FOXBOROUGH - At one point during Monday’s practice, Bill Belichick gathered all his players to remind them to take care of each other. The session had already been littered with a half-dozen injuries, at points stressing an already depleted offensive line. Belichick explained his philosophy, not just in the moment, but heading into these fully padded practices.
“Try to balance it,” he said, when asked about the fine line between physicality between teammates. “(We) talk to the players, show them examples of what we want, what we don’t. Just keep talking about it so everybody understands… try to make sure that everybody is working competitively but in a safe way.”
Along those lines, there was one team drill that I had never seen before, where half the line went all out while the other never attempted to move. I asked Belichick if that was some sort of load management.
“No,” he responded. “(That) didn’t have anything to do with that. Just a different drill we did. We did it at the East-West game.”
I’m sure the Patriots staff did utilize that drill, but hard to fully get on board with the answer when you consider Trent Brown was not practicing yesterday, and - by that point - injuries to Cole Strange, Bill Murray and Chasen Hines had also taken place. That offensive line was in disarray. It would therefore make sense to keep a close eyes on physical reps to preserve what was left at the position.
NOTE: At the start of Tuesday's practice, Brown (rehab), Strange and Hines were out while Murray returned.
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There were a couple of other nuggets from Belichick this morning. He was asked about his comments to Sirius XM Radio that seemed to indicate there was a quarterback competition between Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe. The coach wouldn’t get into specifics, noting that, “everybody is out here competing. All 90 guys. That’s what we’re here for: to compete.”
As for his much-talked-about interplay with Jones over the last year, Belichick insisted that, “I think my relationship is good with everybody.”
Including Mac?
“Of course. I talk to him every day.”
The last question and answer worth highlighting with Belichick was his answer regarding tackle Calvin Anderson, who landed on the non-football injury list just prior to the start of camp. We’ve seen neither hide nor hair from Anderson or about him since, which has us wondering if the lineman’s availability for this season is threatened.
“I’m not a medical doctor. I have my doctorate degrees that were honorary but I’m not a medical doctor,” smiled Belichick, before turning serious. “It’s always hard on those situations. If everything goes perfectly, that’s one thing. If something comes up, if there’s a setback or there’s change, that’s something else. So I’m not going to sit here and try to play fortune teller and looking into a crystal ball and say this guy’s going to be healthy. I can’t do that. Day-to-day. If they’re better today, then we do more tomorrow. If they’re better tomorrow, then we do more the next day. We review it, revise it and go forward. I don’t know. You tell me how it’s going to go. I’m not sure.”
Anderson had what was described by all within the organization as an excellent offseason. Belichick agreed.
“Yeah. Yeah. Hopefully, things will be great but I’m not - i don’t have a crystal ball.”
And no answer as to when, or if, we see Anderson anytime soon, or at all.