The New England Patriots will hire former Denver Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels as an offensive assistant this weekend and he will join the coaching staff immediately and help with the offense in the playoffs.

McDaniels, who was the St. Louis Rams offensive coordinator this past season, was allowed out of his contract with the NFL club without compensation.

He returns to Foxboro after leaving three seasons ago to become head coach in Denver where he was fired after one and half seasons.  McDaniels was formerly the Patriots offensive coordinator when they put up NFL record numbers in 2007.

It is expected he will regain the offensive coordinator position for the 2012 season replacing current OC Bill O’Brien who is leaving to take the head coaching job at Penn State University.

McDaniels, 35, started in New England a decade ago as a personnel assistant, in 2002 he was a defensive coaching assistant before becoming the quarterbacks coach in 2004.  In 2006 he added offensive coordinator to his responsibilities a position he held through the 2008 season when he left to go to Denver.

He started out well in Denver winning his first 6 games but the team folded in the second half of the season and finished 8-8.  He also had personnel controversies with QB Jay Cutler, who he ended up trading to Chicago, and WR Brandon Marshall who got shipped to Miami after the season.

After starting the 2010 season 3-9 McDaniels was fired.  In 2011 he joined Steve Spagnuolo’s staff in St. Louis only to be left in limbo when Spagnuolo and the teams general manager were fired following the season.

When O’Brien accepted the PSU position Bill Belichick came calling and now it’s reunion time in Foxboro.

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Here are our predictions for what we will think will happen in the NFL Wildcard games that will be played on Saturday and Sunday.

AFC Wildcard games:

Ian - Houston Texans 24 Cincinnati Bengals 17

Steve - Cincinnati Bengals 31 Houston Texans 20

Ian - Denver Broncos 17 Pittsburgh Steelers 13

Steve - Pittsburgh Steelers 27 Denver Broncos 21

NFC Wildcard games:

Ian - New Orleans Saints 45 Detroit Lions 31

Steve - New Orleans Saints 38 Detroit Lions 28

Ian - New York Giants 24 Atlanta Falcons 21

Steve - Atlanta Falcons 27 New York Giants 10

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well. Follow Steve on Twitter @djstevem.

The 2011 NFL AP All-Pro Team was released on Friday and the New England Patriots found two of their players on the first team and two on the second team.

The two players from the Patriots named to the AP All-Pro First Team were wide receiver Wes Welker and tight end Rob Gronkowski. The two named to the AP All-Pro Second Team were guard Logan Mankins and defensive tackle Vince Wilfork.

The San Francisco 49ers had the most All-Pro's with five selections. Wide receiver Calvin Johnson of the Detroit Lions and defensive end Jared Allen of the Minnesota Vikings each received the highest total of votes (49 out of a possible 50).

To see the 2011 NFL AP All-Pro team, click on the read more button below if you're on the home page.

According to the Boston Herald’s Ian Rapoport, New England Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien has been telling people around the NFL that he has accepted the job to become the new head football coach at Penn State University late Thursday evening.

O’Brien has become a hot commodity this year after being named New England’s offensive coordinator prior to the start of the season after being the de-facto play caller since former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels left to become the head coach of the Denver Broncos in 2009.

He has made headlines the last two seasons with sideline blowups with Tom Brady and former WR Randy Moss.  He was praised in both incidences for how he handled the situation with a star player by not treating them any differently than anyone else who had made the same error.

O’Brien had already been scheduled to interview for the Jacksonville Jaguars head coaching position and possibly could have had other NFL interviews lined up as well.

O’Brien, 42, is a Dorchester, MA native and a graduate of Brown University where he played defensive end and linebacker from 1990 to 1992.

He has extensive coaching experience at the college level starting in 1993 at Brown as tight ends and linebackers coach.  He moved on to Georgia Tech in 1995 as an offensive grad assistant and was promoted to running backs coach.  He then became quarterbacks coach and the Yellow Jackets offensive coordinator and later was also given the title as assistant head coach.

