Next Sunday, the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons will face each other in Super Bowl LI. In preparation for the game, the Patriots have already set a rough schedule for the next two weeks, including the departure to Houston as well as this week’s practices.
Practice sessions
The Patriots have announced that the coaching staff will give its players Monday through Wednesday off. The team will then return to the practice fields on Thursday and hold sessions the next three days. There is no practice scheduled for Sunday, while next week's sesssions have not yet been made public.
Traveling to Houston
The Patriots will leave New England in one week, on Monday, January 30. As has been custom in the past when the team leaves to play in the Super Bowl, a sendoff rally will likely be held; most likely on the day of the departure.
Media availability in Houston
The Super Bowl is a media bonanza and the team will meet with members of the press four days next week. The dates have been announced the the NFL yesterday and are as follows:
Monday, January 30, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET: Opening night media session
Tuesday, January 31, 1:30-2:20 p.m. ET: Media availability (Bill Belichick, 10 players)
Wednesday, February 1, 5:00-6:15 p.m. ET: Media availability (Bill Belichick, assistant coaches, players).
Thursday, February 2, 5:00-6:15 p.m. ET: Media availability (Bill Belichick, assistant coaches, players)
While the first session will take place at the Houston Astro's Minute Maid Park, the other three are scheduled to be held at the Patriots team hotel, the JW Marriott Galeria in Houston.
As noted above, the team has not yet set its practice sessions for next week but they will likely correlate with the three media availability sessions from Tuesday through Thursday, plus possible additional walkthroughs on Friday and Saturday.
Furthermore, Bill Belichick and one player certainly hope to have another media appointment on the day following the Super Bowl: On Monday at 10:30 a.m. ET, the head coach and MVP of the winning team will hold a press conference.