Bedard's Weekend Briefing 01.25.19: Gaining on the Super Bowl, Warriors coming to town

Good morning!

A few random thoughts while I wonder if the Super Bowl will ever get here...

• So the Patriots will hold their send-off rally — inside Gillette this time, that's kind of a big time, baller move — on Sunday morning and then head off to Atlanta.


• I expect a lot of Aqib Talib and Brandin Cooks talk this week. Talib can say anything. Cooks will won't say anything.


• Wade Phillips will be a media darling.


• Someone will say something stupid about the Patriots and fans will do exactly what the idiots want you to do: give them attention by reacting.


• The first Rams-Pats Super Bowl will be a big storyline. Prepare yourself and ignore the noise.


• I wrote this after Media Night last year: "We’ve finished just one day in Minneapolis and this is already the dumbest Super Bowl week when it comes to media coverage."


• So, a lot to live up to.


• The key to the Patriots' run game of late? Physics.


• Almost forgot that I wrote this on Nov. 15. Other than the Josh Gordon stuff, not too bad.

• To be honest, at that time (and this was before the Dolphins and Steelers losses), I was not optimistic they'd actually make the Super Bowl.


• But here they are.


• HUGE Celtics game on Saturday night against the Warriors. B-Robb will be all over it, starting later today.


• My question: if the Celtics win, does that mean the past is in the past and this team is back to being a real title contender? That would be wild.