Players, coaches starting to feel sense of urgency as regular season looms

The NFL regular season kicks off two weeks from Thursday, which means there’s a sudden sense of urgency for everyone at Gillette Stadium this time of the year. The downshift from the grind of camp to the excitement of the regular season is underway. Now, instead of being a simple date on the calendar, the regular season is a tangible presence.

And so, it wasn’t a surprise when the energy in the building changed Tuesday with the return of Dont’a Hightower, Nate Solder and Mike Gillislee to the practice field. For the first time all summer, just about the full complement of expected “starters” on both sides of the ball were present and in pads.

If all goes according to plan, that sense of urgency will continue to build throughout the roster for the rest of this week with a wave of momentum heading into Friday’s third preseason game in Detroit. There will be a brief lull for most of the starters when it comes to the preseason finale against the Giants. But after that, real football starts. To borrow an analogy from several veterans who have played for the Patriots the last few years, the train is getting ready to leave the station.



“We’re in the thick of it right now,” quarterback Tom Brady said Wednesday morning before the team departed for Detroit.

That level of urgency is different for different players. For Brady, it’s about putting the final touches on the level of communication needed to succeed in the regular season.

“You’ve really got to focus on, for me at least, a lot of communication with the guys that I think that I’m going to be out there with, like working hard after practice on things that have really come into really clear view,” Brady said on Wednesday morning.

“It’s been a lot of months that the team’s kind of been together now, and you see kind of the things you’re good at. You see the things that you’re not so good at. And I think this is the time to really put emphasis on the things you’ve maybe not been as solid at over the course of a lot of practices, a lot of meetings and so forth. So, it’s just really honing in on what we’ve got to do.”

For the coaches and scouts, there’s the business of getting the framework in place for what the team wants to accomplish this weekend against the Lions. In addition, because it’ll be a short week, they’ll also have to assemble a plan for the preseason finale against the Giants. And there’s also the opener against the Chiefs to consider. That’s all set against the backdrop of a constantly shifting personnel picture across the NFL that includes one series of cuts this season — all teams will go from 90 to 53 on Sept. 2.

“This is one of the hardest weeks of the year for the coaching staff,” Bill Belichick said. “Houston, Detroit, the Giants, the Chiefs, roster decisions. There is a lot going on.”

For guys on the bubble — including these eight players — that sense of urgency means a significant level of pressure. In some cases, they’ve worked since the spring to catch the eye of the coaching staff, but will still be heading into these final two weeks with their professional fate hanging in the balance. Belichick can empathize with those players, but he said Wednesday that stress — on whatever level — is simply part of life in the NFL.

“This is the National Football League, and there’s pressure every week,” he said. “There is pressure this week. There is going to be pressure in October. There is going to be pressure in November. We're going to be under stress all year every week. We're going to be under stress out on the field every week against every opponent. Playing in the National Football League, that’s what you sign up for. If you're looking for vacation weeks and weeks off where we play some Division 4 team and all of that, that doesn’t happen in this league.”

In the end, the building blocks for a successful season? They continue to be set, and will be refined leading up to the opener against the Chiefs. The only difference is now you have to make damn sure that the foundation you’ve helped craft over the spring and summer practices will provide a blueprint for winning football.

“You’re just trying to build,” Brady said of the process. “You’re trying to build now so you can be better in September. And then, as the season goes on, we’re trying to build in September to be better in October. And I think you have to keep improving, and the guys who have been out there in practice have been improving. It’s just a matter of can we do it at a faster rate so we can be a better football team as fast as possible. I think that’s the urgency that coach puts on us every day.”