New England Patriots links 1/10/23 – Raking through the rubble; Assistants won’t be thrown under bus

Daily news and links for Tuesday.

TEAM TALK

• Evan Lazar’s After Further Review: Grading the Patriots in their final exam against the Bills in Week 18.
• Mike Dussault says the Patriots need to chart their 2023 offseason course: Next steps for New England.
• Alexandra Francisco gives us a roundup of social media posts as players reflect on the year and thank the fans for their endless support. /I wouldn’t say ‘endless’…
• Transcript: Bill Belichick.
• Press Pass: Jakobi Meyers, Cole Strange, Deatrich Wise Jr. Jalen Mills. (1.18 min. video)

LOCAL LINKS

• Nick O’Malley gives us a rundown of every position on the roster, and which players will be coming back.
• Alex Barth takes a look at the Patriots’ pending free agents for 2023.
• Jerry Thornton shares his knee-jerk reactions to Pats-Bills: “This team had no quit in them. They never stopped fighting. … But (and as Ned Stark said, everything before “but” is bullshit), the defining characteristic of this year’s team was their talent for finding preposterous ways to lose.”
• Michael Hurley ranks the seven biggest regrets of the Patriots’ season. 7. No-show vs. the Bears.
• Khari Thompson talks about what we learned about Mac Jones and the Patriots in 2022. New England (8-9) ended up the way most of us thought it would: a team good enough to compete but just bad enough to miss the playoffs.
• Tom E. Curran is mad Bill Belichick won’t publicly acknowledge the obvious reasons why the Pats missed the playoffs for the second time in three years.
• Karen Guregian answers her own question on why Bill Belichick won’t publicly own up to his Matt Patricia and Joe Judge mistake: He’s not going to throw Patricia and Judge under the bus.
• Eric Wilbur says the Patriots are teetering on the cliff of relevancy in the NFL after being “a joyless bore in 2022”.
• Andy Hart doesn’t trust Bill Belichick doing what he thinks is right, because the results continue to go wrong.
• Mark Daniels reports Kendrick Bourne won’t request a trade, wants to back with Patriots in 2023.
• Kevin Tame, Jr. (Patriots Country) Jakobi Meyers mulling options: Patriots or free agency?
• Danny Jaillett (PatriotsWire) Patriots land best first-round draft spot in nearly 15 years.
• Chris Mason picks eight Patriots-Bills takeaways: Special teams meltdown ensures losing season in New England.
• Mark Daniels gives us three reasons why the Patriots lost to the Bills. 1. Patriots special teams gave up two TDs.
• Nick O’Malley shares some big takeaways from Sunday’s game in Buffalo. “Out of all the ways to lose a must-win game, this is one of the most shocking ways it could have gone.”
• Steve Balestrieri (PatsFans) Monday Breakdown: Observations, thoughts on the Patriots loss. Pats bid adieu to 2022, much like they played all year.
• Phil Perry issues his Week 18 report card: Nightmare on special teams sinks Pats’ season.
• Steve Balestrieri (PatsFans) Patriots Week 18 report card: Both offense and defense played well enough to compete for a win.
• Miguel Benzan (Twitter) During the 2022 season, the Patriots had six different starting offensive line combinations and had nine players start on the OL. Both numbers were higher than the average Patriots team during the BB era.
• Karen Guregian relays Brian Hoyer’s response to criticism of Mac Jones. “People were probably ready to give up on Josh Allen after his second year, too.”
• Conor Ryan notes Jakobi Meyers says he’s ‘proud’ of Mac Jones playing through adversity, including the Bailey Zappe chants. “That’s something that’s tough to deal with.”
• Jon Cirrinone (MusketFire) The Hall of Fame case for Matthew Slater.
• Dakota Randall notes Bill Belichick opens up on disappointing Patriots season In lengthy statement. ‘We need to have better results — that’s the bottom line.’
• Robert Alvarez (PatsFans) Best of Social Media: Patriots share final thoughts on 2022 season.
• Richie Whitt (Patriots Country) Patriots’ disappointing end reveals rugged 2023 opponents.
• CBS Boston suggests if Patriots want new offensive coaches, they better act fast.
• Zack Cox wonders if Kliff Kingsbury could be an option for the Patriots after he was fired by the Cardinals.
• Khari Thompson explains why Kliff Kingsbury probably isn’t the answer to the Patriots’ offensive mess.
• CBS Boston talks about why Kliff Kingsbury may not be an option for Patriots’ offensive coordinator.
• Zack Cox notes Bill Belichick said he hopes the two suspended players will return, contribute. ‘At least that’s the way I feel at this point.’
• Darren Hartwell highlights Albert Breer on Jack Jones’ suspension: “My understanding of the way that went is, (Jones) was late to rehab sessions, he missed rehab sessions, and I think he even talked back to Bill a little bit about it, to the point where Bill felt like he had to address it in a team meeting two Fridays ago.”
• Nick O’Malley mentions how Tom Brady quietly set two NFL passing records at age 45.
• Locked On Patriots podcast: Mike D’Abate on Bill Belichick’s desire for improvement, Jerod Mayo, Jack Jones, Jake Bailey and More. (35. min.)

NATIONAL NEWS

• Albert Breer (SI) MMQB Week 18: An emotional Bills win, Eagles gets Jalen Hurts back, Mahomes reserves MVP.
• Peter King (ProFootballTalk) FMIA Week 18: Damar Hamlin gets his flowers right on time.
• Steven Ruiz (The Ringer) The key to every NFL Wild-Card matchup.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) 2022 playoffs will have at least six new teams.
• Michael David Smith (ProFootballTalk) Bill Belichick says he is returning in 2023, vows a thorough process of improving the Patriots.
• Albert Breer (SI) The NFL coaching carousel is already in full swing.
• Judy Battista (NFL.com) Ranking NFL head coach openings: Which jobs are most enticing in 2023?
• Rick Stroud (Tampa Bay Times) Could Bill O’Brien be on Bucs’ short list to replace Byron Leftwich? Tampa Bay was prepared to hire O’Brien a year ago had Leftwich gotten the Jaguars head coaching job.
• Myles Simmons (ProFootballTalk) Browns request to interview Jerod Mayo for defensive coordinator.
• Paulina Dedag (Fox News) Bengals fan claims NFL ordered signs criticizing Roger Goodell to be taken down. Bengals avoided the coin toss option with a win over the Ravens on Sunday. /Not surprised.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) In NFL vs. ESPN over whether Bills-Bengals would resume, an ESPN reporter breaks the tie.
• Don Van Natta, Jr. (ESPN) Ground-up decision: How Bills, Bengals led the way after Damar Hamlin collapsed.