Signing contracts on Tuesday were wide receivers Britt Davis and Tiquan Underwood, offensive tackle Matt Kopa, defensive end Aaron Lavarias, linebackers Markell Carter and Mike Rivera and safety Ross Ventrone. Six of the seven players were on the Patriots’ practice squad at the end of the season.

New England had previously signed quarterback Mike Hartline to a one-year, “Reserve/Futures” contract.

Sounds like people are still having fun with with Patriots receivers Wes Welker huge fourth quarter drop that helped the Giants win the Super Bowl.

An online pawnbroker dumped hundreds of Butterfinger candy bars in Boston’s Copley Square on Tuesday with a note: “Thank you Wes Welker.”

The tongue-in-cheek stunt by Pawngo.com drew takers for the candy and a citation from the city for commercial dumping.

Pawngo CEO Todd Hills says in a statement to The Boston Globe the Denver- and Chicago-based company “thought Boston fans might at least get a laugh out of it.” He says the company respects Welker and the Patriots.

Welker led the NFL with 122 receptions but dropped a slightly off-target pass from quarterback Tom Brady with about four minutes left Sunday night. The Giants won 21-17.

Bill Belichick has confirmed that Josh McDaniels will be the team’s offensive coordinator next season.

McDaniels was brought in during the playoffs to serve as an “offensive assistant.” He was widely seen as the heir to offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien, who had been hired to replace Joe Paterno at Penn State.

But it wasn’t official until Belichick confirmed the move on Monday, a day after the Patriots lost 21-17 to the Giants in the Super Bowl.

McDaniels was the Patriots’ offensive coordinator from 2006-08 until he left to become head coach of the Denver Broncos. He lasted just 28 games before he was fired with a 3-9 record in 2010. He was the offensive coordinator for the Rams this season.

Over the last several weeks, Belichick frequently praised this team and the effort that he got from these players throughout the season. Despite yesterday’s loss in Super Bowl XLVI, he did not waver on that today:

“Real proud of them. I thought they worked hard all year, they competed well all season. We won a lot of games and even the ones we didn’t win, we fought right to the end and played very competitively. We did that last night, just came up a little bit short,” Belichick said according to Shalise Manza Young of the Boston Globe.

“I have all the respect in the world for the team and all the players and what they’ve done for over six months. It’s not about one game or one play or anything, it’s the whole body of work. I really, really enjoyed coaching this team and have a lot of respect for them.”

“This is where I want to be, this is where I want to retire,” he said after Sunday’s 21-17 loss to the Giants in Super Bowl XLVI. “This is why I came back, for the opportunity to play in this game. I’m pretty sure I will be here in this position next year.”

Gisele Bundchen should have kept her perfectly-shaped mouth shut last night — this according to multiple sources inside the Patriots organization, who claim the supermodel violated a “code of brotherhood” by bashing Tom Brady’s receivers.

Sources tell TMZ, the teammates are “disappointed” Gisele decided to air her grievances after the game last night — when she said, “My husband cannot f***ing throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time. I can’t believe they dropped the ball so many times.”

According to sources, Tom’s teammates feel betrayed by Gisele’s behavior — the Pats organization is a brotherhood and Gisele’s pot shot violated the code — which is basically … win as a team, lose as a team.

As one source put it, “It’s like knocking someone when they are down.”

Former Patriots wide receiver Tiquan Underwood, released a day before the Super Bowl, sent dozens of tweets during the game Sunday but didn’t have much to say immediately after it was over.

The Patriots lost the Super Bowl to the New York Giants for the second time in five seasons, 21-17.

Eli Manning was named MVP again after leading an 88-yard drive that ended in Ahmad Bradshaw’s go-ahead six-yard touchdown run with 57 seconds remaining.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady completed a 19-yard pass to Deion Branch on 4th-and-16, but his last-second Hail Mary pass fell incomplete in the end zone, just out of the reach of injured tight end Rob Gronkowski.

