Welcome to first and 10, a roundup of all the (mostly) Patriots-related news you need to start your Wednesday. Grab your coffee and let’s get to it.
--Hope everyone who went to the parade had a safe and fun time. Great weather. Per reports, 1.5 million turned out.
--If you want to gorge yourself on Patriots' memories, the NFL Network is running all six Super Bowl wins this Saturday as part of a marathon I'm sure will go over well in places like Kansas City.
--You want to know how big the Super Bowl win ended up being? Tom Brady brought back the TB Times for a commemorative issue. That is big.
--The Patriots signed the following players to reserve/future deals on Tuesday: OL Cole Croston, QB Danny Etling, DL Trent Harris, DL Frank Herron, DB A.J. Howard, LB Calvin Munson, WR Damoun Patterson, OL Dan Skipper. All eight were on the team’s practice squad this past season.
Now, on with the links...
1. Mark Bavaro was once a 29-year-old tight end who played for Bill Belichick who was still productive, but needed some help because his body was breaking down. He's got an intriguing theory that he believes might be able to extend the career of another productive 29-year-old tight end who has had physical issues. Sound like anyone you know? Anyway, he talked to me about it Tuesday.
2. Greg has his offensive breakdown of the Super Bowl film. His biggest takeaway -- credit the players and not the coaches for being the difference in that championship fourth-quarter drive against the Rams.
3. I have 10 questions facing the Patriots this offseason, starting with figuring out who is going to be the successor to Brian Flores. Our bet is on Brendan Daly, the defensive line coach. Smart and passionate, history tells us he makes the most sense to follow Flores.
4. Greg spent some quality time with the fellas from Felger & Mazz Tuesday afternoon.
5. I do a lot of out-of-market radio, and one of my favorite guys is Chico on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland. Just a good dude, and we always have fun talking football. Had some good Patriots' talk Tuesday night.
6. Flores went on PFT Live on Tuesday and explained Jason McCourty's memorable pass breakup on Brandin Cooks. Flores said it was a play they saw earlier in the game. “They went back to it,” Flores said of the Rams. “We knew that they were going to go back to it.. ... Jason, he made the play of the game. It was an incredible effort play is really what it was. And that’s something we talk about on a day-to-day basis. We had a guy make a mistake. We had a guy cover for him. And then it ended up being the play of the game.”