Thursday, July 24, 2008
Patriots Open Camp - Tom Brady Comments
Courtesy of the New England Patriots
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS QUARTERBACK TOM BRADY
2008 TRAINING CAMP DAY ONE
July 24, 2008
Q: How was the first day?
TB: I think everybody is excited to be back. We realize that we have a pretty good team and I am anxious to start the games. We have five tough weeks of practice and I think we are going to need it. The ’08 season has begun and I hope the rain isn’t a forecast of things to come. Everybody is just excited to be back.
Q: With how last season ended, did it make the off-season longer?
TB: It was a short off-season because we played all the way to the end. We were all disappointed with the way it ended - there’s no doubt about that. That is part of competition. You can’t always control the outcome. You control how much you put into it and I know this team put everything it could into it. I think that is part of what helps you move forward is to say ‘OK we did the best we could do and it didn’t turn out the way we would have liked but sometimes that happens.’ We are moving forward with just as much energy and excitement as we always have. Hopefully we can go out there and compete as hard as we can and put ourselves in the best position possible every week.
Q: Is it very noticeable with guys like Asante Samuel, Rosevelt Colvin and Junior Seau not out here?
TB: We miss every guy we have ever lost, especially from the very successful seasons. Dating all the way back to guys like Lawyer Milloy, Drew Bledsoe and Ty Law. We always miss those guys. I think every year there will be changes and it is hard to make comparisons every year because we never have the same team intact. There are new coaches here, new opponents and a new schedule. It always starts fresh for us and it starts today.
Q: There is a long history of teams that lose the Super Bowl and don’t have success the following year. What have you learned from those teams to help make sure this a positive year?
TB: We start by taking leadership from our head coach [Bill Belichick] and the example that he sets. I don’t think he is too concerned with what anybody did last year, including us. He is concerned with what we did today and what we do tomorrow. That is where is all starts. I don’t think what any team has done in the history of the NFL will have any effect on what we do this year. We are going to do the best we can do. We are going to try and do the best we can do everyday in practice. Hopefully that leads to a lot of wins.
Q: Have you watched film from the Super Bowl last year or do the coaches keep it away from you?
TB: We watch film from it and learn form it. We learn about some things we didn’t do so well and learn about the things we did well. It wasn’t all bad but it wasn’t all good. I think like most games it comes down to a few certain plays. We didn’t make enough plays in that game and that is why the outcome turned out the way it did. We will learn from it and learn from the games we won. We are always trying to improve and learn from the previous week.
Q: Does watching film from last year’s Super Bowl help put it behind you?
TB: You always have emotions when watching it because you remember the disappointment you felt after the game. Just like when you watch games you have won you remember the excitement you felt. It was one game last season that we all felt we could have played a little better. You can’t change what happened; as hard as you want to, you can’t. So what can you do? You can move forward with the awareness that you can improve. We are going to try to improve in all phases. There are a lot of improvements we need to make as a team to be able to compete as hard as we can. This is a tough league with a tough schedule and a tough conference. Those teams are always trying to beat us and it has been like that since I have been here.
Q: How was your off-season? Did you travel more?
TB: It was great and every year it seems to get better. I really enjoy it. It is a time to spend with family and friends but I am also anxious to be back. I love playing and I love competing. In March and April you are not too excited about football but once June and July come you are anxious to get back, be around your teammates and start working.
Q: What did you like about watching the Celtics in the Finals since you were at a couple of games?
TB: It was fun to watch. It is exciting for this city because of the Celtics’ history. I really respect and admire those guys. Their players, coaches, management and ownership have always been so supportive of what we do. It is cool to have all the Boston and New England community come together and be able to watch those guys. I was especially excited for those guys who hadn’t won a championship. You know how it feels so you get excited for guys like Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul [Pierce] that have played for so long and haven’t experienced it and now they are world champs.
Q: Do you feel you guys have anything to prove because of how last year ended?
