Welcome to first and 10, a roundup of all the (mostly) Patriots-related news you need to start your Monday. Grab your coffee and let’s get to it.
--There was one of those great postgame stretches Sunday afternoon at Gillette. We all knew New England had knocked off the Bills to win the division again. But in the locker room, they were all caught up in the Eagles-Texans game, and there was a huge cheer that went up when they found out Philly won. A really cool sequence -- the mind reels at what Lane Johnson must have thought of the chance to give the Patriots an early Christmas gift.
--It's awfully easy to be ho-hum about a division title around here, but as Greg noted toward the end of his game report, the fact the Patriots won their 10th straight AFC East crown on Sunday is really an amazing feat. According to Elias, they join the Atlanta Braves as the only franchises from any of the four major pro sports to win at least 10 straight division titles. That's special, and should be recognized as such.
--It's going to be a limited schedule on Foxborough for the next few days -- the players got a Victory Monday, and will enjoy the holiday on Tuesday as an off-day as well. Regardless of the holiday schedule, I'll be hosting an Overreaction Monday Q&A at 2 p.m. Get your questions in now, because it's going to be epic.
Monday’s Schedule
1:45 p.m.: Conference call with Bill Belichick
2 p.m.: Patriots assistant coaches availability (media workroom)
Now, on with the links...
1. Greg's game report focuses on everything you need to know about what happened Sunday in Foxborough, including the dominant ground game, the struggling passing attack, and the fact they came away with hats and T-shirts on their third try.
2. After the game, the Patriots followed along with the drama coming out of Philly, just like the rest of the AFC. After Nick Foles led the Eagles to the upset of the Texans -- and gave New England the second seed -- there was a loud yell in the Patriots' locker room: "Hell yeah, Nick!"
3. For Tom Brady, it was a mostly miserable afternoon, with a performance that led to a lot of "yeah...but" statements afterward. “Yeah, we didn’t have our best game in the pass game,” Brady said. “But we won.”
4. Sean on the team celebrating a 10th straight division title.
5. Sean also has all the details on the tremendous performance of the New England ground game, one of the best single-game outings of the Belichick Era.
6. The #StayCovered Defensive Play of the Game? There were a bunch of possibilities, but the voters went with J.C. Jackson and his second-quarter interception.
7. Our photographer Adam Richins has some great shots from Sunday's win.
8. We have postgame video of Brady, James White and Matthew Slater.
9. After the contest, Greg joined the fellas from the 98.5 Patriots Postgame Show to break it all down.
10. One last plug for my weekend notebook, which hits on a bunch of topics, including the fact that despite their December swoon, no one in the NFL is interested in putting dirt on the Patriots.
Extra Point:
All 5 teams who have beaten the #Patriots have now lost the following week.
— Christopher Price (@cpriceNFL) December 24, 2018