New England Patriots links 1/08/19 - Patriots vs. Chargers: Strength vs. strength

TEAM TALK

• Erik Scalavino shares the news, notes and locker-room buzz from Monday at Gillette: Patriots back from bye, recharged.
• John Rooke’s View From Above: What’s in a name, old habits still the same.
• Conference Call transcript: Bill Belichick.
• Press Conference transcript: Matthew Slater.
• WEEI Patriots Monday: Tom Brady (13.34 min.) - Trey Flowers (8.42 min.) - James White (6.17 min.) - Bill Belichick (15.45 min.)

LOCAL LINKS

• Mike Reiss believes the Patriots’ game plan vs. the Chargers must start with slowing Melvin Ingram.
• Zack Cox emphasizes how Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram will challenge the entire O-line.
• Phil Perry digs into the Pats-Bolts matchups: 1. Tom Brady vs. Chargers cover 3.
• Michael Hurley thumbnails 12 Chargers who present a major challenge for the Patriots.
• Tom E. Curran wonders if the Chargers will continue to rely on their defensive backs vs. the Patriots.
• Ryan Hannable explains how Patriots-Chargers is strength vs. strength, and how recent history is in New England’s favor.
• Evan Lazar picks five things we can learn from Chargers-Ravens ahead of divisional round: 1. Team that controls the line of scrimmage wins.
• Michael Hurley serves up some still-warm leftover Wild Card Weekend thoughts: The Texans STINK, Pete Carroll is confused, NFL rules don’t make sense, and much, much more.
• Doug Kyed makes the case that Cordarrelle Patterson’s health is key, even if he plays in a limited role.
• Kevin Duffy points how the Patriots and Chargers both do damage throwing to backs.
• Jordy McElroy (PatriotsWire) What to watch for in Patriots’ divisional playoff matchup against Chargers. 1. Home cooking for the Patriots.
• Kristen Parker (PatriotsWire) Tom Brady: ‘I was up watching film all night’ after Chargers’ win.
• Mark Daniels writes that the ‘consistently inconsistent’ Patriots will need to right their wrongs and play their best football if they want to advance in the playoffs.
• Mike Dussault (PatsPropaganda) Pats Posits: New Chargers chapter.
• Zack Cox relays how Trey Flowers doesn’t want his nightmare of not being able to set the edge, come true.
• Ryan Hannable highlights Matthew Slater on how much different the playoffs are than the regular season, and how experience doesn’t matter. “The urgency is very, very, very high.”
• Nick Goss mentions how ESPN’s Football Power Index gives the Patriots a really good chance to beat the Chargers and reach the AFC title game.
• Mike Petraglia hears Rodney Harrison recalling an epic Patriots-Chargers playoff game that details how Bill Belichick teams never quit.
• Tom E. Curran is loving the irony how 11 months after Josh McDaniels left Indy at the altar, the Colts and Pats are one win away from meeting in the AFC Championship.
• Ryan Hannable passes along reports that Josh McDaniels apparently will not be next coach of Packers, which indicates he likely will stay with Patriots.
• Kevin Duffy Patriots Notebook: Stephon Gilmore honored to be All-Pro.
• Robert Alvarez (PatsFans) 2019 Patriots playoff “hype videos”.
• CBS Boston notes Bill Belichick and Nick Saban can’t decide who is the worse loser.

NATIONAL NEWS

• Bill Barnwell (ESPN) Destroying myths about eight 2018 NFL playoff teams in divisional round. Chargers - The myth: The Chargers will go as far as Philip Rivers can take them. Sunday showed us that the Chargers can survive without a productive game from their star quarterback. Patriots - The myth: The myth: The Patriots have a bend-but-don’t-break defense. In reality, the discrepancy between yards and points has more to do with the Patriots’ offense than its defense.
• Josh Alper (ProFootballTalk) Chargers activate Hunter Henry.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Belichick reminds his players to recover loose footballs.
• Travis Durkee (Sporting News) NFL playoffs 2019: Chargers, Patriots facing frigid forecast.
• Tadd Haislop (Sporting News) NFL playoffs: Picks, odds for Chargers vs. Patriots divisional-round game. Haislop picks Chargers 30-27, Vinnie Iyer picks Chargers 24-20.
• Albert Breer (SI) Monday Afternoon QB: Scouts not surprised that Kliff Kingsbury is attracting NFL attention, More news and updates.
• Nate Davis (USA Today) 32 things we learned heading into divisional round of 2018 NFL playoffs.
• Adam Schein (NFL.com) Schein Nine: NFL Wild Card Weekend’s five winners, four losers.
• Danny Kelly (The RInger) Who has the best defense in the playoffs now?
• Robert Mays (The Ringer) The NFL’s Wild-Card round was a referendum on modern coaching.
• Danny Heifetz (The Ringer) Ozzie Newsome was the most important GM of his generation.
• Jim Reineking (USA Today) Cody Parkey missed field goal ranks among most brutal in NFL playoff history. Billy Cundiff (link to video), Mike Vanderjagt make this list [heh heh].
• Michael David Smith (ProFootballTalk) Rams, Patriots expected to get two third-round compensatory picks.
• Tim Tebow (ESPN) Nick Saban explains Bill Belichick’s influence on him as a coach. (3.38 min. video)
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) NFL’s rules tweak wasn’t proactive enough.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Wild-card ratings up 10 percent over last year.