Bedard's Weekend Briefing 01.04.19: Bruins getting hot, NFL playoffs, Antonio Brown & Pats

Good morning! 

A few random thoughts while I wonder which team will be visiting Gillette next Sunday...

• Bruins had another entertaining affair last night as they beat the Flames 6-4 at the Garden. Man, that Flames team is a ton of fun to watch and has a lot of local connections to boot. But the Bruins kept turning back every challenge.


• Amazing the Bruins are on a 100-point pace. Bruce Cassidy was Alex Cora before Cora and without the highest-paid roster in the league. Of course, the Bruins are going to need to stay on that pace in a loaded division just to make the playoffs. No reason why they can't.


• Some quickie thoughts on this weekend's playoff games...


• Like the Colts to go into Houston and win a close one. The Colts defense has come a long way this season and they should be able to accomplish the No. 1 thing: keep Deshaun Watson in the pocket. But Andrew Luck is still very loose with the ball.


• The Seahawks will shut down the Cowboys' running game and make Dak Prescott beat them from the pocket. Russell Wilson will make enough plays to win.


• Chargers-Ravens could be an all-timer. Home field and the better defense will send Baltimore to Gillette.


• Eagles and Lane Johnson stop having fun as the Bears' defense dominates.


• I was going to write a column about Antonio Brown and the Patriots but I'm not going to waste your time. It's a clickbait dream, so there will be plenty of other sites around here to write about the possibility but don't click on them.


• The Patriots absolutely should replace Rob Gronkowski with Brown (they basically make the same amount) — I have no doubt the Patriots could handle Brown in the locker room. The guy practices hard, but he's a circus otherwise.


• But there is absolutely no way the Steelers would trade him to the Patriots, especially not at a cut-rate (like the Randy Moss and Josh Gordon trades). Doubt the Steelers release him — he'd become an unrestricted free agent — but even if they did, Brown would try to cash in again with a top contract and the Patriots won't go there. And many other teams have much more cap space.