In 2003 he was hired at Maryland as running backs coach and he stayed until he moved onto Duke in 2005 as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

In 2007 he was hired by Bill Belichick as an offensive assistant.  The following season he was the Patriots wide receivers coach before replacing McDaniels as the quarterbacks coach in 2009.

It is expected that O’Brien would remain with New England through the NFL playoffs much like Charlie Weis did when he was hired following the 2004 season to be the head coach of Notre Dame.

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Photo credit: Getty Images

The New England Patriots announced that two-time NFL MVP Tom Brady was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Month for December/January.

During the month(s), Brady led the Patriots to a 5-0 record which was their seventh perfect December since 2000.

In the five wins, Brady was 124 for 190 for 1608 yards. He threw 11 TD passes and only 2 INTs.

For the season he became the third player to throw for more than 5,000 yards.  He also threw 39 TD passes and only 12 INTs as New England finished 13-3 and secured home field advantage through the playoffs.

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Photo credit: AP Photo

Editors Note: Sorry for the delay on this week’s “In The Red Zone” but with the team having been given Monday off plus working on a bye week it was decided to push it back a few days from its usual Tuesday morning run.

First off I hope everyone had a nice holiday season, no matter which ones you and your family and friends celebrate.  Also thanks to all the readers of “In The Red Zone”, the weekly game previews and recaps for stopping by each week for my look at the New England Patriots.

Overall the season for New England was a successful one; they finished 13-3 won another division title and clinched the top seed in playoffs securing home field advantage through the conference championship.  Now they just need to get there.

As we all remember the most recent Patriots playoff endeavors haven’t been all that good.  Since starting 18-0 in 2007 the Patriots are 48-16 in the next 4 regular seasons but 0-3 in playoff and Super Bowl games, with the loses coming at the hands of the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXLII, the Baltimore Ravens in the 2009 AFC Wild Card Round and the New York Jets in the AFC Division Round last season.

Since winning his first 10 playoff games, Tom Brady has won 2 NFL MVP Awards but is just 4-5 in the post season.  In addition to the above losses are an AFC Conference Championship game loss to Indianapolis in 2006 and a road playoff beat down by Denver in 2005.

New England needs to get back to its winning playoff ways.  Brady is a key cog and must play better than he has in some of those previous playoff losses. And the defense needs to be able to hold its own at key moments in the game.

They can’t afford to fall behind like they have the last two weeks and depend on a comeback.  It’s time for 60 minutes of solid New England Patriots football, let’s hope they come to play next Saturday night as they make a run at Lombardi Trophy #4 in Indianapolis in February.

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In the AFC:

• 1. New England Patriots (13-3) - First Round Bye
• 2. Baltimore Ravens (12-4) - First Round Bye

Wildcard Round

Saturday, Jan. 7

No. 6 Cincinnati (9-7) at No. 3 Houston (10-6), 4:30 ET (NBC)

Sunday, Jan. 8

No. 5 Pittsburgh (12-4) at No. 4 Denver (8-8), 4:30 ET (CBS)

Divisional Round

Saturday, Jan. 14

Denver at No. 1 New England (13-3), 8 ET (CBS)

Sunday, Jan, 15

Houston at No. 2 Baltimore (12-4), 1 ET (CBS)

In the NFC:

• 1. Green Bay Packers (15-1) - First Round Bye
• 2. San Francisco 49ers (13-3) - First Round Bye

Wildcard Round

Saturday, Jan. 7

No. 6 Detroit (10-6) at No. 3 New Orleans (13-3), 8 ET (NBC)

Sunday, Jan. 8

5. Atlanta (10-6) at No. 4 N.Y. Giants (9-7), 1 ET (FOX)

DIVISIONAL ROUND

Saturday, Jan. 14

New Orleans at No. 2 San Francisco (13-3), 4:30 ET (FOX)

Sunday, Jan. 15

NY Giants at No. 1 Green Bay (15-1), 4:30 ET (FOX)

AFC & NFC Conference Championships

Sunday, Jan. 22

NFC - Giants at 49ers, 6:30, FOX

AFC - Ravens at Patriots, 3:00, CBS

Super Bowl XLVI:

Sunday, February 5th

AFC vs NFC

Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, (NBC, 6:30 ET)

Note: Schedule will be updated as needed

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

For the second consecutive week it was as if the New England Patriots forgot the game started at 1 p.m.  Last week’s shoddy first half led to a 17-0 deficit after 30 minutes.  This week they found themselves down 21-0 to the Buffalo Bills after the first 15 minutes.

