He tersely dispelled the notion that New England’s game plan could be influenced by Cooks’ motivation to perform well in the city where he spent his first three NFL seasons.

”I’m not really that concerned about the stats,” Belichick said in a muted, scratchy tone. ”I mean, I know everyone else is, but we came down here to try to win.”

And win they did , in convincing fashion, 36-20 on Sunday in a game highlighted by Tom Brady’s 30 of 39 passing for 447 yards and three touchdowns.

Brady threw only four times to Cooks, who had two catches for 37 yards. That’s despite the fact New England (1-1) has been trying to compensate for star wideout Julian Edelman’s season-ending injury in August, as well as Danny Amendola’s more recent absence because of a Week 1 concussion and knee injury.

But Cooks, whose sliding 22-yard catch at the Saints 2-yard line set up Mike Gillislee’s touchdown run in the second quarter, seemed fine with his role with the defending champs.

”It was fun to come back here and play,” Cooks said after his return to the city where he began his NFL career.

The 2014 Saints first-round draft choice described his relatively short time with the Patriots as ”special,” adding, ”I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

Time will tell if Saints quarterback Drew Brees has the same to say about New Orleans after the final season of his contract. Brees already has 647 yards and three TDs passing without an interception through two games, but it hasn’t been nearly enough for the Saints, who’ve lost by each game by 10 or more points despite scoring late, inconsequential touchdowns.

With a road game against NFC South foe Carolina looming in Week 3, Brees didn’t want to look too far ahead.

”There’s not much time to dwell on anything other than making the corrections that need to be made and focusing on a good game plan for this upcoming week,” Brees said.

Some takeaways from the Patriots’ dismantling of the Saints:

RESOURCEFULNESS

New England’s offense got contributions from numerous players, albeit against a seemingly discombobulated Saints defense. Brady’s 30 completions were spread among 10 receivers, including running backs James White, Rex Burkhead, Dion Lewis and James Develin.

”We have a lot of versatile running backs,” Brady said. ”All of them are good matchups against linebackers.”

Meanwhile, seven different rushers helped the Patriots gain 119 yards on the ground.

ELUSIVE ANSWERS

The Saints, who’ve ranked 27th or worse defensively the past three seasons, had said they saw evidence of improvement in the preseason, when they racked up sacks and gave up few TDs. Perhaps not. The first two QBs they’ve faced, Minnesota’s Sam Bradford and Brady, have combined to complete 80.3 percent of their passes for 793 and six TDs against no interceptions.

”That’s two weeks in a row where there have been too many quick-strike plays,” coach Sean Payton said. ”Early in the game, we weren’t able to get off the field, and that hurt us.”

GETTING CALLS

Twice, Brady successfully lobbied officials to discuss and ultimately change calls. In the first instance, he told officials they were wrong to flag his team for a pick play on a touchdown pass, asserting the contact occurred within a yard of the line of scrimmage, where it would be legal. In the second, he persuaded officials to void an interception he threw by flagging New Orleans for too many men on the field. Brady said he’d called for a quick snap specifically because he saw a 12th defender trying to get to the sideline.

”I was looking right at (Saints linebacker Manti Te’o) when I snapped it and he was 3 or 4 yards away from the sideline,” Brady said. ”I was just trying to get the penalty. … I didn’t see (a flag) on the field and I said, `What the heck? I saw him.”’

LABORIOUS SEPTEMBERS

The Saints, who finished 7-9 each of the past three seasons, are off to their fourth straight 0-2 start.

During preseason, coaches and players stressed the importance stacking up early victories, but now find themselves answering questions about a 1-11 record in September since 2014.

”It puts you in a little bit of a hole, but we can’t cry over spilled milk here,” Brees said. ”We’ve got to find a way to get a win.”

—

For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL

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Belichick’s name appeared on a list of possible witnesses filed Tuesday by Hernandez’s defense.

Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels had previously been named as a possible witness.

Hernandez is charged with the drive-by slayings of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in Boston in 2012. Prosecutors say Hernandez shot them after one spilled a drink on him at a club.

Hernandez has pleaded not guilty.

Jury selection is underway. Opening statements are scheduled March 1.

Hernandez grew up in Connecticut. He’s serving a life sentence in the 2013 killing of a man who was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee.

