FOXBORO -- In a strange way, what should have been the most hectic week of the NFL season at Gillette Stadium has turned into one of the tamer weeks at the Patriots facilities since training camp. Crowds of reporters swarmed the team's locker room on Wedensday, but there fewer showed up on Thursday, and by Friday there were about a dozen reporters sitting in for Bill Belichick's morning press conference.
The throngs have dwindled in part because Brady hasn't spoken, which he's not required to do while he's on the exempt list. The other reason? The Patriots, led by their coach, have provided little in the way of insight when it comes to Brady's return. Belichick did, however, provide an answer when asked if Brady's play in practice this week has been noticeably affected by his four-week suspension.
It wasn't, "Looks the same as ever..."
"I've coached for a long time in this league," Belichick said. "I've seen a lot of players miss practice time for whatever the reasons are -- injuries, contract holdouts, suspensions, etc. I would just say in general, it's hard for a player who's not playng football to practice football. I don't care how many times you run around the track. I don't care how many sit-ups you do. Put 21 other guys out there on the football field and work on the timing and situation football.
"If that was the best way to do it, just not do anything for four weeks and just do pushups, then I think maybe that's what we would do. I don't honestly think that's the right way to go. That's just my opinion. I think we benefit from practice reps. I think we benefit from game reps. I think not having those is not beneficial. It doesn't mean it can't be overcome, it doesn't mean you can't have a good performance. It just means if that was the best way to prepare for the game, that's what we would do. I just don't happen to believe that. I'm sure there are a lot of people who would disagree with me, but that's just the way I see it."
The natural follow-up then is how can one cram four weeks of practice into three on-the-field workouts in a week leading up to a regular-season game -- one of which is generally a Friday walkthrough. Do you push the player upon return to get as much work in as time will allow? Or are there diminishing returns at a certain point? And do those extra reps, if there are extra reps, come at the expense of other players?
One can assumer, given what we know about Brady, that he would be pushing for as much work as possible.
New England Patriots
"That is the question," Belichick acknowledged. "How much is too much? How do you get ready for the speed of the game when you haven't been at the speed of the game? Any time you bring an injured player back, sometimes the injury is part of that in the whole conersation. How much can the player do? In the other situations, you know, what kind of condition is the player in based on the time he's been away for the suspension or the contract holdout . . . Not that we have a lot of contract holdouts. But there was a point in time in this league when we did. It's the same thing.
"It's trying to find that sweet spot for getting the player the best preparation we can. In all honesty, my experience with those players is, as time goes on, they play better. Maybe the first game will be the best game, but most likely the third, fourth, sixth games will probably be better than the first. But again, that's just based on experience. I don't know if it'll happen with a new player who comes back. We have a couple of them. I have no idea. I think those guys [Brady and Rob Ninkovich] are preparing well. They compete hard. But again if that was the best way to prepare, I think you'd see more people doing that. I don't really think that's the way to go."
The last Brady-related question of the week posed to Belichick seemed to exasperate the coach a bit. Maybe it was simply because he'd heard enough about it and didn't want to focus on it any more. Maybe it was because he had heard a version of the same question at some point previously. Maybe it was because he had a cold and Friday marked the end of a long week or preparation.
He was asked if Brady's teammates would have to step up at all in order to help their quarterback settle in after his long layoff.
"I think they need to do what they need to do," Belichick said. "I think you're missing the whole point. I don't think we go out there and do somebody else's job. I think we go out there and do the job that we need to do. I think I need to do my job. I think each player needs to do his job. I don't think we can worry about what everybody else is or isn't doing. I think that would be a huge mistake. I would never coach a team to do that. Not that I know anything, but that's the way I would approach it. If we all just do a good job with what we're doing, we'll be a lot better off. If everybody worries about what everybody else is doing . . . I just don't believe in that."