New England Patriots links 8/22/17 - Preseason midpoint: Transition from camp mode

TEAM TALK

• Game Preview: Patriots at Lions. Friday, Aug. 25 at 7 pm.
• Erik Scalavino shares his Monday news and notes from Gillette: At preseason midpoint, Patriots begin transition; All-out padded joint practices are over; NE and DET will get together to conduct a collaborative walkthrough practice.
• Don Banks notes that this is a potentially historic week for the Patriots organization and Robert Kraft's Hall of Fame candidacy.
• Press Conference Transcript: Bill Belichick.
• Patriots Today - Looking at Rex Burkhead and the depth at running back. (1.29 min. video)
• Highlights: Tom Brady eclipse. (21 second video)
• Press Pass: Rex Burkhead (6.08 min.) and James O'Shaughnessy (4.23 min.)
• WEEI Patriots Monday: James White (8.37 min.) and Duron Harmon (10.53 min.)

LOCAL LINKS

• Rich Thompson points out Bill Belichick began the transition from training camp to a game week routine.
• Adam Kurkjian explains why the Patriots are far from freaking out about their 0-2 start to the preseason.
• Doug Kyed posts his latest 53-man roster projection, with all three QBs making the cut.
• Kevin Duffy offers his 53-man roster projection: All TEs out except Gronkowski and Allen.
• Adam Bogdan (NEPatriotsLife) Patriots 53 man roster prediction. Carr, Roberts in.
• Kevin Dillon tells us What Bill Belichick is saying about the players on the bubble.
• Ryan Hannable highlights Bill Belichick on WEEI, where the coach talked a lot about his coaching strategies and why training camp is important to him even after 43 years of coaching.
• Mike Giardi notes that for Belichick, it isn't until midseason that 'you kind of know what you have.'
• Bill Reynolds wonders about the different side of Bill Belichick that's been on display.
• Mike Dussault (PatsPropaganda) The curious case of Belichick praise.
• Rich Thompson notes James O’Shaughnessy can't thank the Chiefs enough for drafting him, but is motivated to prove they moved on from him too soon.
• Rich Garven thinks TE James O'Shaughnessy had a solid debut in Week 2.
• Kevin Duffy sees Brandon Bolden making his case to stick around.
• Thomas Murphy (SportsXMedia) Of mice and Brandon Bolden. /Agreed.
• Kevin Duffy focuses on Trevor Bates, who did a little bit of everything for the scout team in '16, arriving as a strong side LB and eventually picking up experience at all three spots.
• Adam Kurkjian Patriots Notebook: Running back Rex Burkhead knows the importance of catching the football.
• Alex Reimer says 'human hot air balloon' Doug Gottlieb thinks everyone is being too easy on Tom Brady.

NATIONAL NEWS

• Brent Sobleski (Bleacher Report) NFL preseason Week 3 preview: Biggest question facing each team. /Without reading, guessing it’s DE for Pats.
• San Labar (HeroSports) I jealously resented Tom Brady for no reason: Everything changed when I met him. /Hat tip to Brady’s Revenge.
• Liz Clarke (Washington Post) The big offseason change Cousins made: Be more like Tom Brady.
• Elizabeth Merrill (ESPN) A Falcons locker room that refuses to wallow in Super Bowl disaster. /But keep asking them about it anyway.
• Rodger Sherman (The Ringer) It’s time for the NFL to embrace football’s best hide-a-player techniques.
• Andrew Beaton (Wall St. Journal) Why NFL teams want quarterbacks to stop throwing so much.
• Joseph Ferraiola (Inside the Pylon) Ryan Tannehill’s injury could have a major impact on the 2018 QB market.
• Cy Brown (Sports on Earth) Sports world hearts total eclipse.
• Ken Fang (Awful Announcing) What we know about NFL streaming in 2017.
• Josh Alper (ProFootballTalk) NFL makes deal to stream games, other content in China.

DUMPSTER DIVE

• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Owners authorized six of them to do Goodell deal in May. Deal would reportedly give Goodell more power. /More?
• Will Leitch (Sports on Earth) More Goodell may be bad for NFL /Ya think?.