New England Patriots links 10/26/17 - Offense aims to ‘hit accelerator’ while Defense plugs another hole

TEAM TALK

• Patriots - Chargers Wednesday Injury Report.
• Roster transactions: Patriots sign LB Trevor Reilly to the 53-man roster; Place LB Harvey Langi on the non-football injury list; Sign DL Mike Purcell to the practice squad.
• Erik Scalavino shares his locker-room news and notes from Wednesday at Gillette: Gilmore practices; Hightower, Amendola held out.
• Press Conference Transcripts: Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.
• Press Pass: Preparing for the Chargers. (1.20 min. video)
• Belichick Breakdown: Top Plays from Week 7 vs. Atlanta Falcons. (4.06 min.video)

LOCAL LINKS

• Tom E. Curran helps us Know Thine Enemy: are better than their record and could cause problems for the Pats.
• Adam Kurkjian calls attention to the Chargers pass rushers and why they present a menacing threat to the Patriots.
• Steve Balestrieri (PatsFans) Chargers Rivers, defense carrying team in recent surge.
• Megan Carnahan (NEPatriotsLife) Throwback Thursday to the last Patriots-Chargers matchup.
• Doug Kyed doesn't understand why certain media members were down on Brandin Cooks early on, as he is climbing the stat leader board and on pace for a career-high 1,000-yard season.
• Mark Farinella sees the Brady-to-Cooks connection not perfect but continuing to click for the Patriots.
• Rich Garven talks about Brandon Cooks hitting his stride as a deep threat.
• Jeff Howe reports Tom Brady knows the Patriots have left points on the field this season and their red zone efficiency is sorely lacking.
• Kevin Duffy spotlights how Lewis, Gillislee, Burkhead, and White each touched the ball seven or more times on Sunday, the first time since 2008 that the Patriots have had four RBs receive seven or more touches in a single game.
• Henry McKenna (PatriotsWire) Bill Belichick explains what makes Dion Lewis so difficult to tackle.
• Karen Guregian writes about how the Patriots have shot themselves in the foot a bit too often with drive-killing offensive interference penalties.
• Kevin Duffy passes along the sad report that Dont'a Hightower will miss the remainder of the 2017 season with a torn pectoral.
• Mike Reiss says the defense will be tested without Dont'a Hightower this Sunday.
• Doug Kyed looks at how the Patriots might replace Dont'a Hightower and Malcom Brown on defense.
• Mike Dussault (PatsPropaganda) Hightower done for year in "huge blow to Patriots Super Bowl hopes." So what now?
• Adam Kurkjian notes Bill Belichick believes the defense will need to disguise coverages against savvy veteran Philip Rivers.
• Rich Garven mentions how undrafted rookie Adam Butler revels in his takedown of Matt Ryan, his first NFL sack.
• Jeff Howe Patriots Notebook: Dont’a Hightower out again with shoulder injury.
• Rich Garven Patriots Journal: Marsh pleasing more than just the crowd.
• Mark Farinella Patriots Notebook: Special teams becoming truly special.
• Ryan Hannable explains why the next few weeks are so important for the Patriots.
• Zack Cox notes it's time for Tom Brady and the Patriots to 'hit the accelerator' before the bye week.
• Evan Lazar puts the focus on some positive takeaways from the Patriots defense.
• Mike Reiss tells us a bit about LB Trevor Reilly, who can play on the four core special-teams units, and who also has 31 regular-season games behind him.
• Matt Dolloff comes up with three positions that Bill Belichick could look to bolster at the trade deadline.
• Tom E. Curran, Mike Giardi and Phil Perry discuss whether the Patriots will trade Malcolm Butler before the trade deadline next week.
• Kevin Dillon polled the Patriots locker room to find out who is the fastest player on the team.
• Mike Reiss wonders if the Patriots' move to Hartford would have been similar to the Chargers' move to L.A.
• Nicole Yang notes Chris Berman shares four anecdotes from Bill Belichick’s early days.
• Doug Kyed, Zack Cox and Michaela Vernava discuss whether they're ready to buy in on the Patriots defense. (31.58 min. video)

NATIONAL NEWS

• Shalise Manza Young (Yahoo! Sports) Reports: Patriots lose LB Dont'a Hightower for the season. "...perhaps the one player it could least afford to lose."
• Josh Alper (ProFootballTalk) Patriots put Harvey Langi on non-football injury list.
• Julian Edelman (SI) Julian Edelman's underdog journey to the New England Patriots.
• Gil Brandt (NFL.com) Scary good/bad units. Patriots secondary 2nd in the ‘scary bad’ category.
• NFL Turning Point (NFL.com) Bill Belichick leads his team to win in the fog. (3.27 min. video)
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Patriots-Steelers game won’t be flexed.
• Jordan Shultz (Yahoo! Sports) Five bold predictions for NFL Week 8. 5. Jets upset the Atlanta Falcons at MetLife Stadium. /Heh.
• Sean Wagner-McGough (CBS Sports) 49ers reportedly ask fans 'how important is it that your team wins?' in questionnaire. /File under: 'Glad we're not them'.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) FOX CEO blames ratings drop on oversaturation. "If the NFL spent as much time addressing the problem of decreased ratings as it does coming up with explanations for why things aren’t as bad as they seem (are), the problem may be fixed by now."

VIEW FROM SAN DIEGO/LOS ANGELES

• Dan Woike (San Diego Union-Tribune) Chargers offense hopes not to get jammed up vs. Patriots.
• Dan Woike (LA Times) Chargers are riding a three-game winning streak but still have some climbing to do.
• Dan Woike (San Diego Union-Tribune) Chargers say jury is still out on them.
• Tom Krasovic (San Diego Union-Tribune) Darn if Tom Brady didn’t strand Antonio Gates.
• Dan Woike (San Diego Union-Tribune) Chargers will turn to rookie after losing Slausen for season.
• Tom Krasovic (San Diego Union-Tribune) Complaints about Ingram flag seemingly back up claim about NFL "Count on the flag flying if Brady, 40, is hit as Siemian was."