Another shout out to Christopher Price of WEEI.com, Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston and Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald for their tweeting and reporting!
Darth Hoodius just held his second press conference of the preseason and here are the highlights:
- Belichick is disappointed in how the Derrick Burgess no-show played out. He wants every player at camp (duh) and Burgess is no exception. He sounded bitter saying, "Derrick wasn't here yesterday, and we expect him to be there. ... We'll just deal with it going forward." It appears that Burgess might be the newest player to fall from grace.
- Second year wide receiver Brandon Tate has impressed Belichick with his off-season improvements. He said, "[Tate will] be the first to tell you, his preparation is way, way, way ahead of where it was last year." Tate has received praise from quarterback Tom Brady, and with the Brady and Belichick blessing, look for a big year from Tate.
- The stadium is undergoing a makeover, by eliminating pictures from the Patriots' past. Belichick is hoping these new players can help forge a new identify moving forward and become their own team. Then again, Belichick also said that "the walls needed painting." Then he gave a legendary Belichick smirk.
- Belichick looks forward to getting all of his players prepared. When asked if he was worried about dealing out too much information for players to comprehend, he stated that "all [the coaches and team] worry about. That's what training camp is." Camp is a time to get every player up to speed and Belichick hopes to do just that. He also uses camp as a chance to see what players are mentally strong, as well as physically prepared. Weak mind means you most likely can't handle the full season grind. Cut.
- Nick Kaczur's transition to left guard has Belichick hopeful. He believes that Kaczur is as "big and physical as an inside player would be, but he’s athletic enough to play outside in space.” I guess with Kaczur at the guard slot, one could expect a lot of Kaczur peeling to the outside on screen plays.
On to day 2!