By Alex Barth, 985TheSportsHub.com
As the Patriots get ready to begin week two of training camp, Bill Belichick let it be known that the tone of practices is about to shift.
Speaking with reporters before practice Monday morning, Belichick said the team will take a more detail-oriented approach this week.
“This is a big week for us, individually in units and collectively as a team to really start to show some progress,” he said” “This will be multiple times – second, third, maybe fourth time through on a lot of things that we’re doing. Whether that’s plays, techniques, situations, things like that….Now we really need to see those things start to come together this week.”
This lines up with a larger outline Belichick gave when the team reporter for pre-training camp practices last month. The plan has been to condense all three offseason workout phases (minicamp, OTAs, training camp) into the month and a half the team has.
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Usually, the Patriots use minicamp and OTAs as what Belichick likes to call “teaching camps,” while the majority of training camp is used as an “evaluation camp” for picking the initial 53-man roster. With OTAs and minicamps canceled this year, the teaching phase of the offseason had to be pushed back.
Now that the team has had a full week to work with the pads on, it seems like Belichick is ready to up the tempo and get into the evaluation portion.
“Hopefully we can string some good days together here, continue to add different elements to how we would play the game and what we need to play the game rather than just going out there and running plays,” Belichick told reporters Monday morning. “But I think we’re getting to the point where we can continue to pile on things that are going to be important in the overall game operation.”
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, left, watches during an NFL football training camp practice, Friday, Aug. 21, 2020, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, Pool)
The Patriots have a number of key position battles still going and back end roster spots still being fought over. With an increased tempo and added focus on the details, now is the time to really see who can make a run at securing themselves a place on the depth chart and/or roster.
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