“Good Game Right There,” Underwood wrote on Twitter. “Congrats To NY.”

Under the new collective bargaining agreement, Underwood would have received a ring and a share of the Super Bowl money had New England won the game.

He was released Saturday, on the eve of the title game, to make room for defensive end Alex Silvestro on the 53-man active roster and said later on Twitter that it was “nothing but motivation” for him.

A spokesman for the University of Massachusetts in Amherst says 14 people have been arrested after police in riot gear were forced to disperse hundreds of students when the Patriots lost the Super Bowl.

No one was badly hurt and no property damage was reported.

Spokesman Ed Blaguszewski says police decided to issue a dispersal order when the crowd grew to about 1,500 people in the main residential area of campus.

A student says the crowd was chanting “U.S.A., U.S.A.” and throwing beer cans.

Thirteen of those arrested were students. Blaguszewski says they are being referred to the dean of students for possible disciplinary action.

Robert Kraft stared at the scoreboard, to see if time really had run out.

It had.

In a game that meant so much, his New England Patriots had come up a fingertip or two short.

“It’s for Miss Myra,” receiver Deion Branch said after the Giants beat the Patriots, “and we feel like we didn’t get the job done.”

Kraft’s beloved wife, Myra, died days before the lockout ended last July, and football became an escape for his grief. He played a critical role in the negotiations that ended the lockout, with Indianapolis Colts center Jeff Saturday going so far as to call him “a man who helped us save football.”

Myra Kraft may have thought the $172 million her husband paid for the Patriots was excessive, a record for an NFL franchise at the time. But she adopted the team as if they were members of her own family. When new Hall of Famer Curtis Martin was a rookie in New England, Myra Kraft would make him chicken soup, knowing he was alone.

Football is only a game, but it was the best way the Patriots had to show Kraft their love and ease the burden of his grief, if only for a bit.

“He’s not just our owner, he knows a lot of us on a personal level,” defensive tackle Vince Wilfork said. “He’s our friend.”

So the Patriots wore patches with “MHK” above their hearts, and a painting in the middle of the locker room showed a huddle of Patriots, their fingers pointed skyward beneath her initials “MHK.”

When Tom Brady threw his second touchdown pass, he even tapped the patch above his heart twice and looked skyward. The television cameras flashed to Kraft, who looked as if he was the happiest man in the world — certainly the Lucas Oil Stadium.

“They saved me,” Kraft said earlier in the week. “I never understood what the word heartbroken meant. … This horrible cancer came and it’s wrecked my life. Having this team has been a savior for me.”

A Super Bowl trophy would have been the perfect ending to their story, the ultimate joy to balance the ultimate pain.

“It would have been sensational,” tackle Sebastian Vollmer said, shaking his head.

Instead, Kraft was left to stand alone on the sideline, watching as New England’s season came to an end.

“I’m sure he’s proud of us, but the goal was to win the championship,” Wilfork said. “And we fell short.”

After leading for much of the game, the Patriots watched Eli Manning engineer an 88-yard, go-ahead drive. New England got the ball with 57 seconds left, and Brady got the Patriots close to midfield. But a deep pass to Branch fell short.

With 5 seconds left, Brady let loose with a desperation heave to the end zone. Aaron Hernandez went up among three defenders, and the ball was tipped — out of reach of a lunging Rob Gronkowski as the ball fell to the ground and time ran out.

It was the second time the Patriots had lost to the Super Bowl in the last four years. This one ended much like the first, a last-second Giants win.

Giants owners John Mara and Steve Tisch are some of Kraft’s closest friends in the NFL, and he said earlier in the week that if he had to lose to someone, at least it would be to them.

But some losses cut a little deeper than others. Kraft spoke to a few players in the locker room before making a quick exit.

“It’s tough for all of us,” Brady said. “Certainly I wish we would have gotten it for him.”