3 top takeaways from Bill Belichick's conference call: Managing workloads, preseason offense, new kickoff rules

Our three biggest takeaways from Bill Belichick’s Friday morning conference call with the media:

1. A deep playoff run will impact the following season.

Belichick was very clear in saying that a deep playoff run is what they want every year. He knows no one is shedding any tears for the Patriots. But he did say that when it comes to playing a lot of extra football one year, the impact will occasionally carry over into the following season when it comes to camp and preparing for the new year.

"Our overall schedule and situation is what it is," he said. "There isn’t really much we can do about that, and playing late into the season the year before is definitely what we want to do, so (we're) not complaining about that. But, it does affect the following season, there’s no question about that.

"We have a general plan, but we discuss it each day, sometimes to modify it or occasionally make a change in it. But usually, we try to stick pretty close to what we’ve planned. But, there are times when we can’t quite stay on schedule for one reason or another. Yeah, there’s a lot of factors involved. But the one that you mentioned is definitely one of them that comes into play."

He didn’t come right out and say it, but the fact this team has played so many postseason games over the last seven years — they have been to seven consecutive AFC title contests — has likely played at least a small role in the fact the workload at camp this summer has been smaller than in year’s past. That could explain why things have been relatively laid back this year when compared to other years.

(In a roundabout way, this leads me back to one of the great Belichick quotes of all time, the one he delivered in his press conference the day after Super Bowl LI where he was asked about the offseason. "As great as today is, in all honesty, we're five weeks behind 30 teams in the league in preparing for the 2017 season," Belichick said. It was funny to hear at the time, but that quote — and the environment around the team this summer — is a constant reminder that when you play extra football, you sometimes have to make allowances and work on a schedule that sometimes isn’t ideal.)

Anyway, Belichick was asked if that was one of the reasons why Tom Brady has appeared to have thrown less this year than in year’s past. (Later in the call, he wouldn’t comment on the report of Brady’s sore back.) Belichick went back to more of a broad-brush description of each player at this time of year.

“Each player, and there could be a number of factors involved in the decisions, but we have a number of players that are in various … their workloads are affected by other factors,” he said. “We take that into consideration with every player we put on the field. Some guys need modification for one reason or another. Depending on what we’re working on that particular day could impact that. That’s the way it’s always been. That’s how you have to manage your team, you have to manage your players and you have to manage your positions. You have to find some way to balance that out. That’s all part of training camp. It’s like that for everybody.”

2. He wasn’t pleased with the passing game on Thursday. The running game was a different story, for a couple of reasons.


Brian Hoyer struggled out of the gate, and while he ended up going 16-for-23 for 144 yards in three-plus quarters, it was after a first half where the Patriots’ air attack could get almost no traction.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t have much production in our passing game last night so hopefully we can improve on that going forward,” Belichick said following a question about the competition at receiver. “Those guys are working hard and are improving, but we need to be better in the passing game overall. Not just them but the entire group. The overall execution of the passing game wasn’t very good.”

The second half was a different story for a few reasons, including the fact the Patriots were able to rely on a steadying group of veteran backups along the offensive line to help power the running game, which had 101 rushing yards total in the third and fourth quarters.

“We have some – not necessarily experienced on our team but experienced in the league -- players that have been very competitive for positions on our team,” he said of New England’s offensive line. “We only carried eight offensive linemen last year, so there’s definitely some opportunities at that position. There’s plenty of competition both inside and outside, and we tried to give everybody a good look (Thursday) night as we have through camp. We’ll just continue to let that play out, and see how it goes.”

The guys who benefited? Jeremy Hill (51 rushing yards, one touchdown) and rookie Ralph Webb (46 rushing yards, two touchdowns), two guys who likely benefited from the fact that the likes of Rex Burkhead and Sony Michel didn’t play against Washington.

“Every day and every play is an opportunity,” Belichick said. “We encourage every player to take advantage of the opportunities they get. If they’re able to improve and work on their techniques it all matters. We watch everything. We see all practices, all games, offense, defense. We try to instruct the players on how to improve.”

3. No big surprises on the new helmet and/or kickoff rules.

“It was about what we expected. About what we practiced,” Belichick said when asked about the kickoff setup. “I think it’s about what we thought it would be. The speed, the technique ... and the speed of the play is obviously different in the game than it is in practice. But I thought it played out about the way (we) thought it would.”