TB: I don’t think about that. I don’t think about proving anything to anybody except proving that we can work hard. You don’t focus on proving people wrong. You just focus on doing the best you can do. You control how much effort you put in when you are on the practice field or in the meeting room. You control the effort you put out. We focus on that. No matter what anybody thinks or says - it doesn’t matter. As much as I want to think it matters or you guys [media] think it matters, it really doesn’t. We are going to control what we can control and that is the attitude we take with our preparation, effort and attitude.
Q: With how much of a grind last year was, physically and mentally, do you have to pace yourself early this year?
TB: Yeah. Each year I learn something different. The goal this year isn’t to see how sore my arm can get. For our team the goal is still the same - to be ready to play in September. Whatever we need to do to get to that point, our coach is going to put us through. It is a veteran team. We pretty much have everybody back on offense. I don’t think it is going to take what it took to cover last year. Hopefully we can build on stuff we did last year.
Q: Last year you had to get acclimated to a bunch of new receivers. How will it be different this year?
TB: We now know what everybody can do. We know what everybody is capable of. Last year when we broke the huddle, guys were running to the right or the left because that is where they had to go. They are trying to figure out how to run the routes and find out what I am looking for. Now when we get in the huddle, I tell Randy [Moss] what to do and he knows exactly what you are going to do. It is the same with Wes [Welker] and Jab [Gaffney]. It is pretty much everybody. That leads to better execution and if you can execute more consistently than that will help over the long term. There are a lot of guys who can do it really good for one play but it goes back for one play. You want to do it well and right as often as possible so nothing inhibits you from scoring.
Q: You guys had huge numbers last year. Can you equal or better that this year?
TB: I don’t know what this year is going to call for. Hopefully if the other team scores 40 points we can score more than 40. Each game is going to be different. How ever many points we need to win, I hope that is what we score.
Q: Last year you said you felt 22 years old. How old do you feel this year?
TB: I feel 21. I feel like I am getting younger. My body feels really good and in great shape. My arm feels good. My mind feels good most importantly. We are ready to attack this season and see what we can make of it.
Q: Are you going to take some practices off and not throw like you did today?
TB: Yeah, because we have another practice this afternoon. For me, I don’t think it is important to throw twice a day. I want to make sure the reps I take are good reps. Two practices today is good for arm soreness. Some guys do it but for me over the long term it would be beneficial to pace it.
Q: On the first day of training camp what are you focused on most?
TB: I think it is whatever the drill calls for. If coach scripts the practice to work on the run game then we will work on the run game. If it is a conditioning drill then we will work on conditioning. Whatever coach asks us to do that is what we are going to do and do our best at it.
Q: You said your arm feels good but how does your ankle feel?
TB: Yeah it feels great. The ankle is great.
Q: How much fun was surfing?
TB: I am a terrible surfer. I swim and avoid waves. I don’t think I surf much.
Q: Did you get your parking spot?
TB: No, I gave it up. I didn’t compete for it this year. I am sure if I would have competed I would have won but I chose not to compete.
Q: Do you feel you needed a bigger vacation this year?
TB: No, I think there are other things that have come up in my life that I had to make choices on. One of the choices was to spend time away with things that I don’t get the opportunity to do in the off-season. It was not all vacation though.
Q: You don’t have to face your buddy Jason Taylor as often this season. How happy are you about that?
TB: Yeah. I think [Matt] Light and I popped a cold beer when I saw that transaction. We were the two most excited players in the NFL. I appreciate that very much and I let him know it as well.
Q: Would Matt Light admit that?
TB: Oh yeah. We were hugging each other. It was awesome.
Posted by Frank Carpano on 07/24 at 05:50 PM
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Pats return to camp - Belichick comments
Courtesy of the New England Patriots
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS HEAD COACH BILL BELICHICK
2008 TRAINING CAMP DAY ONE
July 24, 2008
BB: Stacey [James] just said that on the release that Rodney [Harrison] was not on the PUP List and he should have been so you can add him to that.
