New England Patriots links 12/10/19 - Tough loss gives Patriots lots to chew on

TEAM TALK

• Statement from the New England Patriots.
• Mike Dussault takes a closer look at the plays and players that stood out in the 23-16 loss: Patriots can’t walk their narrow path to victory this time.
• Mike Dussault shares the locker-room buzz from Monday at Gillette: Patriots ready to close the book on Chiefs loss.
• WEEI Patriots Monday: Tom Brady (16.24 min.) - James White (7.29 min.) - Bill Belichick (17.25 min.).

LOCAL LINKS

• Evan Lazar’s Advanced Stats Report: Examining the statistical trends of Tom Brady’s season.
• Matt Dolloff issues his Week 14 Package Report: N’Keal Harry makes things happen in Patriots’ red zone package (again) vs. Chiefs.
• Tom E. Curran gives us his Pats-Chiefs preview/review: ‘In their past five games, the Patriots have scored TDs just twice in eight goal-to-go situations. The point is, the Patriots aren’t generating points’.
• Dave Brown explains how the Patriots — normally beneficiaries of a league-wide conspiracy to assure their success — lost to the Chiefs on Sunday, when officials failed to execute the scheme. /Heh heh.
• Michael Hurley serves up some still-warm leftover Patriots thoughts: I mean it. Tom Brady is not the problem.
• Jerry Thornton puts the refs (and the offense) over his knee in his latest, knee-jerk reactions to Week 14: Patriots-chief.
• Chad Finn shares 23 thoughts on the Patriots loss to the Chiefs: There’s much to repair and not a lot of time to do it; More.
• Steve Balestrieri (PatsFans) Patriots lose tough one to Kansas City 23-16, Observations: When your #2 and #3 wide receivers have no production, it is awfully hard to win football games.
• Mike Reiss tells us why the Patriots will repeat last year’s run ... and why they won’t.
• Adam Kilgore says questions keep stacking up and answers aren’t easy to find. ‘What if ‘the end’ for the Patriots looks like it did on Sunday?’
• Ian Logue (PatsFans) After tough loss, Patriots remain a team full of questions. ‘The one positive they can take away is the fact that despite all their issues, they fought, they never gave up and they were in the game right until the end but just came up short.’
• Doug Kyed makes the argument that that Tom Brady really could only trust three players Sunday: Julian Edelman, James White and left guard Joe Thuney.
• Ryan Hannable prepares a deep dish blame pie to show who is most to blame for the Patriots’ struggles on offense this season. /Not a good pie.
• Adam London notes ex-Pats exec Mike Lombardi believes the offensive line should shoulder a good chunk of the blame for the loss, not the officials. /Room for both.
• Bob George (PatsFans) Patriots have more trouble with the officials than Chiefs in loss.
• Christopher Mason finds that players were ‘angry’ and on edge after the game.
• Robert Alvarez (PatsFans) N’Keal Harry: “The show goes on”.
• CBS Boston lays out how the Patriots can clinch a playoff spot in Week 15.
• Matt Vautour reports Drew Brees surpassed Tom Brady in career TD passes Sunday; Brady is no longer likely to be the all-time leader.
• Adam London notes Chiefs DL Chris Jones explains his heated exchange with Tom Brady. “Just crap-talking” and trying to “affect his game any type of way.”
• Entitled Town podcast: A Patriots beat writer and an angry fan debunk faulty narratives surrounding the Patriots; Spygate reboot; More. (73 min.)
• Locked On Patriots podcast: Mike D’Abate and Thomas Murphy recap the loss to the Chiefs. (39 min.)

NATIONAL NEWS

• Mike Tanier (Bleacher Report) Gridiron Digest: How far have Tom Brady and the Patriots fallen?
• Albert Breer (SI) Monday Afternoon QB: Chiefs’ defense starting to show life, Sean McVay’s Rams back in playoff mix; more NFL notes.
• Robert Mays (The Ringer) The Starting 11: The offseason acquisitions that are shaping the NFL playoff race.
• Will Brinson (CBS Sports) Sorting the Sunday Pile: The rise of Ryan Tannehill makes Titans dangerous AFC contender.
• Bill Pennington (NY Times) Are the Patriots vulnerable at last? Don’t bet on it.
• Bill Barnwell (ESPN) The race for the AFC 2-seed is alive: Barnwell on what’s next in the 2019 NFL playoffs, who’s involved.

DUMPSTER DIVE

• Matt Keohan (Brobible) The ref’s moronic explanation for screwing the Patriots out of a TD is not sitting well with Pats fans. /Shouldn’t sit well with anyone.
• Doug Kyed explains how the Patriots’ latest controversy is a complicated situation for the NFL to penalize. Technically, the Patriots are repeat offenders. /Some good points here.
• Danny Heifetz (The Ringer) Oh Boy, the Pats are embroiled in another cheating controversy...though it may be a misunderstanding over branded content.
• Jarrett Bell (USA Today) Roger Goodell should drop the hammer on Patriots, Bill Belichick after latest controversy. /The dot-connecting here is epic. Might need a rabies shot after reading this one.
• Matthew Geagan calls the newest ‘spygate’ controversy is just a misunderstanding.
• Michael David Smith (ProFootballTalk) Bengals say NFL is investigating the Patriots over “incident” at Sunday’s game.
• Dan Wetzel (Yahoo! Sports) Even with Patriots’ admission to ‘inappropriately’ filming Bengals game, NFL needs to release tape.
• Michael David Smith (ProFootballTalk) Patriots admit video crew violated league policy, say it was unintentional.
• Michael David Smith (ProFootballTalk) Bill Belichick says he has nothing to do with taping at Bengals game.
• Ben Baby (ESPN) Patriots’ Bill Belichick denies involvement with videographer caught taping Bengals’ sideline.
• Christian D’Andrea (SB Nation) The Patriots now have Spygate 2.0 thanks to their website’s production team.
• Mark Daniels is waiting to see what kind of discipline the NFL hands down to the Patriots after this latest incident.
• Dave Clark (Cincinnati Enquirer) Reactions: Patriots insist filming of Bengals’ coaches on sideline was for documentary.
• Dave Clark and Tyler Dragon (Cincinnati Enquirer) Update: Patriots admit film crew broke NFL rules filming Bengals sideline Sunday at Browns.