Michael Vega of the* Boston Globe* writes about the Patriots recent dominance in the Month of December. Since 2001 the Patriots boast a 37-5 overall record in December with their home record being 18-1. "I think Coach Belichick has always stressed that the best teams get better this time of year,'' said quarterback Tom Brady. "I think that's the kind of team you want to be, you want to be a good finisher. If you play poorly down the stretch, you're not going to give yourself much of a chance to accomplish any of the goals that you set at the beginning of the year.''

Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald writes about the possibility of the Patriots defensive backfield getting back their starters this week. For the past several weeks the Patriots have been without starter Patrick Chung and defensive co-captain Devin McCourty with injuries. "Everybody is doing better, they're doing better than they were," coach Bill Belichick said. "Whether that's good enough or not, we'll still have to wait and see. We're improving health-wise."

Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com writes about Patriots practice squad offensive lineman Nick McDonald, who is rumored to be activated to the 53-man roster before Sunday. McDonald is in his second year in the NFL and his first with the Patriots. With the rumors of promotion, McDonald said, "You have to prepare like that every single week. Every practice squad guy gets reps and we all have to know exactly what the starters are doing, because you never know when your number is going to be called and when you'll be called up."

Jeff Howe of NESN.com writes about recent comments from Wes Welker about the Indianapolis Colts. "I think it's the easiest time for teams to evaluate talent and seeing what guys are going to give effort in bad circumstances," Welker said. "As we've seen on film with the Colts, they haven't given in or anything like that. Their best players are playing hard and bringing it every single play. It's not an easy thing to do, but they're doing it."

Phil Perry of CSNNE.com writes about the preparation process of Nate Jones, the newest member of the Patriots. The eight year NFL veteran was signed on Tuesday after spending time earlier this year with Miami. "I'm just learning as much as I can," Jones said. "If you don't understand something ask questions. You're going to take your bumps in the learning process. The faster I can learn, the better I can help this team."