The Patriots’ First Shot

Good morning! The First Shot provides you with a healthy helping of links to the top Patriots-related stories around the internet to get your day started. Enjoy your breakfast, your coffee, put off your work (just keep an eye out for the boss), and get your early morning football fix. The links begin after the jump…

• Musket Fire’s Ryan Hannable draws comparisons between the Patriots’ 2011 and 2010 defenses.
• Check out my Studs & Duds from the Patriots-Chargers game.
• The Tom Brady-Deion Branch man crush is a successful one for the Patriots.
• Patriots Football Weekly’s Erik Scalavino’s primary concern with the Patriots is their secondary.
• Jeff George thinks that he’s the cure to the Indianapolis Colts’ ills. I kid you not.
• Tedy Bruschi shares his observations from the Patriots-Chargers game, and adds a note about Drew Bledsoe, who was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame over the weekend.
• OT Nate Solder lined up as a TE on some Patriots offensive snaps Sunday against the Chargers.
• WEEI’s Christopher Price takes a look at what we learned from Sunday’s win over the Chargers.
• NESN’s Jeff Howe checks in with RG Brian Waters, who joined the team just before the start of the season but has been pressed into a starting role during the first two weeks due to depth concerns.