Anyway, it’s good to be out on the field and start training camp. We had the guys in yesterday and did some preliminary work; physicals, running tests and got some of that out of the way. Today is the first day we are really out on the field in pads going through drills, having contact work and starting a long road of building the base to get ready for the opener against Kansas City and the 16 game regular season schedule. As usual the emphasis on training camp will be on fundamentals and a lot of individual techniques. We spent a large amount of time in the spring going over game stuff, a lot of group things and a lot of non-contact work that we felt we could get done. [Work] that we thought would be very beneficial to the team and it was. I think the team has responded to that well. Now what we need to do is go through a lot of the individual stuff. The contact work, the hand placement, the feet, the leverage and a lot of one on one things like that so we can improve on those techniques and get those fundamentals down. Hopefully, those will carry us through the season. This is our time to work on them so that is where the real emphasis will be. We are in the training camp mode here. We have two practices today and we will just keep rolling here for a while and try to concentrate on one day at a time, one meeting a time. Put one foot in front of the other and just try to keep getting better on an individual technique fundamental basis. Then gradually blend things together from a team standpoint to get to the point where we can go out there and compete with some kind of efficiency in a couple weeks when we open up against Baltimore [Ravens]. That is where we are at. We have a long way to go. One step at a time and that’s the mode we are in right now.
Q: What goals have you set for yourself this year and for the team?
BB: The goal right now is to correct the mistakes we made this morning, talk about the stuff we are going to install this afternoon and go out there and work on that. We are going to try to have another good practice and string them together. Our focus right now is very short term.
Q: What does Dom Capers bring to this team?
BB: Dom brings a wealth of experience and on the defensive side of the ball. Also, as a head coach he has worked with a lot of young players through the course of his career and especially in the two expansion franchises he was with at the beginning of their operations. He has been in several different [3-4] schemes, Pittsburgh scheme, Miami scheme with Nick [Saban] and of course what he ran at Houston the past few years. Dom is very experienced in secondary and all around on defense. He has certainly made a lot of the head coaching and coordinator type decisions. He is a big asset from all those standpoints. I don’t know how everything will work going forward but certainly he has a lot of knowledge and experience to draw from. We have done that already and I’m sure we will continue to do that as we go forward through the course of the year.
Q: What did you see in Victor Hobson in how he would fit here?
BB: I think Victor is a good football player. We have played against him a lot when he has played with the [N.Y.] Jets. He has been an 80 percent playtime player the last couple of years although he played outside in that system. In Herman [Edwards] system before that he played in the [4-3] but he played more of an off the line type of position. That is more where he will play for us as an inside linebacker - more off the line of scrimmage than on it, where he played for the last couple of years. He is a smart kid, he’s fast, he’s tough and has been a very productive player. I feel like he can compete with some of the other players we have at that position and we will see out it all works out.
Q: You’re a student to the game…What have you learned about teams that have not been successful after a year in the Super Bowl and how will you apply what you’ve learned?
We have spent more time trying to look at ourselves like we do every year. What we did last year and how we can improve on that. Whether it be coaching, strategy, player acquisitions, scheme, whatever happens today. That is what we have done all the other years and that’s what we’ve done this year. We will try to build on some of the things we did last year, try to improve on some of the things we didn’t do as well and make adjustments from one season to the next, both from a scheme standpoint and from a personnel standpoint.
Q: Have you seen pitfalls in other teams who have been in your position coming off from a year like last year?
BB: I really haven’t focused on too much of that. I really don’t know what the specifics were for each one of those teams, what the dynamics were, what they were dealing with and so forth. After the ’96 season we weren’t here. We were in New York in ’97 so I can’t comment on that. Right now it’s really not about last year, it’s about this year and that is what we are going to concentrate on.
Q: What’s Ben Watson’s status?
BB: Watson’s status? There were several players that weren’t out there today. He is not on PUP. So what does that make him? Normal, I don’t know.
Q: How committed are you to the run game and making it a more balanced attack for this year?
BB: We’re are committed to scoring and trying to win games and whatever we can do to do that, that is what I am all for. I’m sure our offensive game plans will reflect that based on the teams we are playing and how we match up against them and what we feel like is best for that particular game plan. It is important to have balance in your offense with both running and passing, inside and outside, long and deep and to be able to attack the defense on a lot of different fronts. Sometimes it is better to do one thing or another depending on the match-ups you have against that team. That is all game-to-game, week-to-week decisions. As far as training camp goes, we work on everything. We want to be prepared to use all of our weapons and assets on offense. How we use them and when we use them that will be determined by game planning and game time decisions.
