In his head, Bill Belichick has moved on. The NFL lockout ambles by with no end in sight, as the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that the lockout will stay in place until the appeal is heard June 3. The situation continues to infuriate fans. Meanwhile, the Patriots coach has done his best to prepare for the newest realities. As Belichick recently disclosed to the Herald, he has gone from gearing up for offseason activities that almost certainly won’t exist to focusing on a training camp schedule that hopefully will.
“At one point, we had to prepare for the offseason program, and that’s not really a part of it now,” Belichick said. “We talked about some kind of minicamp or (organized team activities), but now, we just turn our attention to training camp and get our teaching and organization straight there.”
Interviewed before the stay was granted, Belichick spoke with resigned sadness. He hates uncertainty, spending endless energy in planning to eliminate it. But he can’t fix the lockout. Instead, he’s done his homework to improve in other areas, such as game-planning for new opponents on the schedule and “a few other little projects” that he believes eventually will serve the team. He’s cracked open his list of possible free agents, veterans and undrafted players, though he’s forbidden from contacting them. And he’s accepted the assumption that, without an offseason, he’ll have to reduce the size of his offensive and defensive playbooks.
“Whatever the time frame is, if it’s less than what we’re used to having, which I agree it seems like it’s going to be, (we’ll adjust),” Belichick said. “We’ll have to take the windows that we have to teach things and try to see how much we feel realistically we can get done. Something’s going to have to go, I would think. The progression’s got to stay the same, but the breadth of that amount of installation could be subject to being trimmed back, maybe drastically.”
