First and 10: When it comes to trash-talking, it's looking like a fairly uneventful week

Welcome to first and 10, a roundup of all the (mostly) Patriots-related news you need to start your day.


I’ve covered the Patriots since 2001. I have never heard any opponent refer to the Patriots in the way that Malik Jackson did on Monday.

The Jacksonville defensive tackle reportedly called the Patriots “the dads of the NFL.” (The last time we heard that sort of analogy around these parts involved Pedro Martinez and the Yankees.) It certainly sounds like, other than Jalen Ramsey’s bold prediction, there won’t be a lot of trash talk being thrown around this week, at least compared to the verbal steel-cage match that took place last week between the Jaguars and Steelers.

“I’m not going to be stupid and say I’m going to make him look like just another quarterback,” Jacksonville’s Yannick Ngakoue said of Tom Brady. “I have enough respect for him. Write that down. He’s a great player.”

“You can hit Brady,” defensive tackle Marcell Dareus said “But hitting him is not what’s going to get to him. It’s constantly being a gnat in his face. He hates that gnat, always around his feet, or someone in his face. Sacking him is not what gets to him. You sack him, he’s gonna get up and keep rolling. It’s that competitive spirit. ‘OK, you got me, now I’m going to throw this touchdown, 40 yards. You happy about that sack now?’ That’s just his mentality. I love playing against that guy.”

The message from the Patriots when it comes to assessing the Jags? Well, it’s about what you’d expect.

“This is an elite football team, and I think when we left here in the summer after going against them in the joint practice, we saw these guys (were) going to be good,” special teams captain Matthew Slater said of the Jaguars. “They’ve proven it all year long, and this will be the best football team that we’ve played all season long. They’re just playing really, really good football, and they have really, really good players, and they’re obviously very well-coached. You tip your hat to them for going on the road and winning a big game like they did, playing the way that they did with a lot of confidence (and) a lot of swagger. It’s a good team.”

When it comes to Ramsey, the Patriots have been impressed.

“Jalen Ramsey is a good player,” said safety Duron Harmon. “He talks a lot of trash – that’s a part of his game. You can’t take it away from him. He’s confident. He should be confident in his team. He has a really good football team. The top two AFC teams are left and he’s a part of one of them. His approach to the game is different than ours, but we can’t knock him for it. We know they are going to come ready to play. We just have to match their type of physicality and also just their emotion and their readiness to get ready to play.”

“That guy is really good, and he should be confident, because he is very, very good,” Slater added. “The good Lord made that guy, and he said, ‘Let there be a corner.’ And there he is. I’d be confident if I were him as well.”

So much for any (more) bulletin-board material.

On with the links…

1. You stop Jacksonville’s play-action game? You can pretty much stop the Jaguars.

2. Three takeaways from the Patriots coaches from Monday’s conference calls.

3. Harmon and Slater talked from the podium in the media workroom on Monday.

4. Five months after their joint practices with the Patriots, the Jaguars are coming back to Massachusetts.

5. Jags’ coach Doug Marrone said Foxborough is “the most difficult place I’ve ever played.”

6. In Pittsburgh, the Steelers might have to choose between Ben Roethlisberger or Todd Haley (subscription required)

7. The Vikings still can’t believe that crazy finish against the Saints.

8. New Orleans defensive back Marcus Williams said he won’t let one play define him.

(It was interesting to hear Harmon after he was asked about Williams on Monday: “He’s had a phenomenal year as a rookie safety. You’re playing free safety, you catch yourself watching other safeties, and he’s going to be a good, young player. He made plays on the ball, he had an interception in the game, had a PBU. So, he played well. It’s unfortunate that that one play is going to define that game for him, but all I can tell him is just keep fighting. Don’t let that play define your career. Always remember that play because it will always push you to keep grinding and hopefully push him to a new level.”

9. The Eagles are home underdogs … again. (Get those German shepherd masks ready.)

10. I get that the rivalries in the NFC South are really intense, but it was something else to see the folks in Atlanta and Carolina chortle at the last-second loss by the Saints in the divisional playoff round. Both Falcons and Panthers players took to social media to gleefully mock New Orleans after its loss to Minnesota. I can appreciate a well-timed zinger, but to exult in the fact that another team beat your rival while you were sitting home on the couch? Not a good look, guys.

Extra Points: Remember when the lights went out the last time the Patriots and Jaguars met in the AFC title game in Foxborough? (Just so you guys know, it's going to block you and force you to click through to YouTube to watch. It's still worth it....)