Welcome to first and 10, a roundup of all the (mostly) Patriots-related news you need to start your Thursday. Grab your coffee and let’s get to it.
Rob Gronkowski knows what's up. Faced with the task of trying to decide what to watch on Sunday night -- Game 2 of the ALCS between the Red Sox and Astros or the Patriots-Chiefs showdown -- he knows how New England sports fans are going to handle things.
"That’s pretty nuts," Gronkowski said Wednesday when asked about the Sunday schedule. "But you know Boston sports fans -- they’re going to have two TVs. The Red Sox game right there and the Patriots game right there. And you know, probably halftime of our game, the Red Sox game will be up or something. You’ve got to give them credit. Our fans, those Boston fans, New England fans, they’re diehard fans. Not just for football but for every sport around here. So you know they’ll find a way to watch both."
Thursday’s schedule
12:30 p.m.: Media availability at practice
3:45-4:30 p.m.: Approximate time for player availability (locker room) and Devin McCourty (media workroom)
Now, on with the links...
1. Our guy Miguel has a great breakdown of the Patriots current cap crunch, what it means and how they got there. A really illuminating breakdown of the state of New England's finances. Can't recommend this enough -- Part II is coming later this week.
2. On Wednesday morning, I talked with former Chiefs and Jets defensive lineman Mike DeVito on how the Patriots might best attack the Kansas City offensive scheme. DeVito -- a New England native who went to high school on the Cape -- said the best course of action for the Patriots is to try and slow the game down a bit. After all, Pat Mahomes can't beat you if he's on the sidelines sweating out a series of long drives by the New England offense.
3. Up and down the defense, the Patriots are anticipating a lot of RPOs from Andy Reid and the Chiefs' offense come Sunday night. I talked to a few of the New England defenders about RPOs and responsibilities. They were working on defending RPOs during camp, and now, that advance work will come into play Sunday night.
4. My Wednesday notebook tackles a bunch of topics, including the injury report, which included Rob Gronkowski (limited -- ankle) and Sony Michel (limited -- knee)
5. Video: Gronkowski talks about the challenge of the Chiefs and comparisons to Travis Kelce.
6. Mike Reiss says Jason McCourty's rise to starter status in New England is a surprise story for the Patriots.
7. Speaking of Jason McCourty, Neil Hornsby of Pro Football Focus gives him a nod as one of Week 5's "Secret Superstars" based on his performance against the Colts. "His 62.3 passer rating when targeted is tied for the 12th-best among cornerbacks and his 80.5 grade is third," Hornsby notes. "He’s turning a good secondary for the Patriots into a potentially excellent one and maybe his best play is yet to come."
8 Adam Teicher says the Patriots and Rams have been at the forefront of incorporating some of the college concepts into NFL offenses.
9. This story from Kevin Seifert is a really good look at the marriage between Mahomes and Reid, and how it all came to be.
10. With health issues at linebacker, the Chiefs added Nate Orchard to the roster earlier this week. The one thing we're not really talking enough about, in my opinion, is the fact that Kansas City is dealing with some really dicey injuries on defense heading into Sunday night.
Extra Point: This is great news. Lengel is a really good guy, and the last remaining link to the Northeastern football program still playing in the NFL.
The #Bengals do add a TE following Tyler Eifert’s season-ending injury: They signed TE Matt Lengel off of the #Texans practice squad.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 10, 2018