Bill Belichick talks about the special feel for the first game of the season.
Yeah, there're the first game butterflies. No doubt, they'll be here this week for everybody. You go through training camp and you never really know where you are, you haven't had other team's gameplan yet, and you haven't seen those matchups the way that teams are going to attack you once you get into the regular season and you find out how strong your strengths are, how weak your weaknesses are and how the teams are going to try to expose them and attack you and what you're going to be able to do about it.
And sometimes it takes two or three weeks in the regular season to start to see that because the matchups the first week or the second week or the third week could be a little bit different, but from a game plan standpoint, right off the bat teams will start to go after certain areas and maybe stay away from others and you'll try to do the same thing. It's always interesting to see how that plays out, so there's a lot of things that we have to be ready for and we'll certainly see how Buffalo wants to try to attack us and how we're able to handle it. So yeah, there's a lot of newness there and it will be interesting to see, as it always is, how things unfold.
Tom Brady talks about the new look of the Patriots Defense.
They're going to create their own style. You're not going to have the loudmouths like Vrabel - you still have Adalius [Thomas] - but Rodney was a guy that I loved to compete against out there in practice. There are other guys that have stepped into those roles. James [Sanders] is now...I remember when he was learning from Rodney, and now he's the guy that Patrick Chung will be learning from. There are definitely some new faces over there and some new looks, and I think they are very skilled. Hopefully they can get after the passer. I love when I see our defensive line sacking the quarterback and making the quarterback throw the ball earlier than he would like and forcing him into bad decisions and then intercepting the ball. They are going to have their hands full this week with a great team and a great offense in Buffalo, who presents some different threats. But they're going to have their own identity.
Gerry Callahan calls the Seymour trade a bold offensive move by the Patriots and analyzes why every other team turned Al Davis down.
Sometimes Bill Belichick outsmarts them, and sometimes he just outnerves them, and in this case, he made a simple swap: The Patriots organization got a whole lot stronger over the long haul while his job got a little tougher for the next four months. And he will never come out and say it because he doesn’t come out and say anything, but we’ll do it for him: Belichick isn’t conceding a thing in the 2009 season. Belichick just thinks he can win without Richard Seymour. Let’s face it: The coach didn’t think quite as highly of Big Sey as did the Pro Bowl voters, the media, the fans, or the nutty old guy in Oakland.
TEAM TIDBITS
- Erik Scalavino notes Brady is ready to go on Monday night; DL Mike Wright wishes Seymour well and is excited for the season to start; Wednesday practice notes.
- Tom Brady Press Conference. Transcript plus 15 min. video.
- Bill Belichick Press Conference. Transcript plus 15 min. video.
-
Patriots Today: Brady, Pats eye Buffalo, and more. (7.44 min. video)
LOCAL LINKS
- Shalise Manza Young reports Dick Jauron's many off-season moves are a sign he's trying to prevent the coaching changes from reaching the top.
- Kathryn Tappen notes Belichick continues to live by team-first mentality.
- Ian Rapoport says the Patriots have one more season to put their stamp on the Team of the Decade title.
- Chris Gasper knows Brady is back but examines whether he'll be back to his normal self.
- Ian Rapoport notes Brady has been itching to get back in the game.
- Mark Farinella reports Brady is expecting continued success for his offense and for the team.
- Jeff Howe cactches player reactions to the old-school uniforms and notes some guys are looking forward to meeting the former Patriots that paved the way for where the team is today.
- Mike McDermott posted a slideshow of the Patriots and Bills practicing in their throwbacks.
- Monique Walker Patriots Notebook: Terrell Owens catches up with the New England media; Isaiah Stanback will receive consideration as the Patriots 3rd QB: and more news and notes.
- Ian Rapoport Patriots Notebook: Seymour still a no-show; Kendall Simmons says it's a blessing to play for the Patriots; ex-Giant TE Michael Matthews looks to be mostly a blocking tight end.
- Cameron Martin notes Tedy Brusch joins ESPN to conteract Tom Jackson's Pats hate.
- Ron Borges clarifies the role of the Patriots in the rules of the CBA, with his own special anti-Patriots spin.
- Ron Borges says Richard Seymour will be missed by his defensive teammates, and contrasts him with the unknown practice squad member, Adrian Grady, that they'll have to get to know.
-
Mark Farinella notes this year's media guides are digitally stored on a 4-gigabyte flash drive, not the usual 400 glossy, full-color pages with ring binders which are now too expensive for teams to hand out.
NATIONAL NEWS
- Alex Marvez (Fox Sports) Patriots, Steelers battle for 'Team of the Decade' title.
- Michael Silver (Yahoo! Sports) Brady businesslike about return, Pats trade.
- Ann Killion (SI) Agent Eugene Parker holds power to key decisions involving Bay Area teams, just ask the 49ers about Michael Crabtree and the Raiders about Richard Seymour.
- Jeff D'Alessio (Sporting News) NFL Top 100. Brady number 2? What's up with that?
- Sports Illustrated 2009 NFL Predictions.
- Bob DiCesare (Buffalo News) Bills wrote off this season - take it to the bank.
- Mike Zeisberger (Sun Media) T.O. and other recent storylines in the ongoing Bills soap opera.
- Tim Graham (ESPN) Reading or playing, T.O. works between the lines.
- Tim Graham (ESPN) Jauron admits 'worry' over O-line with 56 starts.
- Mark Craig (Minneapolis Star Tribune) AFC preview: A bull's-eye view.
- Dan Graziano (NFL Fanhouse) Richard Seymour can't get to free agency if he doesn't play.
- Mike Florio (Pro Football Talk) Seymour faces small signing-bonus forfeiture, for now.
- NFL.com A look at what's ahead in Week 1. Football's baaaaaaack!
- Peter Schrager (Fox Sports) 20 Questions: Brian Billick previews the 2009 season.