New England Patriots links 9/29/21 - Cleanup on aisle three; Moving on to Tampa Bay

TEAM TALK

• How to watch/listen: Buccaneers at Patriots.
• Mike Dussault’s Notebook: McDaniels on balancing Mac’s development, Brady’s return.
• Paul Perillo’s NFL Notes: Suddenly, Pats, Jones look like the rest
• Paul Perillo tackles this week’s Patriots Mailbag: Brady, Bucs coming to Foxborough.
• Angelique Fiske tells the story of an Illinois Pats fan’s return to Gillette Stadium 10 years after Make-A-Wish.
• Press Conferences: Cam Achord - Steve Belichick - Ivan Fears - Josh McDaniels - Jerod Mayo.
• Coffee with the Coach: Preparing for the Buccaneers. (3 min. video)
• Sights and Sounds: Week 3 vs New Orleans Saints. (4 min. video)
• Patriots Unfiltered 9/28: Final takeaways from loss to Saints, offensive line struggles, Bucs preview. (2 hours)

LOCAL LINKS

• Evan Lazar’s Film Review: The big plays are coming for the Patriots’ passing offense.
• Evan Lazar’s Notebook: Fixing the Patriots’ offensive line; Leftover film notes on the Saints.
• Andrew Callahan’s Patriots film review: How the Saints won and two captains are spurring the Pats’ struggles. ‘Brandon Bolden, an annual cog of great special teams, was forced into more offensive action than he had seen in almost six years. Why? The face of the Patriots’ backfield, Damien Harris, couldn’t be trusted in pass protection once White went down. A consequence of their past falling, their present failing, and their future paying the price.’
• Matt Dolloff says to forget Mac Jones, everyone else needs to be better.
• Michael Hurley answers some burning Patriots questions (that don’t involve Tom Brady). /There’s a cream for that.
• Mike D’Abate (PatriotMaven) Patriots keeping their options open at running back, host four on free agent workouts.
• Michael Hurley serves up some still-warm leftover Patriots thoughts: Defense comes up short in another major moment.
• Jerry Thornton gives us his knee-jerk reactions to Week 3: For the second time in three weeks they played with the kind of situational awareness that was a staple of Rex Ryan teams but we’d go years without seeing on a Bill Belichick squad. And it’s alarming.
• Tom Fargo notes Josh McDaniels hopes Mac Jones won’t let mistakes ‘snowball’ into a bad season.
• Mike Reiss spotlights Mac Jones’ deep throws that were off the mark in Week 3. ‘It was almost as if quarterback Mac Jones and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels forgot to “ignore the noise,” which is one of coach Bill Belichick’s favorite sayings for his team.’
• Jerry Thornton offers some Jerry Thornton-like thoughts on Mac Jones getting ripped for not ‘wearing his big boy pants.’
• Adam London tells us what ended up happening to Mac Jones’ first touchdown football. It already resides in the team’s Hall of Fame.
• Michael Hurley takes a look at how Mac Jones and the rest of the rookie QB class have performed thus far in 2021.
• Matthew Geagan notes the team needs a lot more out of Jonnu Smith, and the tight end knows it.
• Matt Cassel shares some ideas how Mac Jones can be successful Sunday night.
• Andrew Callahan suggests how Bill Belichick can scheme an upset of Tom Brady’s Buccaneers.
• Karen Guregian spotlights the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady relationship which brought historic, complex greatness to New England.
• Danny Jaillet (PatriotsWire) Chase Winovich on Pats-Bucs: ‘There’s a reason that tickets are the prices that they are.’
• Justin Leger highlights Peter King going inside Brady and Belichick’s relationship over the years.
• Zack Cox highlights Jerod Mayo and Troy Brown on how they feel about preparing to coach against former teammate Tom Brady.
• Matt Vautour notes Ivan Fears is putting his Tom Brady love on pause this week, ‘I still think he’s the greatest, but right now that S.O.B. is the enemy.’
• Dakota Randall passes along a favorite Tom Brady story shared by Brian Belichick, Bill Belichick’s youngest son, from 2000 when he was 8 years old.
• Mike Reiss looks at whether Tom Brady vs. the Patriots is the biggest game in Boston sports history.
• Tom E. Curran talks with Charlie Weis about why Brady is no longer a Patriot.
• Tom E. Curran caught up with Brady’s trainer Alex Guerrero to learn more about how Brady is still doing this.
• Dakota Randall is worried the Patriots struggles have sucked the fun out of Tom Brady’s return to Foxboro.
• Sean T. McGuire notes Jamie Collins release from the Lions has Patriots fans hoping for his return.
• Henry McKenna (PatriotsWire) Jamie Collins reuniting with the Patriots makes too much sense.
• Mike D’Abate (PatriotMaven) Refuel the run: Should the Patriots consider trading for RB Marlon Mack?
• Alex Iafrato explains why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are basically a lock to beat the Patriots. (2.48 min. video)

