New England Patriots Links 11/14/09 - Third Down Conversion Edition

Bill Belichick details the process of picking which plays to run, which ones to throw out and how to prioritize what the players need to know.

You always want to prioritize what's important, because by the end of the week we're sitting here on Friday or Saturday and every player has been told 1,000 things: ‘Do this,' ‘Do that,' ‘When this happens, do this,' ‘When that happens, do that,' ‘If they do this, you're going to check to that,' ‘Read this guy,' ‘Read that guy.' He's got 1,000 things in his mind and I think it's important to boil it back down to, ‘OK, those are all techniques and they're all adjustments and they're things we need to do, but what do we need to do to win this game? Let's make sure we've got first things first.' Because somewhere between those 1,000 things, there's one and then there's 1,000. There's got to be some kind of priority, so I think every time you come to the end of the week, you want to bring it back to what are the most important things to do as a team and at each position, whether it's tight ends, ‘Here are the three most important things for you to do this week.' For the corners, ‘Here are the three most important things for you.' That type of thing, so that you don't lose sight of the big picture and so you don't take a chance on players not knowing what the most important things are and making those decision themselves. You remind them that this is how the game is played. This is what your role is. This is what your job is. First things first.

 

Friday is certainly a coming together time and Saturday a lot of times is just a further coming together or further solidifying. Maybe we put some things on the back burner. ‘We've got this if we need it.' ‘We've got that if we need it.' ‘If this situation comes up, this is how we're going to handle it, but this is where we're going to go with. Here's how we're going to play the game.' Now if we have to adjust it, we adjust it. Because again, when you go through all of that in the beginning of the week, the players don't really know - and sometimes the coaches don't know for sure either - exactly how it's going to unfold. Again, I think to just identify and get everybody on the same page - ‘Ok here's how we're going to start, so let's don't get confused with this other stuff. If we need it, we'll come to it, but that's not what we're going to lead with.' So then the players can really zero in on, ‘Ok, these calls, these adjustments...if this is called and that happens, here's what we're going to do. There's another play were that might happen, but that play is 40 plays down the road. That's not what we're thinking about right away.'

TEAM TALK

• John Cockrell Friday Outtakes: River Phoenix, the Myth of Dancing and his weekly Blooper Reel.
• Patriots All Access: Scott Zolak gets Bill Belichick's thoughts on the 2009 version of the Colts. Zolak and Christian Fauria break down the importance of TE Dallas Clark and more.  (41 min. video)
• Patriots Today: 5 Points with Perillo, Fantasy Lowe-down and more.  (11:15 min. video.)
• Locker Room Uncut: The latest from a Pats on a Friday.  (4:05 min. video)
• WEEI Patriots Friday: Tully Banta-Cain, Ben Watson, Logan Mankins and Andre Tippett.

LOCAL LINKS

• Daniel Barbarisi says converting in the red zone will be key for Patriots but Colts won't make it easy.
• Albert Breer focuses on the challenge of preparing for Manning and wonders how much of a factor the noise will be at the Lube.
• Monique Walker notes the Patriots have been targeting their red zone woes in practice.
• Albert Breer knows for Belichick, stopping Dallas Clark is key this Sunday.
• Albert Breer notes Brian Hoyer has earned Belichick's praise for playing the role of Peyton Manning for the Patriots defense at practice.
• Mike Reiss reports Belichick was pleased to see injured players return to practice and that some players would be game-time decisions.
• Ian Rapoport looks into the injury situation for New England.
• Karen Guregian reports Ben Watson, currently battling through a back problem, prefers to let his play do the talking for him, not the stats.
• Mike Reiss lists the Patriots-Colts Prediction Roundup from ESPN.
• Mike Reiss highlights Kyle Arrington's football journey.
• Mike Reiss notes why he thinks Peyton Manning hasn't been pressured a lot this season.
• Steve Buckley interviews Rosevelt Colvin from his UPS store in Indianapolis.  "I’d rather be playing," he said. "My body feels great. My body feels fine. And I do miss that competition. I miss gameday. That’s what all the work is for."
• Boston Herald Patriots Notebook: Brian Hoyer has been playing the role of Peyton Manning for the scout team; Laurence Maroney is hoping to get it done against the Colts; Patriots simulated loud crowd noise at practice by pumping in rap music really loud, turning down Logan Mankins' request to play country;
  

NATIONAL NEWS

• Tim Graham and Paul Kuharski (ESPN) Double Coverage: Manning vs. Brady.y.  A terrific point made here about the hypocritical way Colts' fans argue when it comes to the SB stat.
• John P. Lopez (SI) Patriots-Colts: Three things you should care about.
• Tim Graham (ESPN) Final Word: AFC East Week 10.
• Mark Schlereth, Darren Woodson and Matthew Berry preview Sunday night's rivalry resumption between the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts in Lucas Oil Stadium.  (1:13 min. video)
• Pat Kirwan (NFL.com) The marquee game this week is New England at Indianapolis, where we could see 700 yards of passing. But that's just one of the Week 10 storylines to watch.
• Fox Sports Week 10 Expert Picks.