FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Quick-hit thoughts/notes around the New England Patriots and NFL:
1. There wasn't much to nitpick in the Patriots' 2016 season -- a 14-2 regular-season record, an unprecedented second-half comeback in Super Bowl LI from 25 points down, and a mentally tough team that overcome various obstacles in its path, including quarterback Tom Brady's four-game suspension, a season-ending back injury to Rob Gronkowski and the trades of Chandler Jones and Jamie Collins, among other things. But one of the trademarks of Bill Belichick is that he's always seeking improvements even in glorious victory, and here's one thing that had to stand out to him about 2016: The Patriots played some of the worst football in significant stretches of the three games that came after a bye week: a 31-24 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Nov.