NATIONAL NEWS

• Corey Seeley (The Draft Scout) Tuesday Morning Football: Matt Nagy’s on thin ice, Patriots are in trouble, Stafford and the Rams look scary good.
• Jenny Vrentas (SI) 8 things to know after Week 3: The NFL is wide-open—the NFC East, not so much; Plus, breaking down Davante Adams’s uncomfortably quick return, dissecting Mahomes’s interceptions, problems for Big Ben and Matt Nagy, and more.
• Cody Benjamin (CBS Sports) One thing we learned about each NFL team in Week 3 of 2021 season. Patriots: He’s still on the right trajectory, but Mac Jones can’t force deep shots. The Pats seemed to make a concerted effort to hit downfield throws against the Saints, but in the process saw Jones’ accuracy plummet and run game abandoned.
• Russell S. Baxter (FullPressCoverage) Key statistics for NFL 2021 through Week 3.
• Josh Alper (ProFootballTalk) Josh McDaniels: Mac Jones can’t let a bad day snowball into a bad season.
• Chris Roling (Bleacher Report) Fixing each rookie NFL quarterback after disappointing starts.
• David Carr (NFL.com) Offensive player rankings, Week 4: The good and bad of each rookie QB’s season so far.
• Joe Rivera (Sporting News) NFL Week 3 rookie QB grades: Mac Jones comes down to Earth; Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields take their lumps.
• Josh Alper (ProFootballTalk) Jonnu Smith: I didn’t put my best product out against the Saints.
• Cameron Filipe (Football Zebras) Week 4 referee assignments. Buccaneers at Patriots: Bill Vinovich.
• Dan Wetzel (Yahoo! Sports) The unsung heroes who spurred the Patriots to draft Tom Brady when no other team wanted to.
• Kevin Patra (NFL.com) Who needs win most in Brady-Belichick reunion?
• Tyler Sullivan (CBS Sports) Revisiting Tom Brady’s free agency that ultimately led to him leaving Patriots, signing with Buccaneers.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Tom Brady doesn’t expect a homecoming when he comes home to Foxboro.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Super Bowl LI ring sells for more than $92,000.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) With Buccaneers-Patriots looming, NBC, YouTube TV are on a collision course.
• Steve Serby (NY Post) The difficult Zach Wilson reality Jets fans will just have to accept. /Reminder: could be worse
• Ian O’Connor (NY Post) The Jets are putting their fans through hell again.
• Bill Bender (Sporting News) NFL picks, predictions for Week 4. Buccaneers at Patriots: This should be the most-watched SNF game of all time. Tom Brady makes his return to Gillette Stadium, and it will be similar to when Brett Favre made his first return to Lambeau Field with Minnesota. The great ones always deliver on that stage. Brady gets the Bucs back on track. Pick: Bucs win 31- 21.
• Vinnie Iyer (Sporting News) NFL picks, predictions Week 4. Lock of the Week: Tom Brady, Bucs rout Patriots 38-10.
• John Breech (CBS Sports) NFL Week 4 picks: Tom Brady gets revenge on Bill Belichick and the Patriots 27-20.