ARIZONA -- Some New England Patriots-based extra points to set the stage for Monday at the NFL owners meeting:
1. Owner Robert Kraft is expected to address reporters around 3 p.m. ET. Kraft was a late arrival in town on Sunday.
2. Two possible news items today: We might learn about compensatory draft picks (Patriots can expect at least one), as well as the opponent for New England in the NFL's kickoff game.
3. New York Giants owner John Mara recapped his team's pursuit of safety Devin McCourty as a free agent, saying, "We tried but weren’t successful. I thought the money was pretty similar to what he ended up signing for but it was understandable he wanted to stay with his old team. ... He’s a local kid for us, and we thought that would be attractive for him also. He decided to stay and that’s just what happens in this business. That’s OK. Normally you prefer to see guys stay with their own teams; I think most players would prefer to do that. That was certainly understandable. They were coming off the Super Bowl.”
4. Liked Mara's explanation for why he's not in favor of expanded playoffs, which he said is inevitable at some point after 2015, as he seemed to speak from a fan's perspective. "One of my concerns about it was when are you going to play those extra games?" he said. "One of the proposals was playing it on a Monday night. I just think playing on a Monday night in January, in Northern climates is not the ideal. However, Saturday would be a possibility and that to me is much more palpable.”