Welcome to first and 10, a roundup of all the (mostly) Patriots-related news you need to start your Tuesday. Grab your coffee and let’s get to it.
The Patriots activated running back Rex Burkhead on Monday. What does this mean for the New England offense?
Look, betting on Burkhead is a dicey proposition. He signed with the Patriots prior to the start of the 2017 season, and because of various health issues, he's played in 13 games since then. That includes three contests this year, where he has 24 carries for 86 yards and three receptions for 31 yards. The truth of the matter is that the 5-foot-10, 215-pounder is not going to step in and be this overwhelming offensive option.
What he can be is part of a running back rotation -- along with James White, Sony Michel and (believe it or not) Cordarrelle Patterson for the last five games of the regular season and however long New England is a part of the postseason party. Eight games, tops? That's certainly not too much to ask. Bottom line? We'll hope for the best for Burkhead, a nice guy who has been very effective when he's been healthy. But we'll see how it all shakes out.
The Vikings come to town on Sunday for a game that'll start a stretch of really intriguing late-season challenges for the Patriots. Their next three, they have a home game with Minnesota, and road games against Miami (always a late-season thorn in New England's side) and Pittsburgh. The Steelers' game should fundamentally decide whether New England or Pittsburgh can get one of the two seeds in the AFC. Basically, at the end of this three-game stretch, we'll know whether or not the Patriots have championship character.
No player availability on Tuesday, but we'll get the coaches on conference calls. The first practice of the week will be Wednesday, and we'll be keeping an eye on the progression of the likes of Burkhead, as well as some others like Duke Dawson. Could Jonathan Jones' struggles against the Jets force the Patriots to put Dawson on an accelerated path to the game-day roster and have him in the slot sooner rather than later? We should get some sense of what might happen there over the next few days.
Oh, and for you new subscribers who signed up as the result of our deal on Monday, welcome! This is one of our weekday morning staples where we set the stage for the day in Patriots' football with a few early thoughts, as well as some links to get things started. Poke around, leave some thoughts in the comments, and generally just enjoy yourself. Welcome to the party!
Tuesday’s schedule
11 a.m.: Conference Call with Bill Belichick
11:15 a.m.: Conference Call with Josh McDaniels
11:25 a.m.: Conference Call with Brendan Daly
--Greg is scheduled to be back on with the fellas from F&M Tuesday from 2-4 p.m. Listen live here.
Now, on with the links...
1. I wrapped up the win over the Jets with a few final takeaways, including the fact Michel now needs to average 83 yards a game down the stretch to finish the season with 1,000 rushing yards. Only five backs under Belichick have finished with 1,000 yards in a season -- Corey Dillon, Antowain Smith, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, LeGarrette Blount and Stevan Ridley.
2. Miguel's latest salary cap recap takes a look at the creation of more financial flexibility for the Patriots following the activation of Burkhead and Dawson.
3. It was another epic Overreaction Monday Q&A. We talked about Patriots-Jets, the New England defense, the Chiefs, Steelers, Milton Berle (seriously), "Creed 2" and Thanksgiving leftovers. It was a blast -- check the transcript here.
4. Tom E. Curran says the Patriots have some things to focus on if they want to keep their ground-and-pound mentality the rest of this season.
5. Got a question regarding Tom Brady's choice of helmet in our weekly Q&A. Turns out, our buddy Mike Reiss got to the bottom of it Monday afternoon.
6. Speaking of Brady, he spent some quality time Monday night with his buddy Jim Gray over at Westwood One. He talked about a bunch of stuff, including his knee, the win over the Jets, and where the stand in relation to the rest of the league.
7. Pro Football Focus takes a closer look at Patriots-Jets, and singles out Patrick Chung for his work. "Patrick Chung had his most productive performance of the season to date with a busy game in coverage especially," writes PFF. "Chung didn’t affect very many incompletions, but he also didn’t allow the Jets receivers he was covering (and he saw targets against five of them) to convert short passes into longer gains, limiting the Jets to less than four yards after the catch per target."
8. Ben Shpigel of the New York Times says this season, the Patriots' path to the playoffs includes a little more tinkering than usual.
9. Here's one for you to remember as the week rolls on -- the Vikings have yet to beat a winning team this year.
10. Looks like Patriots-Vikings has opened with New England as a roughly 5.5-point favorite.
Extra Point:
We are celebrating the Pats win in New Jersey ? guy style! ??????#GoPats pic.twitter.com/c42neEibKZ
— The Camera Guys (@NBCSCameraGuys) November 26, 2018