New England Patriots links 10/01/19 - Time out called on the panic: Patriots are 4-0, baby!

TEAM TALK

• Patriots deliver highest non-primetime rating of 2019 season.
• Mike Dussault breaks down the Pats-Bills film, quarter-by-quarter, to talk about what stood out. “Brady’s throw to James White on third-and-9 was high even though White was wide open. Again, it was part of a clunky start of the offense and nothing was easy.”
• Mike Dussault shares the news, notes and locker-room buzz from Monday at Gillette: Butler, Simon chipping in key defensive contributions.
• Conference Call transcript: Bill Belichick.
• WEEI Patriots Monday: Tom Brady (16.20 min.) - Lawrence Guy (10.45 min.) - Bill Belichick (15.15 min. video)
• Locker Room Celebration following the win over the Bills. “4-0 baby!” (1.24 min. video)
• Highlights: The best defensive plays from the Patriots Week 4 win in Buffalo. (2.40 min. video)

LOCAL LINKS

• Evan Lazar’s Film Review: There’s no reason to panic about the Patriots offense. They had chances to move the ball and put up points but shot themselves in the foot with correctable mistakes.
• Doug Kyed’s Patriots-Bills Film Review: How New England ‘shook’ Josh Allen in the pocket.
• Matt Dolloff’s Package Report: A complete breakdown of the Patriots’ offensive personnel packages in Buffalo. Pats go heavy in attempts to get the run game going.
• Evan Lazar’s Advanced Stats Report: Bills defense takes away the middle of the field from Tom Brady. With Julian Edelman limited, Brady didn’t attempt a single pass over ten yards between the numbers.
• Michael Hurley serves up some still-warm leftover Patriots thoughts: Bills head coach Sean McDermott had a rough, kinda embarrassing, day, and more. /Worth a perusal, as usual.
• Jerry Thornton gives us his knee jerk reactions to Patriots vs. Bills. “Games like this happen every year. In the division. On the road. Typically in September.”
• Tom E. Curran says that what you saw Sunday in the Patriots 16-10 win was a Patriots team that played exactly as they are equipped right now. If you were expecting 30-point blowouts every seven days like it was your birthright, well, that’s on you.
• Steve Balestrieri (PatsFans) Patriots defense stifles the Bills; Observations: At the quarter-point of the season the Patriots have a one-game lead over Buffalo and have already beaten all three teams in the division.
• Ian Logue (PatsFans) 5 thoughts on the Patriots win over the Bills. 4) Sunday saw a slight improvement in the ground game, although it was still a tough outing.
• Phil Perry details the Patriots capitalizing on the Bills punt-block confusion: The look was there on tape for the Patriots to find. They saw it. And they exploited it.
• Phil Perry writes about Dante Scarnecchia’s approach to the Patriots offensive line challenges: It’s been on Scarnecchia to get them all to a place where they can fill in capably, protect Tom Brady, and help offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels call the type of game he wants. /Good read.
• Tony Massarotti admits that ‘when the Patriots have a defense – and when they still have Tom Brady – that is never a bad thing. And if they’re winning low-scoring games with consistency, that is great, great news.’
• Mike Reiss sees Tom Brady and his Patriots’ offense still searching for identity, the same as in 2018.
• Ryan Hannable notes Tom Brady talked to Westwood One Radio’s Jim Gray about how “Our veteran leaders on offense have to share more of the burden...”
• Tom E. Curran revisits his Pats-Bills preview to see what he got right and what he got wrong.
• Zack Cox explains why Jamie Collins’ leaping field goal rush vs. the Bills was perfectly legal. /Causing another Sean McDermott freakout.
• Zack Cox notes Bill Belichick wouldn’t change anything about Jonathan Jones’ hit on Josh Allen.
• Andy Hart sums up the Jones-Allen collision: ‘Jones could have gone lower. Allen could have decided to slide long before the contact and given up the down. Neither did.’
• Zack Cox NFL Rumors: Jonathan Jones won’t be suspended for Josh Allen hit.
• Nick O’Malley issues his Patriots-Bills report cards: Offense earns detention.
• Steve Balestrieri (PatsFans) Patriots Week 4 Report Card, in tough 16-10 win over the Bills. Brady can kiss that ‘Patriot of the Week’ award goodbye once again.
• Adam London reposts David Andrews telling Tweet, illustrating his mixed feelings watching the Patriots instead of being able to play.
• Matt Vautour previews Patriots vs. Redskins: New England is facing a winless Washington team in turmoil this Sunday.
• Michael Hurley points out the less than ideal situation for the Redskins this week -- no matter which of their three quarterbacks takes the field to start the game.
• Zack Cox wonders who the Patriots will cut now that Ben Watson is back from suspension.
• David Latham (LastWordOnSports) Could the New England Patriots acquire Stefon Diggs?
• Entitled Town podcast: Dave Brown, Mike Irons and guest Alex Barth discuss a challenging victory for the Patriots. Ironhead throws Dave under the bus; More. (1 hour 23 min.)
• Patriots Fourth and Two Overtime podcast: Russ Goldman, Derek Havens and Steve Balestrieri discuss Pats-Bills following the game. (24.16 min.)

NATIONAL NEWS

• Analysis Team (Pro Football Focus) NFL Week 4 PFF ReFocused: Patriots 16, Bills 10. “Tom Brady’s surprisingly poor performance owed much to his offensive line against the Bills. The unit struggled throughout the contest, particularly on the interior, where Joe Thuney, Ted Karras and Shaq Mason all endured disappointing afternoons.”
• FO Staff (Football Outsiders) Audibles at the Line: Week 4. Patriots 16 at Bills 10: “Tom Brady’s career has come full circle. He started as a great quarterback with an even better defense, then spent a decade or so as maybe the best quarterback in the league, and now he’s back to being a great quarterback with an even better defense again -- maybe the best defense he has ever had.”
• Bill Barnwell (ESPN) How Week 4 showed fatal flaws for the NFL’s best teams. Patriots problem: Lack of infrastructure around Tom Brady.
• Albert Breer (SI) Monday Afternoon QB: Vontaze Burfict expected to appeal, tough break for Broncos and Bradley Chubb; More Notes.
• Robert Mays (The Ringer) The Starting 11: 6. By holding the Patriots to 16 points, the Bills had their own moral victory of sorts on Sunday—and this defense looks like it’ll keep Buffalo in plenty of games.
• Mike Tanier (Bleacher Report) Gridiron Digest: There’s more to the Chiefs than Mahomes magic; More.
• Terez Paylor (Yahoo! Sports) 3 helmet hits, 3 verdicts. Vontaze Burfict’s suspension was easy, but NFL struggles with other incidents.
• Michael David Smith (ProFootballTalk) Colt McCoy in the mix to start this week for Washington.
• John Breech (CBS Sports) NFL Week 5 early odds: Redskins open as biggest home underdog in team history.
• Cameron Wolfe (ESPN) Introducing NFL’s Quarter 1 unheralded ballers. J.C. Jackson gets some love.
• Gregg Rosenthal (NFL.com) The Debrief: Sorting out NFC after September chaos.
• Justin Sayles (The Ringer) The Hopelessness Index: Ranking the wituations of the NFL’s six winless teams.
• Frank Schwab (Yahoo! Sports) Vontaze Burfict suspended by NFL for remainder of season for helmet-to-helmet hit.
• Sports Network (USA Today) Unveiling the 100 greatest NFL players of all time: Nos. 91-100. 97 Mike Haynes, 95 Adam Vinatieri.
• Report (ESPN) Sources: Union mulls potential AB grievances. /Eh...