Rios in the second quarter, but Serbia responded with the last three go

Take away draft picks. Suspend their star quarterback. Nothing seems to faze the New England Patriots, who just keep on winning no matter what obstacles are thrown their way.OK, its time to get serious.Lets come up with something, anything to bring these guys down.All suggestions accepted.Clearly, these are desperate times for the rest of the NFL. The Patriots are off to a 3-0 start even though Tom Brady is stuck at home with his perfect family, serving out a four-game suspension for an unhealthy obsession with football air pressure and hastily downgrading his cellphone before the contract was up.New England didnt even have its backup quarterback for Thursday nights game against the formerly unbeaten Houston Texans. Jimmy Garoppolo was sidelined with a shoulder injury, so Bill Belichick -- surely thumbing his nose at the rest of the league -- sent out somebody named Jacoby Brissett to run the offense.While the rest of us were surfing the web, trying to make sure this supposed third-stringer wasnt just Brady in disguise, Belichick installed something resembling the wishbone with only three days to prepare. Brissett, naturally, guided the Patriots to a 27-0 shellacking of a team with one of the NFLs top-ranked defenses.Look, we just try to go out there every week and win, Belichick said during a conference call Friday, his voice droning somewhere between contempt and superiority. Try to go out there and put the best game plan together with the players we have against the opponent were playing against and win.Not long after Belichick hung up the phone came a report that Brissett injured the thumb on his throwing hand and may need surgery. If so, we can only assume that Steve Grogan will be suiting up for the Patriots next game. Heck, hes only 63 and cant be much worse than Matt Cassel, who somehow led the Patriots to an 11-5 mark the year Brady went out with a knee injury.Since Brady will be back in one more game anyway, time is running short.Heres a few ideas to get the conversation started:SPIES, LIES & VIDEOTAPEIn the first of his Gate scandals, Belichick was caught videotaping an opponents defensive signals in violation of NFL rules back in 2007. Spygate led to a half-million-dollar fine against the coach and the Patriots being stripped of their first-round pick. Turns out, that was about as effective as Brangelinas marriage counseling.Maybe we should allow opposing teams to sit in on Belichicks film sessions, so they at least have a sneak preview while hes formulating his latest Coppola-like game plan.LETTING THE AIR OUTDeflategate revealed that Brady is very particular about how much air is in the footballs he throws, and his actions before an AFC playoff game after the 2014 regular season showed that hes not above skirting the rules to get a better grip.Wonder how hed do with a ball that is inflated to 0.0 pounds per square inch? He should give that a try when he returns from his suspension, no doubt with the Patriots sitting at 4-0.OLD SCHOOLThe Patriots roster could be capped at 11 players, forcing everyone to play both offense and defense, just like the good ol days. Better yet, in footballs formative years, touchdowns counted for only five points instead of six. Sounds like a good way to even things up. Oh, wait, the Patriots still wouldve won their last two games and gone to overtime in the season opener at Arizona. Next.MISTAKE BY THE LAKEBelichick wasnt always the evil genius of the NFL. Remember when he coached the perpetually hapless Cleveland Browns? Remember when he got fired? For five seasons in the early 1990s, Belichick and his hoodie compiled a record of 36-44 with only a single trip to the playoffs. It didnt even help to have soul mate Nick Saban as his defensive coordinator. The Browns wound up moving to Baltimore and changing their name to the Ravens, while then-owner Art Modell gloriously decreed that to get to the next level, a change at head coach is necessary.Maybe its time to banish Belichick back to Cleveland. It worked before.GOING TO THE MAILBAGActually, since we dont have time for everyone to mail in their letters, lets hit up social media for a few suggestions.Defensive linemen must count one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi before rushing. Belichick has to coach in a suit, tie and houndstooth hat, instead of the latest fashions from the Hobo Collection. The training table gets catered by Dunkin Donuts or, better yet, Krispy Kreme.Field goals can only be attempted after a pile of snow is dumped on the spot, in honor of another New England classic (why wasnt that called Plowgate?). No Patriots player is allowed to use his hands, like that sport known as football to the rest of the world.Or maybe we could ... ahh, who are we kidding?It doesnt matter what you do to the Patriots.Belichick & Co. will find a way to keep on winning.Sigh.---(Corrects that Belichick was not coaching Patriots during snow plow game)---Paul Newberry is a sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at pnewberry(at)ap.org or at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/paul-newberry .