Then the gun to end the quarter fired and it was if the Patriots were snapped out of their trance and they went on to score 49 unanswered points in what turned out to be a 49-21 rout of their AFC East rival Bills on Sunday at Gillette Stadium.

The stench of an early game funk was on everyone, offense and defense, and after Buffalo WR Steve Johnson scored a TD to make it 21-0 it was hanging in the air pretty bad.  Then someone asked for a courtesy flush and miraculously the air cleared and the New England juggernaut was geared up.

Offensively Tom Brady had another typical Brady game he was 23 for 35 for 338 yards, 3 TD’s and 1 INT.  It was the first pick he threw in 3 games.  He also tied Hall of Fame QB John Elway on the all-time TD pass list finishing the season with 300 for his career.

Brady also finished with 39 TD passes on the year and became just the third player to surpass 5,000 yards passing joining former record holder Hall of Fame QB Dan Marino and current record holder Drew Brees of New Orleans.  Later in the afternoon Detroit’s Matthew Stafford would join the club as well.  Brees and Brady both eclipsed Marino’s mark this season and now stand #1 and #2 in passing yards for a season.

Other offensive mentions include TE Rob Gronkowski who passed New Orleans TE Jimmy Graham, who during his game Sunday, had just surpassed Hall of Fame TE Kellen Winslow Sr. for most receiving yards in a season by a tight end.

Gronk, who also caught the 300th TD pass of Brady’s career, finished with 1,327 yards and earlier this season set the single season record for most receiving TD’s by a tight end.  The new record stands at 17 receiving TD’s for tight ends.  He also added 1 rushing TD this season.

I also just want to mention there were solid offensive games from TE Aaron Hernandez 7 catches for 138 yards and 1 TD, rookie RB Stevan Ridley 15 carries for 81 yards and RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis who ran for 22 yards on 7 carries and scored twice.

On the other side of the ball we saw the return of S Patrick Chung who made an immediate impact.  Chung may be the hardest hitter on the team and when he is on the field bringing the wood his fellow defensive backs seem to step up their play as well.  He made his presence know on the Bills first drive when on third down he crushed the receiver 1-yard shy of the first down marker.  Too bad it didn’t prevent a fake punt that New England seemed ill prepared for.

This seemingly led to inspired play from LB Jerod Mayo, CB Antwaun Molden, CB Sterling Moore, who had two picks one of which he returned for a 21-yard TD, and CB Devin McCourty.

Maybe with the return of Chung and LB Brandon Spikes the defense will play better and give up fewer yards.  As I said before I only concern myself with points allowed but the problem now is that better, playoff caliber, teams with Pro Bowl quarterbacks and more offensive weapons will turn more of those yards allowed into points allowed in the playoffs.

Bills at Patriots Gamebook. This includes the box score, all the stats, play by play, drive charts and more.

Bills at Patriots Game Recap.

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This Week

The New England Patriots host their AFC East Rival Buffalo Bills at Gillette Stadium on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Patriots (12-3) are 6-1 at The Razor, 4-1 against the AFC East and 9-2 in the conference.  The Bills (6-9) are 1-6 on the road, 1-4 vs. the AFC East and 4-7 against the conference.

The Line/Prediction

As of Thursday the line on the game from Yahoo! Sports has the Patriots at MINUS 11.  The OVER/UNDER is 51.

My Prediction is Patriots 36, Bills, 24.  Give the points (Patriots) and take the over.  I am 9-5-1 against the spread and 11 of 15 on calling the over/under in 2011.