Q: What are you most excited about this season?
BB: As usual we put a lot of work into the off-season. We studied last year; we have made a lot of personnel adjustments, being in the draft, free agency - as you always do. Now it’s time to put it together, go to camp, put on the pads and start running plays. We will see how they look, make some adjustments, see if we can get them better and try to be competitive.
Q: Talk about the importance of getting Jerod Mayo on the field.
BB: We would like to have all the players on the field working as soon as possible. Whenever that is, then we will work with them.
Q: I saw Tank Williams filling in his [Mayo] position [line backer]. Is it because you are short players?
BB: We work with our players in a lot of different roles and different positions. That builds their depth and depth for our team. It builds depth for the player, versatility for each player and value to the team. We will do that with a lot of different guys. Certainly, Tank is a very versatile player. He has played in the secondary, he has played close to the line of scrimmage, he’s been productive in the kicking game, he can blitz and he can cover. How that will all work out, we will just have to see, but he can do a number of different things and we will work with him in those different roles.
Q: Richard Seymour said he’s been playing with one arm and one leg year to year. What does it mean for your defense to have him at 100 percent?
BB: Well, it is good to have all of our players and it is good to have them all 100 percent healthy.
That is the goal of every player, every coach and every team. Unfortunately, that is usually not the case. There are usually some issues that you are working around one way or another or an individual has to work around. That is part of the game too. We hope everyone is out there 100 percent ready to go without any restrictions or hindrances at all. We hope that for every player and I know that’s what every player hopes for too. That’s the point we are all trying to get to. As many as we can have in that situation the better off we will be.
Q: You have been pretty consistent about putting last year behind you. Is there anything at all…
BB: I don’t know. I am not really worried about last year anymore. We are just trying to have a good practice this morning, make the corrections this afternoon, put in some new stuff and go out and practice it tonight. So that is where we are.
Q: Who did you learn that philosophy from? To take things day to day and not look ahead at the big picture as a whole?
BB: What else would you do?
Q: Well, some people worry about what is going to happen 3 months down the road.
BB: What, are we going to sit here and talk about November? We don’t even know who is going to be playing in November. For us or them, whoever it is. I am just saying, I don’t know. Our deal is what is in front of us and what is behind us we can’t do anything about. What is in front of us, we will get to it eventually but right now we have a lot of other stuff we need to tackle and deal with. I guess if I learned that from anybody it would probably be my Dad.
Q: Nick Kaczur wasn’t out there today. Are you happy with the result of the legal matter?
BB: Well, it is a legal matter that we don’t have any control over. Whatever it is, that is a matter between a player and whatever part of the legal procedure that player is involved with at that time. Sometimes it changes. If it affects us than we will deal with it and if it doesn’t than the player deals with it. If there is any discipline than all that is handles internally between the player and the club like it always is.
Q: Is that why he was not out there today?
BB: No. I didn’t say that. I’m just telling you that is the procedure that we have. Any discipline between a player and a club is handled internally between the player and the club regardless of what player it is. That is the way we do it.
Q: Personally is this a special day to you?
Actually, yesterday was the first day of camp. It was the first day everyone came in but it’s good to get out on the field. We had our practices in the spring and it was good to see the team start to formulate, come together and work together. I understand for you it is the first day of the football season. For us the first day of the season was probably the Monday after the Super Bowl when you start making personnel decisions, then head into free agency, start getting ready for the draft and then start getting ready for Spring camps. For me the 2008 season started back in February and it’s an on going process. Training camp is an important part of the process but there has been a lot of work done leading up to yesterday and today by myself, by the staff, by the players, by strength and conditioning, trainers, rehab and so forth. We are pretty well into the year. I don’t mean to be disrespectful but it’s not like we rolled out the ball today and were like okay let’s start-playing football. We have been at it for a while and this is just another step in the process. An important one but another one.