---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFLCheap Atlanta Hawks Jerseys China .J. Ellis hit two-run homers and the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres 4-0 Saturday night. Wholesale NBA Jerseys China . Jay Feely kicked a 41-yard field goal in overtime, and the Cardinals edged the Tennessee Titans 37-34 in overtime after blowing a 17-point lead late in the fourth quarter. http://www.cheapbasketballchina.com/cheap-chicago-bulls-jerseys-china_154r.html . After Mondays hard-fought loss, the wait seemed longer than usual. Getting set to go their separate ways for a short Christmas break, the Raptors coach credited his team for their effort on a seemingly impossible three-game road trip, urging them to build on that success when they get back to work at the end of the week. Basketball Jerseys On Sale .1 million pounds ($61.2 million) on Saturday, giving the beleaguered English Premier League champions a major lift. Cheap NBA Jerseys . That left plenty of energy for pitching books and swatting away free agency questions. Anthony had 24 points and nine rebounds, and the Knicks avenged an embarrassing home loss with a rout of their own, beating the Boston Celtics 114-88 on Wednesday night for their third straight victory.RIO DE JANEIRO -- Facing its former coach in a hostile arena, Croatia showed why its a threat to repeat as Olympic champions.Marko Bijac made 15 saves, including stops on two first-half penalty shots, and Croatia beat Brazil 10-6 on Tuesday to advance to the semifinals of the mens water polo tournament at the Rio de Janeiro Games.I think the key was our concentration, Bijac said. Through the whole match we didnt let any other factors like crowd or referees or opponent to have influence on us. We really concentrated, especially on defense.Maro Jokovic and Javier Gadea Garcia scored three goals apiece for Croatia, which will face Montenegro in the next round. The 2012 gold medalists led 7-3 at the break and held off Brazil in the second half despite Damir Burics four-minute exclusion after a brief skirmish with Josip Vrlic.Now arrive the most important games in the tournament, Gadea Garcia said. We can take a medal ... and we will see against Montenegro. Will be a very tough game.Montenegro outscored Hungary 4-2 on penalty shots for a 13-11 victory. World champion Serbia and Italy also face off Thursday in a repeat of the semifinals from the London Games.Backed by another raucous, flag-waving crowd, Brazil faltered a bit in the second quarter and never recovered in its first Olympic appearance since 1984. Bernardo Oneto Gomes had three goals, but only three other players scored for the host country.Its very hard. Its very difficult, Brazils Felipe Perrone said. Croatia is a former Olympic champion. They (played) great defense.Playing under Ratko Rudic, who guided Croatia to the title in London, Brazil opened the tournament with three straight wins, including a surprising 6-5 victory against Serbia last Wednesday. But the loss to Croatia was its third in a row.If you want to win the game for the medal, you must be mentally very, very strong, Rudic said, so sometimes we couldnt do the things that we can usually do.Brazil and Croatia trained together before the Olympics, and Rudic dismissed the significance of coaching against his former team. He also said he will not coach Brazil beyond the Olympics.Also Tuesday, Dusan Mandic scored four goals to hhelp Serbia beat Spain 10-7 in its best performance so far in Rio, and Pietro Figlioli had three goals as Italy knocked off Greece for a 9-5 win.ddddddddddddFilip Filipovic and Stefan Mitrovic each scored two goals for Serbia, which has won three in a row since the loss to Brazil put them on the brink of elimination in the preliminary round.Sometimes you must touch the bottom to see how to rise, Filipovic said, and I think that after Brazil, we literally touched the bottom.Spain closed to 4-3 on consecutive goals by Guillermo Molina Rios in the second quarter, but Serbia responded with the last three goals of the first half -- including one for Milan Aleksic with just 12 seconds left.It was its first halftime lead of the competition.We start great, from the opening of the match, Filipovic said. So we didnt allow the opponent to score two, three goals, and then (have) to chase our chances.Serbia won bronze in each of the last two Olympics and is facing a lot of pressure to bring home the countrys first gold medal in perhaps its favorite sport. After struggling with the pressure early on, it looks as if it is growing more comfortable heading into the semifinals.Montenegro also advanced to the next round after finishing fourth in Beijing and London.Montenegro had a 9-8 lead when Hungary captain Denes Varga scored on a terrific long-range shot with 1:11 remaining, fading to his left before banking one in off the left goalpost.Last shot was really my mistake, Hungary goaltender Milos Scepanovic said, and I was really focused to make things correct.Scepanovic responded with saves on penalty shots by Marton Vamos and Norbert Hosnyanszky, and Vjekoslav Paskovic connected on his penalty try to close out the win, leading to hugs and excited smiles on the Montenegro bench.Two saves on Hungarys shooters, it is amazing, Montenegro coach Vladimir Gojkovic said, praising his goaltender. Some of the best shooters in the world, you know, and he (made the) difference today.---Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap ' ' '