Welcome to first and 10, a roundup of all the (mostly) Patriots-related news you need to start your Wednesday. Grab your coffee and let’s get to it.
Going to keep it short this morning because there's a lot to get to. Plus, I hear there was a big baseball game last night that caused some people to stay up late.
--Another day closer to Sunday night. There was more Pat Mahomes talk in Foxborough on Tuesday, and there should be even more on Wednesday as things continue to build.
--One of the better answers Tuesday was from James White, who was asked if there was going to be a wager with the quarterback in advance of Michigan-Wisconsin this weekend. "We haven't talked about that yet, but we'll get to that later in the week," he said with a smile. My other favorite? A reporter asked Dont'a Hightower what Jason McCourty has meant to the team since he arrived. He smiled and said, "I love JMac more than I love Devin," he said with a laugh. And I showed some of the Patriots' pass rushers this video for a story that'll be along in the next 24 hours -- none of them said they had seen it yet.
Rams defensive line practicing sacking the quarterback, without drawing a penalty. Ndamukong Suh, everyone. pic.twitter.com/dJE99fWadp
— Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) October 4, 2018
Through five weeks, the Patriots defense has a missed tackle rate of 8.9%, the BEST rate in the NFL
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— PFF NE Patriots (@PFF_Patriots) October 9, 2018