LOS ANGELES — Six days until kickoff. Here we go …
Mark Konezny/USA TODAY Sports (Smith); Sam Navarro/USA TODAY Sports (Tagovailoa); Cincinnati Enquirer/USA TODAY Sports (Carr)
• I have a theory that I think is a little more than just a theory by now, on why Patriots alumni sometimes struggle in new locales. The standard in Foxboro is set very high, it’s kept there relentlessly and Bill Belichick has the program in place to sustain it—stocked with people who grew up in it and wholeheartedly subscribe to it. So sometimes when these people go other places, and work with people who don’t keep the same standard, frustration can fester and boil over, and issues follow.