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“Sure. I think we put much more time in this year than we — for example, like last year, when we played the Super Bowl, it was our first game without him in two years,” Brady said during his weekly appearance on the “Dennis and Callahan Show” on Boston sports radio station WEEI. “Not that that’s any excuse because there are no excuses, but there’s an uncertainty of how guys are going to play and step in. Well we know now, we know the types of packages we’ll use and what we’ll do and the different ways we’ll try to find some weakness in the defense based on our groups and so forth.”

It was the same arm that Gronkowski broke Nov. 18 against the Indianapolis Colts. Gronkowski missed five games because of the original injury but played in New England’s regular-season finale against the Miami Dolphins.

Gronkowski, who had a team-leading 11 touchdown catches this season, will require a second surgery on his arm, sources told ESPN.

Gronkowski, who had the forearm heavily wrapped, appeared to suffer the injury while attempting to make a catch in the first quarter. The two-time Pro Bowler returned to the Patriots’ sideline early in the second half but eventually departed with members of the team’s medical staff and did not return to New England’s 41-28 victory over the Texans.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick credited both Shane Vereen and Michael Hoomanawanui for stepping up Sunday to fill Gronkowski’s absence.

“It’s disappointing to not have Rob available, but I thought that Shane and Hooman both did a great job of stepping in to the game yesterday,” he said.

When asked if Gronkowski was 100 percent entering the game, Belichick reiterated what he said Sunday.

“I covered that yesterday. He was cleared medically,” he said. When pressed for more information, he adamantly responded, “I don’t have anything to add to it.”

Brady added that offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ ability to excel when the team has had to adjust this season gives him confidence.

“That’s what Josh does better than anybody else that I’ve been around; his ability to adjust like he’s done all season,” he said. “That’s just the way it’s gone. I think we’ve played a bunch of games now, we’ve never really been fully healthy, and obviously now won’t be.

“But you know what? We’ve still got a very good team and there’s different guys that step up and make those big time plays, whether it’s Wes [Welker] or Brandon [Lloyd] or Deion [Branch] or Shane or Rid [Stevan Ridley] or Woody [Danny Woodhead], Aaron Hernandez had another big game. They’ve got to stop all of us, and that’s what we’ve got to continue to do this week.”

Woodhead also was injured against Houston when he hurt his thumb carrying the ball on the Patriots’ first offensive play. The club provided no update on his condition Sunday but Belichick said Monday that the running back could have re-entered the game if he was needed.

“Now that we are into a new week, we will re-address the whole situation and try to get a good feel of what he would and wouldn’t be available to do, and how functional he would be doing it,” Belichick said. “So I would say that’s something we’ll have to look at during the week.

“Assuming the doctors clear him to play, which is a medical decision, then the next situation would be from a football decision, what can he do and how well can he do it? & That would all be determined at a later point in time.”

Brady and his team will now focus their attention on the AFC Championship Game and the Baltimore Ravens, a team they lost to back in Week 3. Brady said he’ll use that tape to study this week, while also noting the familiarity between the two teams, who also met in last season’s AFC title game.

“We learn from the last game, but like I said last week, it’s just more of a few matchups and so forth,” Brady said. “I think you get a feel for some coverages, but we’ve played them enough where we know the players, we know their strengths, we’ll just work hard to see what they’ve done since our game. There’s a lot of tape to be watched, but they’re playing their best football right now.

“The way their offense played [against the Broncos on Saturday], I did see a few of those Torrey Smith catches and those were incredible. He had a great game against us and he had a great game on Saturday. They’ve got a very good offense, very good defense, they’ve got some Pro Bowl special teams guys, they’ve got a great team and they’re very well coached. That’s why they’re in the same position that they were last year. I feel the same way about us. I feel we’ve got the best coaching, we’ve got a lot of mentally tough players, physically tough players that are going to be facing our toughest challenge of the year. I know we’ll be ready for it when we kickoff next week.”

Before the Patriots had even punched their ticket to the AFC title game, Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo fueled the anticipation for this week’s game with some inflammatory remarks on Twitter about the Patriots’ offense, referring to the Patriots’ up-tempo attack as a “gimmick.”

