Daily news and links for Tuesday.

TEAM TALK

• Evan Lazar’s After Further Review: Evaluating Bailey Zappe’s performance, defense closes the gap vs. Josh Allen.
• Mike Dussault tells us what’s at stake in the Patriots season finale vs. Jets
• Conference Call transcript: Bill Belichick.

LOCAL LINKS

• Andrew Callahan’s Patriots-Bills film review: Bill Belichick’s latest loss a microcosm of lost season, they fielded lesser talent, committed more damaging mistakes and failed to seize on late-game chances.
• Jerry Thornton shares his knee-jerk reactions to Week 17: Patriots at Bills: This team lost in Buffalo for the same reason they’ve lost the other 11. Not from poor effort, inadequate coaching, moral failures, lack of character, bad officiating, the alignment of the planets, or a tear in the fabric of spacetime. They lost because they lack talent. Pure and simple, they’re facing mismatches on both sides of the ball, from one sideline to the other.
• Zack Cox shares seven takeaways from the loss “as judgment day looms”. 2. Once again, they didn’t quit. It must be noted when discussing whether or not to retain Belichick that the team clearly has not tuned him out even as the losses pile up. Belichick’s defense also has remained hyper-competitive despite missing several key pieces.
• Steve Balestrieri takes out his angry red sharpie when issuing his Pats’ Week 17 report card.
• Karen Guregian grades the Week 17 Patriots report card after turnovers and missed kicks ruin it for the entire class.
• Matt Geagan points out who Pats fans should root for in Week 18 if they want the best draft pick in 2024.
• Mike Reiss reports the Patriots finished last in the AFC East for the first time since 2000 after ‘terrible’ start. The Patriots (4-12) host the New York Jets (6-10) in the season finale next weekend, and after that, some major questions hovering over the organization should soon be answered.
• Phil Perry’s Stock Watch: Rookie CB Alex Austin impresses vs. former team.
• Logan Mullen highlights Bill Belichick making a crack that he’ll announce his future plans on ‘Twitter and MyFace’.
• Mike Kadlick’s Patriots Mailbag: Would moving on from Bill Belichick be the right decision?
• Conor Ryan suggests the Patriots New Year resolution should be to land a blue-chip QB.
• Andrew Callahan considers how different the Patriots will look in 2024. If Belichick stays, it’s likely Kraft will force some of concessions, as he did last year pushing for Bill O’Brien’s hiring after the offense collapsed under the watch of Belichick and Matt Patricia in 2022.
• Bob George thinks the Patriots are likely thankful that 2023 is over.
• Andrew Callahan’s NFL notes: 9 Patriots share Bill Belichick’s impact on them.
• Harrison Reno passes along a report from Mike Giardi suggesting Trent Brown ‘quit’ on the team.
• Matt Vautour explains why he feels honoring Ray Rice was an embarrassment for the Ravens.
• Locked On Patriots podcast: Mike D’Abate breaks down Bailey Zappe’s performance, New England’s standouts on defense and whether the Pats still have a chance at the No. 2 overall pick. (34 min.)

NATIONAL NEWS

• Kevin Patra (NFL.com) Jets aiming to end 15-game skid against the Patriots to close 2023 campaign.
• Josh Alper (ProFootballTalk) Bill Belichick on future with Patriots: I’m focused on the Jets.
• Cody Benjamin (CBS Sports) Top 5 juiciest NFL stories for 2024, from Russell Wilson’s future to Bill Belichick’s fate.
• Bill Barnwell (ESPN) NFL All-Pro team 2023: Best players at every position.
• Michael David Smith (ProFootballTalk) NFL playoff scenarios for Week 18 of the 2023 season.
• Staff (ESPN) 2024 NFL draft order projections: Bears clinch top pick.
• Eric Edholm (NFL.com) Michigan and Washington advance to 2024 college football playoff national championship game. Here are three draft-focused takeaways on the national title matchup.
• Josh Alper (ProFootballTalk) Eagles sticking with Matt Patricia as defensive play caller.
• Ben Solak (The Ringer) Unraveling the Mike Tomlin conundrum: Why has it been so long since Pittsburgh won a playoff game?
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) The NFL still hasn’t said what it will do about Panthers owner David Tepper, who threw a drink onto fans outside his suite at EverBank Stadium on Sunday. Fans who have thrown drinks at games have been dealt with harshly.

BITCHING ‘BOUT BELICHICK

• Tom E. Curran writes, ‘16 games in with the Patriots at 4-12, we’ve seen a truly great defensive performance flushed down the toilet because “We’ll see how it goes …” turned out not to be a great approach to putting a competitive offense together in the 2020s. If even half the foresight and acumen Belichick brought to his defense was spent on the Patriots offense, they’d be in the playoffs. It wasn’t. And it hasn’t been for a half-decade or more.
• Mike D’Abate notes Bill Belichick may be heading into his final week of game preparation as head coach, but he’s not talking about it. He’s ‘focused on getting ready for the Jets’.
• Nick O’Malley says even if losing helps the Patriots, Bill Belichick says he is committed to the team and players “right now” —that doesn’t take into account the implications of a draft pick. /Again, if Belichick is out after Sunday, why would he help the Pats’ get a better draft pick (potentially hurting his future team’s draft pick) and let down his current players by deliberately losing?
• Darren Hartwell highlights Albert Breer plugging Brian Flores as an “interesting” coaching candidate for the Pats.
• Dan Kelley (PatriotsFootballNow) A look at ten candidates to be the Patriots head coach in 2024. /Sanity prevails.