Q: It didn’t seem like Tom [Brady] threw the ball all that much. Is there a reason for that or is it just the way it worked out?
BB: We have a long training camp and we will have players doing different things on different days. They will work on different positions and have different workloads. Some of that is managed as you go and some of that is the way you start camp. Each player is in their own individual situation, whatever that happens to be. Some guys do more than others, some guys do less, some guys are practicing some guys aren’t, some guys are practicing at different positions and so forth and so on. The composite of it is trying to get the team ready for the pre-season games, evaluate certain things in pre-season and try to get the team ready for the season opener against Kansas City and our 16 game regular season schedule. It is all part of a mosaic. What is best for the team, what is best for the player and all the situations are handled pretty independently.
Q: Is Tom [Brady] at a point in his career where he doesn’t need to be here?
BB: I think it is important for every player to do everything they can to be ready for the season. I think Tom did everything he can to be ready for the season. I’d like to think that everyone else did that as well. There is probably some that could have done a little bit more than they did but that is always the case. I think Tom is well prepared for the season. I think he will be ready to go but he still has a long way to go too just like everyone else.
Q: Can you clarify the situation with Nick [Kaczur]?
BB: He is on PUP. I don’t know how it could be any clearer than that. We can all read the PUP rules and all that. Basically, ready to practice is ready to practice and that encompasses a lot of different things. When they are ready to practice they are out there and when they are not ready to practice then at the beginning of camp they are on PUP and if they are not on PUP then they are not ready to practice and they are doing something else than the rest of the team practice.
There is some reason why those players on that list [PUP] are not participating, some physical reason why they are not participating.
Q: Is [Mayo] going to be ready to play this evening?
BB: We just got off the field. It sounds like they are getting pretty close but until they are done; to me they are not done. So when they are done, we will let you know. At this point, they are not done. When it is done we will let you know.
Q: Will signing [Jerod] Mayo put the roster at 80?
BB: In order to add him, we will have to create a roster spot.
Posted by Frank Carpano on 07/24 at 05:49 PM
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Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Bits and Pieces 7-9-08
by: Frank Carpano
• Interesting debate going on on sportstalk radio. Should the Red Sox pursue signing Barry Bonds. The discussion, sparked rumors and ultimately a denial by Sox manager Terry Francona who admitted yesterday on the Rome is Buring TV Show that it was just a rumor
• I can’t imagine Bonds in a Red Sox uniform. This ownership group impresses me as always trying to do things in a politically correct way. Signing Bonds would be controversial. And the Boston media would feast on it.
• The other interesting topic being discussed on sportstalk radio; Would you trade Manny Ramirez? Manny has 2 club option years after this season. Each year is worth 20 million dollars to Ramirez. He is obviously not having the kind of year that deserves a 20 million dollar salary. But who do you get to replace him?
• Lasalle Academy’s 14 year old golfing sensation Juliet Vongphoumy got to tee it up this week at the Rhode Island Amateur. Unlike the high school boys state championship she won, Juliet will not be able to play from the women’s tees. She finished the 2-day 36 hole stroke play portion of the event at 19 over par. Not great, but better than 36 other men who competed with her!
• It always amazes me how this small state of Rhode Island produces more than its share of world class athletes. North Kingstown’s Elizabeth Beisel is the latest example. This 15 year old qualified for 2 Olympic swim events at the recent US Trials. She’ll be in Beijing next month.
• If you’re headed to the Summer Olympics and looking for accomodations…you may want to try to land one of the more than one-thousand households providing rooms for foreign visitors during the Olympic Games. “olympic Families” must offer a spare bedroom, basic toilet and shower facilities and at least one English-speaking family member. Guests get 3 meals a day…their host will take them to see tourist sites like the Great Wall free of charge….The nightly rate for room and board….100 yaun or 14 dollars and 50 cents. What a deal. But beware, a quick check of roundtrip airfare on US Airways (Boston to Beijing) will set you back 7500.
Posted by Frank Carpano on 07/08 at 09:36 PM
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