ATLANTA -- Welcome to first and 10, a roundup of all the (mostly) Patriots-related news you need to start your Friday. Grab your coffee and let’s get to it.
It's the question I've gotten the most from Patriots' fans over the course of the week: How are they looking in practice?
Those of you who have followed New England for any length of time know that when there's a loss, the first thing coaches and players often point to is a bad week of practice. So I can understand if there's a level of anxiety when it comes to on-field work before big games like the one this week. And I can also understand that level of nervousness is quadrupled when you recall past Super Bowl losses have often been precluded by a poor week of practice.
With that in mind, Bill Belichick was asked about this week of work at Thursday's availability. With the benefit of two local practices in the rearview this week, the coach responded with the following statement.
“I think our team has done everything we’ve asked them to do this week,” said Belichick. “They’ve worked extremely hard. They’ve been focused. They’ve spent a lot of extra time doing things … the Rams are an extremely hard team to prepare for, as we’ve mentioned. They’ve done a lot to try and put in extra time and preparation for that. I can look back on other weeks and other (Super Bowls) and I think there’s some correlation. But those games, they’ve all been very, very close. It’s always hard to tell what the difference was — what the defining … what could have made a difference. Ultimately, it was probably a thousand things.
“If they didn’t go well, we all feel like we could have made a difference. The ones that did go well, somewhere along the line, some little thing or things made a difference in those games,” he added. “All the practices this time of year are generally … look, the players are playing in the biggest game of the year. Maybe the biggest game of their life. Coaching the biggest game of your life — it’s a great opportunity to put everything you have into it and do the best you can. There are mistakes on the practice field, you correct them, and hope you execute them better in the game.”
What I can tell you -- aside from the practice reports that are being filed -- is that no one has had any sort of issue with what's been going on when it comes to the practice field, either on or off the record with me. (For what it's worth, it sounds like both sessions in Georgia have been relatively uneventful workouts, with one walkthrough. They'll have one more on Friday.) All in all, maybe the biggest concern is the state of mind when it comes to the University of Georgia guys working out at Georgia Tech.
“The Georgia guys are not thrilled being at Georgia Tech,” Belichick quipped, referring to David Andrews and Sony Michel, who both played for the University of Georgia. “But that’s all right. They’ll get over it.”
--No media availability scheduled for Friday, but we'll have plenty of stories passing along -- I've been working on a couple of big ones for the next couple of days.
Now, on with the links...
1. Belichick, Dante Scarnecchia and Ivan Fears have been together on the same staff since 2000, save for Scarnecchia short-lived retirement. On Thursday, the three of them talked about the long journey they've made together, and how things weren't so easy in the beginning.
2. We know the above-the-title talent that exists on the Patriots, but there are several guys who could emerge as potential X factors in Sunday's game. We pick five guys who have a chance to tilt the balance of Super Bowl LIII -- you're going to be surprised at some of our choices.
3. The notebook looks at Dont'a Hightower (illness) missing Thursday's workout. The veteran linebackerwas the only one sidelined for what turned out to basically be a walkthrough. We also have the latest from the Rams' workout.
4. Greg has the first of what will be a few different game-plan questions: Can the Rams hold the Patriots' running game in check?
5. I spent some quality time talking about the Super Bowl with KFH in Omaha and ESPN Radio in Honolulu.
6. Mike Reiss writes on Bill Belichick and Tom Brady penning letters of support for Richard Seymour and Ty Law when it comes to their Hall of Fame candidacies. Hall voting takes place this weekend.
7. Mike Tanier says noted villain Ndamukong Suh is happy to spend this week lurking in the shadows.
8. Barrett Sallee wonders -- like pretty much everyone else -- about the health of Todd Gurley, and how it's going to impact the game.
9. The Rams hope their diverse attack can thwart the New England defense.
10. Will Brinson has a terrific breakdown of the best prop bets for Super Sunday. You can wager on the length of the national anthem, the coin toss, which team will score first, the shortest touchdown, the longest field goal, or even if Adam Levine wears a hat or not. As for the game itself, the Patriots head into the weekend as 2.5-point favorites.
Extra Point:
The time the @Patriots beat the Rams on a last-second Hail Mary. pic.twitter.com/uooUesUlMP
— NFL Throwback (@nflthrowback) January 30, 2019