New England Patriots links 2/07/18 - McDaniels’ decision; Butler’s defense and Brady’s support

LOCAL LINKS

• Tom E. Curran reports that “Fifteen hours of meetings between Josh McDaniels, Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft and Jonathan Kraft over the past two days have inspired McDaniels to leave the Indianapolis Colts at the altar.”
• Phil Perry says Josh McDaniels decision will have a domino effect on the rest of the coaching staff and means the Patriots will keep a measure of continuity in 2018.
• Zack Cox tells us what Josh McDaniels spurning the Colts means for both teams.
• Mike D’Abate (FullPressCoverage) McDaniels to remain in New England, after all.
• Mike Dussault (PatsPropaganda) McDaniels is staying with Patriots. “The Patriots have done the seemingly impossible by only increasing and adding to the drama and intrigue since losing Super Bowl 52.”
• Jerry Thornton (Barstool Sports) Needless to say, Josh McDaniels turning down the Colts is not going over well.
• Ryan Hannable believes Tuesday’s events indicate Josh McDaniels will succeed Bill Belichick as head coach of the Patriots.
• Karen Guregian introduces us to the next head coach of the New England Patriots: Josh McDaniels.
• Mike Cole explains how Josh McDaniels just put a ton of pressure on himself after his Colts’ flip-flop. /Already more pressure on McDaniels than any other head-coaching candidate.
• Joshua Schrock passes along rumors saying that Josh McDaniels denying the Colts was Robert Kraft’s deflategate revenge.
• Jeff Howe considers the five most important questions for the Patriots in the offseason. 1. Who’s left?
• Doug Kyed gives his thoughts what still needs to be determined this offseason despite it starting off with a bang: 1. Will Gronkowski retire?
• Bill Burt reports Rob Gronkowski is considering retirement to pursue a career in acting, according to a source. “... ‘Gronk,’ has been told by two Hollywood superstars Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Sylvester Stallone, that he could make millions of dollars in action films.”
• Zack Cox offers eight final thoughts on Super Bowl LII and the Patriots uncertain offseason.
• Joshua Schrock passes along a story of how Tom Brady ‘stopped in his tracks’ to congratulate an Eagles rookie on Super Bowl win.
• DJ Bean reports Malcolm Butler says reports of missteps by him are wrong and hurtful. Butler’s Instagram post was liked by Tom Brady.
• Joshua Schrock relays Bill Simmons’ theory on the Malcolm Butler benching.
• Steve Buckley ties Tom Brady’s liking of Malcolm Butler’s Instagram defense, to Josh McDaniels’ decision to stay and that somehow means Brady “won” the Belichick-Kraft-Brady battle. /My head is spinning.

NATIONAL NEWS

• Jason La Canfora (CBS Sports) Why Tom Brady, despite all his rings and accomplishments, is still very underrated.
• Judy Battista (NFL.com) Patriots facing uncertainty after Super Bowl LII loss to Eagles.
• Shalise Manza Young (Yahoo! Sports) Malcolm Butler posts statement: ‘I would never do anything to hurt my team’s chances of winning’.
• Daniel Rapaport (SI) Report: Josh McDaniels will not accept Colts job, will remain with Patriots.
• Michael David Smith (ProFootballTalk) Colts should have learned from the Bears’ mess with Dave McGinnis.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) McDaniels decided to stay put with no promises or commitments from Patriots. “The more accurate reality is that McDaniels had concerns about working with owner Jim Irsay.”
• Peter King (SI) The Josh McDaniels U-turn: Coach abandons Colts after Patriots convince him to stay.
• Danny Heifetz (The Ringer) Josh McDaniels just replicated Bill Belichick’s infamous Jets shunning.
• Frank Schwab (Yahoo! Sports) Stunner: Josh McDaniels decides against taking Colts job after all.
• Jacob Feldman (SI) Morning Huddle: Why did Josh McDaniels just abandon the Colts?
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Colts have no legal recourse against Josh McDaniels.
• Kevin Patra (NFL.com) Josh McDaniels’ agent told him he was making mistake.
• Charles Robinson (Yahoo! Sports) After burning Colts, Josh McDaniels can wave bye-bye to any head-coaching job outside New England.
• Conor Orr (SI) Josh McDaniels walks out on Indianapolis. “...decision now makes him unhirable anywhere other than Foxborough.”
• Mike DeCourcy (Sporting News) Josh McDaniels’ decision to jilt Colts is not something grown-ups do. /Extra layer of condescension in this one.
• Judy Battista (NFL.com) Josh McDaniels’ shocking about-face leaves Colts in a lurch.
• Pete Blackburn (CBS Sports) The internet ruthlessly roasted Colts after Josh McDaniels pulled out of coaching job: Colts are still taking Ls even in the offseason.
• Tadd Haislop (Sporting News) New Lions coach Matt Patricia can help Detroit take off, fly high as contender.
• Andrew Brandt (SI) NFL offseason is in business: 10 Storylines to watch.
• Jared Dubin (CBS Sports) 2018 NFL Free Agency: Le’Veon Bell leads a deep crop of free-agent running backs.
• Charean Williams (ProFootballTalk) NFL had 51 players tear an ACL in 2017.

VIEW FROM INDIANAPOLIS

• Press Release (Colts.com) Statement by the Indianapolis Colts on head coach search.
• Gregg Doyel (IndyStar) Josh McDaniels is a selfish little jerk, but did Colts, Indy a favor.
• Bob Kravitz (WTHR) McDaniels spurns the Colts, leaves them at the altar, and reveals his true character.
• Matthew Van Tryon (IndyStar) ‘Egg on the face.’ What national columnists say about Josh McDaniels bolting as Colts coach.
• Matthew Van Tryon (Indy Star) Here’s who Colts could hire as head coach after Josh McDaniels backed out.
• Dakota Crawford (IndyStar) 6 times coaches bizarrely ditched the teams hiring them, as Josh McDaniels did to the Colts.