Tickets

The Patriots are reporting the game as a sell out. It is the 191^st consecutive sell out dating back to the 1994 season opener.  The record includes preseason, regular season and playoff games.

Tickets to the game, if available, can be purchased through Ticketmaster.  You can check the availability here.

After market tickets are available through the Official Patriots Ticket Exchange where season ticket holders can sell their unused seats to fans on the season ticket waiting list.

Getting to the Game

If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game in Foxboro make sure you check out the links.

Here is the up to date weather forecast from the Weather Channel for Foxboro MA.

Click for all the game day information including stadium directions, parking information and map and a Gillette Stadium seating chart.

Tailgating

Here’s a bunch of different tailgating recipes from Tailgating.com.  There’s something there for everyone and every type of meal or snack.  I’ve tried some of the recipes and they’re very good.

And with tailgating many people enjoy some adult beverages.  With that in mind check out Drink Nation for how to make all sorts of great drinks.  You can look things up by name, ingredient(s) or theme.

Whether it’s at the game, a bar or a friend’s house moderation is always the key to a great time.  Please don’t drink and drive and designate a sober driver.  Remember You Drink, You Drive, You Lose.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Television

CBS in televising the game regionally and Don Criqui will do play by play while Randy Cross will provide the game analysis.  You can look here for your local affiliate.

See if you’re getting the game courtesy of J.P. Kirby at the506.com.

The DirecTV designation is Channel 705.

Here are all the rules on NFL TV broadcasts including explaining the blackout rules, flex scheduling and commercial breaks.

Radio

The Patriots Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBZ-FM, 98.5 the Sports Hub in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play, former Patriot Gino Cappelletti does the color and new this year Scott Zolak will man the sidelines. It all starts with Gary Tanguay, Andy Gresh and Zolak with the pregame show at 10 a.m. along the network. The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours along the network.

If you are outside the broadcast are of the stations on the Patriots Radio Network you can purchase NFL Field Pass, which allows you to listen to any game live.  You can also pick which teams broadcasters you want to listen to.

All NFL Games are also available on Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio also carries all the NFL games under a special additional package.  They usually only carry the home team feed.

The Patriots radio network call is available on Sirius Channel 93, XM Channel 226 and on SiriusXM Internet Channel 879.

The Bills Radio Network has John Murphy calling the game while former Bills DB Mark Kelso provide the game analysis via their flagship station WGRF-FM. Their call is available on Sirius Channel 134 and SiriusXM Internet Channel 864.

Patriots All Access

Patriots All-Access features behind the scenes looks, interviews and breakdowns with head coach Bill Belichick and in depth features on the team.  It’s hosted by Steve Burton of WBZ-TV (Boston) and airs weekly in most New England television markets.

• Boston MA on TV 38 Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 9 a.m.
• Providence RI on WNAC Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 9 a.m.
• Manchester NH on WMUR Saturday at midnight
• Portland ME on WMTW Sunday at 5 a.m.
• Hartford CT on WCTX Saturday at 5 p.m.
• Springfield MA on WFXQ Saturday at 7 p.m.
• Bangor ME on WVII Sunday at 11 a.m.

You can also watch it anytime on the teams website in the media section.

To continue reading the Buffalo Bills @ New England Patriots Week 17 preview, click on the read more button below if you're on the home page.

The NFL has announced the opponents for the New England Patriots 2012 NFL season.

New England will go on the road to face their divisional foes Miami, Buffalo and New York plus have additional road games against the AFC South with Jacksonville and Tennessee as well as the winner of the AFC North, either Baltimore or Pittsburgh.  They also have road contests against NFC West foes St. Louis and Seattle, where they will face former head coach Pete Carroll.

In 2012 the Patriots will play host to division rivals New York, Buffalo and Miami as well as AFC South opponents Indianapolis and Houston and the AFC West winner, either Denver or Oakland.  NFC West teams making an appearance at “The Razor” in 2012 are Arizona and San Francisco.

Dates and times for all of the 2012 schedule will be announced at a later date.

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