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.
--Wednesday will be the last day of media availability before the players leave for the bye-week break. On Tuesday, Devin McCourty explained the mindset for the next few days.
"When you get the weekend, (it's) a time to kind of relax. If guys are going home, be with your family, kind of make up for some time that you might have lost doing different things," he said. "But those days go fast and then once we come back here Monday, it’s kind of foot on the gas until whenever it’s over for us. I think once you come back, the mindset is then we kind of decide (when) it’s over."
--Happy 45th Birthday, Lawyer Milloy.
Wednesday’s schedule
12:30 p.m.: Media availability at practice
4:15-5 p.m.: Approximate time for player availability (locker room) as well as Tom Brady and James White (media workroom)
Now, on with the links...
1. I lead this week's edition of the official BSJ NFL Power Rankings with a simple question -- should Drew Brees take home this year's NFL MVP award? Because it's starting to feel like there's some sentiment gathering for the New Orleans quarterback. We also have a shakeup in the top 5. Check it out to see where your team landed.
2. Greg has some initial thoughts on Patriots-Titans, including the fact Tennessee didn't give anyone the blueprint for stopping New England. Instead, this one was squarely on the Patriots' shoulders.
3. Greg also spent some quality time Tuesday chatting with the guys from Felger & Mazz.
4. The notebook takes a look at when Dwayne Allen likely suffered his knee injury against the Titans. There's also news on the promotion of Duke Dawson.
5. Miguel's latest salary cap recap has the Patriots losing more space because the team has been forced to pay out more in NLTBE bonuses.
6. Miguel also drops his latest mailbag, which includes questions on Le'Veon Bell, incentives and positional spending.
7. Video: McCourty on the Patriots' road struggles -- "We have to do a better job weathering the storm."
8. Mike Reiss writes on the fact Brady recognizes he needs to spread the ball around more.
9. Phil Perry has Bill Belichick acknowledging kick coverage is an issue for the Patriots. "It’s definitely an issue," he said on a conference call. "It’s an area that we’ve got to continue to work in. I don’t think it’s a rule thing as much as we’ve got to coach it better. We’ve got to play better. The whole operation has to be better. We have six weeks to get it to a high level, and hopefully we’ll be able to do that."
10. The Saints and Chiefs leapfrogged the Patriots this week when it came to Super Bowl odds, per OddsShark.com.
Extra Point:
Tom Brady joins Jerry Rice as the only 41-year-old players in NFL history with a catch (h/t EliasSports). pic.twitter.com/se7qqUA1F8
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) November 11, 2018