here's a pats thread for everyone to talk about patritos shit because nobody else cares

https://www.instagram.com/p/BKthXa0j1hp/

Posting here because it's a bit too conspiracy theory-ish for the main NFL thread.

I'm not convinced the Pats came into this game with a strong desire to win. I could easily imagine their main goal is to stay healthy and have the strongest team possible ready for next week.

it's a bit far fetched, and very un-belichick. they have got things together a bit better on defense now they've been able to adjust and on offense nothing can paper over the fact that they're starting an injured rookie at qb.

http://www.nfl.com/belichickletters

i guess going 3-1 without brady means it is hagiography time but this does have some great nuggets: http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/17703210/new-england-patriots-coach-bill-belichick-greatest-enigma-sports

zolak is really drunk on 5th quarter

this is v good on gostkowski

http://insidethepylon.com/nfl/teams-nfl/afc-east/new-england-patriots/2016/10/21/stephen-gostkowski-fixable/

ftr the writer of that kicked in college and knows what he's talking about, good stuff

gonna give this one a rating of: wtf

giving away maybe best player on defense for literally nothing

pretty hard to see how this makes any sense at all, are they trying to free up some salary to fill some other position?

from what i have read so far his contract is up and he wants way too much money and he has been playing below par, possibly related. was taken out a bunch vs buffalo.

classic bb

that's easy to say but this one is particularly egregious when you add it all up. the timing in particular is unbelievable. this is a different planet than letting chandler jones go at the start of off season, or getting a 1st for richard seymour. i guess it is kind of similar to lawyer milloy, altho even then they weren't midseason and 6-1 at the time.

https://twitter.com/Ethan_Booker/status/793131744014794753

Pretty much sums up my feelings about these moves

that's easy to say but this one is particularly egregious when you add it all up.

that's kind of what i mean, though. they always seem egregious, some more than others, and this is pretty damn high on that scale. he's probably traded an entire starting defense's worth of all-pro players for 6th and 7th round draft picks or worse at this point. it's like he doesn't want his defensive coordinators to get too comfortable: "good morning, matt. guess what i did today? have a good one!"

from mike reiss:

The Patriots get a third-round pick in return. Had Collins departed as a free agent after the season, the club probably would have received a third-round compensatory pick in 2018.

i'm way past being surprised by the patriots internal evaluations

they effectively just cut him tho. the evaluation is that the team is better with him off the roster than on it. you can't manage this elite athlete to contribute better than a scrub you pick up halfway thru the season?

if there's more film of him breaking contain and giving up 28-yard runs then maybe!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CwB11mnW8AAG3Vb.jpg

linebackers coach says it was a surprise, one of better plays in the group, criticisms inaccurate. must be an interesting place to work

the amount of commentary coming from within the team on this one is weirdly un-patriot-ic

http://bos.gl/uoCp8zW

fake

did bill put out a statement? I know brady has refuted the voting claim publicly

no statement - a pats beat writer asked the team and they didn't have any statement.. some other reporter got belichick on the phone & he said he'd get back to him and hung up

it seems kind of bogus to me

https://twitter.com/ESQPolitics/status/795829791417106432

i definitely took beichick to be a curt schilling type, i'd be really heartened if he was more a gregg popovich dude

i've heard in the past bill has quietly supported dem politicians and causes

hard to find anything on record other than that he's stated he was a D in the past

here's gisele's response via instagram comments fwiw https://twitter.com/feitsbarstool/status/795823202312318976

Report: Bill did write that letter! :-0

http://deadspin.com/report-bill-belichick-did-write-that-letter-to-donald-1788696859

here's the thing: this is only surprising bc of how blatant it was. you'd think he'd just donate some money and not say a word, given his taciturn approach to all things non-football. otherwise it's not particularly shocking that a dude like bill belichick isn't liberal.

so early next week is brady's weekly radio appearance on some boston sports show & he's promised them to reveal which candidate he voted for. preparing for change to BAN BRADY once he starts talking about making america great again

http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/jets/jets-week-12-matchup-with-patriots-moved-off-sunday-night-football-1.12616078

“Who knows?” said Flood, who was at a lunch in Manhattan to promote NBC’s coverage of the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” package. “We had the Butt Fumble Game on Thanksgiving [of 2012] that didn’t draw a big audience because it was over by the end of the first quarter.”

important anniversary coming up you guys

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C0AacJIUQAA-Ye9.jpg

8 consecutive division titles is a new nfl record, 7 consecutive 1st round byes is a new record. astounding really.

really crazy
last non-playoff yr was the 11-win season w cassel

It does kinda help having Miami, the Jets and Bills as the rest of the division. Still you got to play well in the other 10 games.

how did 2011 pats wind up in the SB with that defense
(checks wikipedia.. oh right played divisional round vs tebow and beat a ravens team that really should've won)

https://twitter.com/MikeReiss/status/817417091083108352

this is p cool. "he calls the right protection every fucking time"

tommy bradys in yr head reading yr plays

https://www.instagram.com/tombrady/

This intense thriller follows one man's path to execution and the strong-minded doctor brought in to take a deeper look at the violent circumstances that have doomed him. Jackson Shea (Kaiwi Lyman-Mersereau) has lived a life of deceit, brutality and corruption. But when a series of chilling, violent events lands him on Death Row, one psychologist (Denise Richards) must determine whether his violent behavior is inherent in his soul, or if he is able to be rehabilitated and saved from execution. Also starring Bruce Dern, Columbus Short, Johnny Messner, Michael Paré and featuring Stipe Miocic and Rob Gronkowski.

so is bill gonna attend the inauguration or just watch highlights on snapface

http://www.sbnation.com/2017/1/12/14231496/new-england-patriots-donald-trump-fan-problem

i mean, i'm rooting bigly for them to win the SB again, but ugh

but hey if my afc team is going down this road at least i can root for my other....

http://thehill.com/homenews/news/314733-r#dskins-owner-attends-exclusive-trump-inaugural-celebration

https://media.giphy.com/media/XccaUYZ2EHAhG/giphy.gif

https://twitter.com/BenVolin/status/822265112094527493

only a Trump presidency could get me to root for the Steelers and here we are

i will not let trump take the sports from me too