Ayanbadejo later apologized for his comments in a Monday tweet.

Asked whether his team would once again push the tempo against the Ravens next week, Brady replied. “We’re going to play the style that we’ve played all year. I don’t know what we are going to do. I just woke up this morning.”

Brady made it clear that he didn’t need the remarks for motivation, instead focusing on the fact that his team is one win away from a return to the Super Bowl.

“That’s the only motivation we need,” he said. “That’s the ultimate motivation.”

The post Tom Brady says New England Patriots ready to adjust minus Rob Gronkowski appeared first on IdealCapper.

While New England was in the process of defeating the Houston Texans on Sunday to set up an AFC Championship Game rematch with Baltimore, Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo ripped the Patriots on Twitter, particularly criticizing their no-huddle offense.

“New England does some suspect stuff on offense. Can’t really respect it. Comparable to a cheap shot b4 a fight,” Ayanbadejo tweeted.

Ayanbadejo will get an opportunity to see New England’s offense in person next Sunday when the Ravens visit the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game for the second consecutive season. New England won last year’s meeting, 23-20, thanks to a missed field goal by Baltimore’s Billy Cundiff as time expired.

The Patriots gained 457 yards of total offense in Sunday’s 41-28 victory over the Texans, as Tom Brady passed for 344 yards while orchestrating a hurry-up offense that confounded Houston throughout the contest.

But Ayanbadejo was unimpressed, referring to the Patriots’ approach as “a gimmick.”

“Are you watching the game pats vs texans?” Ayanbadejo tweeted. “If so you see the hurry snap offense catch em b4 they set up. It’s a gimmick.”

He later tweeted: “Their offense is good enough to be successful with out that.”

Ayanbadejo proceeded to make a critical reference to the Spygate scandal and Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s decision to cut wide receiver Tiquan Underwood one day before Super Bowl XLVI.

SN: AFC Championship Game

SportsNation For the second straight year, the Patriots and Ravens meet with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. Which team is headed to New Orleans? Cast your vote!

“You know the same organization that did spygate and cut a guy the day b4 the Super Bowl,” he tweeted.

Ayanbadejo also referred to the Patriots’ 2007 season, when they completed the only 16-0 regular season in NFL history but lost to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII.

“18-1,” he tweeted.

The Ravens rallied past the Patriots for a 31-30 victory in Week 3 this season. Ayanbadejo, who did not record a tackle in that contest, posted several tweets stating that he “Can’t Wait!” for the latest rematch between the rivals.

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Gronkowski, who had a team-leading 11 touchdown catches this season, will require a second surgery on his arm, according to sources.

Pro Football Talk reported earlier that Gronkowski would undergo the season-ending surgery.

Gronkowski appeared to suffer the injury while attempting to make a catch in the first quarter. The two-time Pro Bowler returned to the Patriots’ sideline early in the second half but eventually departed with members of the team’s medical staff and did not return to New England’s 41-28 victory.

He was seen leaving the Patriots locker room wearing a sling on his left arm just as the media entered after the game.

“It’s always a tough break,” Patriots guard Logan Mankins said. “Everyone on the team loves Rob. Loves him as a person, player. It’s a tough break for him, and it’s always a tough break for our team, but whoever gets put in that spot, they have to do that job. We’re all counting on him.”

It was the same arm that Gronkowski broke on Nov. 18 against the Indianapolis Colts.

Gronkowski missed five games because of the original injury but played in New England’s regular-season finale against the Miami Dolphins.

Although Gronkowski had his forearm heavily wrapped, Patriots coach Bill Belichick said he did not regret allowing the star tight end to play.

“The doctors handle medical decisions,” Belichick told reporters after the game.

Patriots running back Danny Woodhead and rookie defensive end Chandler Jones also left Sunday’s game.

“We had a whole plan built for (Gronkowski) and Woody,” quarterback Tom Brady said. “We run the first series of the game and all those plans change. I think a little of it was, ‘What are we going to do now? How are we going to adjust?’ But we seemed to settle in there midway through the first quarter and put together a pretty good game.

“Obviously it’s a bummer to lose anybody, but someone of Rob’s importance or Danny’s importance, we need guys to step in and fill the void, whether it’s this game or any game after.”

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