Hell: Everyone in the NFL is angry about something right now.
• Kenneth Arthur (Sports on Earth) Time to play the NFL "What if?" game.
• Jason B. Hirschhorn (Sports on Earth) 5 Worst NFL games of the past decade.
• Martin Rogers (USA Today) Is NFL's international experiment paying off abroad?

DUMPSTER DIVE

• Michael Hurley lays out exactly why Roger Goodell deserves to lose his job. "Goodell vowed to "be better" when it came to issues of domestic violence. Yet when given the actual chance to "be better," he instead proved to be nothing more than an empty suit." /Very good read.
• Melissa Jacobs (SI) Week Under Review: Giants deserve harsh punishment for role in Josh Brown’s case.
• Sally Jenkins (Washington Post) In Roger Goodell’s NFL, end-zone dances matter more than domestic violence. /She cuts right to the heart.
  
• Feitelberg (Barstool Sports) "For the Win" posts story about how Tom Brady declined to speak out against domestic violence... One problem: That's not what happened at all.
• Ryan Hannable hears WEEI guest Tom Brady take a hard stance against domestic violence Monday morning.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Patriots have no gray area regarding domestic violence.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Ratings still shrinking.