Reiss: Pats likely to stay on west coast during both trips

[DaBruinz]

I know this was a big topic of contention when the schedule was announced. Some, like myself, believed that the Pats would stay on the West Coast rather than flying back and forth, and some believed that Belichick wouldn't "break his routine" by forcing players to stay out there.

Here is what Mike Reiss had to say today in his mail bag:
http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/extras/askreiss/06_10_08/?page=8

The Patriots have four West Coast games this year. Both times they are back to back. Do you think, on either occasion, the team will stay on the West Coast during the week?
Rocco
A: Rocco, I think the Patriots will stay out west both times. The Dolphins did that back in 2004 and found it to be beneficial.

It makes sense. And Belichick DOES have connections in California (Fresno St anyone?) where the team could practice.

 

[NEPatriot]

Re: Reiss: Pats likely to stay on west coast during both trips.

you can take a bus to go to Oakland or SanFrancisco from Sandiego or vice versa.

 

[BelichickFan]

Re: Reiss: Pats likely to stay on west coast during both trips.

A few people seemed to think I was nuts when I presumed this would be the case but it stood out like a sore thumb to me; so much so that I think Kraft requested the back to back games given such a bizarre schedule. The odds of it just working out this way don't, and didn't, make sense to me.

 

[BelichickFan]

Re: Reiss: Pats likely to stay on west coast during both trips.

you can take a bus to go to Oakland or SanFrancisco from Sandiego or vice versa.

That would be a hefty 7 or so hour bus ride - I would hope we could afford to fly them up

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

Re: Reiss: Pats likely to stay on west coast during both trips.

That would be a hefty 7 or so hour bus ride - I would hope we could afford to fly them up

They fly to the Jets and that is a lot closer. So I expect they will fly for this as well.

 

[NEPatriot]

Re: Reiss: Pats likely to stay on west coast during both trips.

That would be a hefty 7 or so hour bus ride - I would hope we could afford to fly them up

We play 49 on week 5 and chargers on week 6.I think that we will use Sandiago University football field for our preparation.

 

[BelichickFan]

Re: Reiss: Pats likely to stay on west coast during both trips.

We play 49 on week 5 and chargers on week 6.I think that we will use Sandiago University football field for our preparation.

There's a good number of choices. USD, SDSU down there, or as DaBruinz said, Fresno State is close to SF so they could stay up there. It should work out well.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Re: Reiss: Pats likely to stay on west coast during both trips.

This is just Mike's opinion in June. Belichick said they would talk about it and see how the players felt. Football is a little unique in that guys tend to only be away from home 1 night a week in 8 weeks of a 16 week season. They don't go on extended road trips. Their families tend not to travel with the team for that reason. And families tend to live in the area in season. I would imagine it will discussed at length inside and outside of the locker room. Players will have a day and a half of down time, and families concerns may complicate the equation.

 

[Pats726]

Re: Reiss: Pats likely to stay on west coast during both trips.

The one thing is..it's a real option...maybe they will do it week 4 and 5...see how it goes...and if it's NOT helpful will do it another way later in the season..Seat-Oak... I think it beats back and forth travel..I think they may do it. Males real sense..

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Re: Reiss: Pats likely to stay on west coast during both trips.

This is just Mike's opinion in June. Belichick said they would talk about it and see how the players felt. Football is a little unique in that guys tend to only be away from home 1 night a week in 8 weeks of a 16 week season. They don't go on extended road trips. Their families tend not to travel with the team for that reason. And families tend to live in the area in season. I would imagine it will discussed at length inside and outside of the locker room. Players will have a day and a half of down time, and families concerns may complicate the equation.

My guess is that that conversation has already happened, and the veterans are probably OK with staying out west. Think about it for a second: if they're going to have to play four games out west, wouldn't it have been better for them to have those games spaced out, rather than clustered the way they are?

 

[LA Pats Fan]

Re: Reiss: Pats likely to stay on west coast during both trips.

The Cowboys had a facility in Ventura County.
It is about 1/2 way between SF and SD

It is also a very good climate - ocean breezes keeps it cool and it is away from any disctractions - players will have to drive 2 hours to get into any trouble.

 

[DarrylS]

Re: Reiss: Pats likely to stay on west coast during both trips.

It is what is best for the team, and this is what is best for the players.. makes a lot of sense.. it is unusual, but thank Goodell and his minions for this.

 

[BelichickFan]

Re: Reiss: Pats likely to stay on west coast during both trips.

My guess is that that conversation has already happened, and the veterans are probably OK with staying out west.

I firmly believe the conversation happened before Kraft requested the back to back west coasters, which I also firmly believe happened. I'm not going to be a geek and start throwing out numbers but I'm not a big believer in coincidences and back to back west coast games twice is too much coincidence for me.

 

[DaBruinz]

I hope that when they release the schedules for the next 8 years after 2009, they break up the NFC West and AFC West so that the AFC East and NFC east don't have to face them both in the same season.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

I hope that when they release the schedules for the next 8 years after 2009, they break up the NFC West and AFC West so that the AFC East and NFC east don't have to face them both in the same season.

Actually, because of the way the math works, that's impossible to avoid (cycle of 3 in-conference v. cycle of 4 out); to be precise, it happens once every 12 years.

Moreover, the reason for the WC bonanza is the way the NFL pre-scheduled the division matches. Each division is listed alphabetically, and then divided in pairs. For convenience's sake, I'll call the first pair "A" and the second pair "B".

AFC East: Buffalo, Miami * New England, New York
AFC West: Denver, Kansas City * Oakland, San Diego
NFC West: Arizona, S(ain)t Louis * San Francisco, Seattle

The A pair then plays the A pair from another division on the road and the B pair at home, or vice versa.

Un/fortunately, it just so happens that in both West divisions, the "A" pair is inland and the "B" pair on the coast. So, this year, the Bills and the 'lphins have road trips to DEN, KC, ARI, and STL, while the Pats and JEST have road trips to OAK, SD, SF, and SEA.

Assuming the schedule remains more-or-less unchanged, in 2020, the situation will occur again, but it'll be BUF and MIA making the four West Coast trips. The next time the Pats would have to worry about for WC trips would be 2032.

Of course, there's the other option of rearranging the pairs, so that every team would be guaranteed one WC trip and one non-WC trip when playing a West division (e.g., make "A" ARI/SF and "B" STL/SEA).

 

[Fanfrom1960]

Re: Reiss: Pats likely to stay on west coast during both trips.

That would be a hefty 7 or so hour bus ride - I would hope we could afford to fly them up

More like 10 hours. It's about 500 miles from SD to either SF or Oakland, and getting through LA is always a *****.

 

[JoePats]

Re: Reiss: Pats likely to stay on west coast during both trips.

This is just Mike's opinion in June. Belichick said they would talk about it and see how the players felt. Football is a little unique in that guys tend to only be away from home 1 night a week in 8 weeks of a 16 week season. They don't go on extended road trips. Their families tend not to travel with the team for that reason. And families tend to live in the area in season. I would imagine it will discussed at length inside and outside of the locker room. Players will have a day and a half of down time, and families concerns may complicate the equation.

Two things...

1) I'm sure Mike doesn't answer all the questions in his mailbag, so that he picked this one out and answered it, especially since this is kind of a random question at this time, I'm guessing he got the "likely to do so" from someone within the organization.

2) Also, the players are technically away from home before every game, since they stay in a team hotel before home games too.

 

[spacecrime]

Re: Reiss: Pats likely to stay on west coast during both trips.

The Cowboys had a facility in Ventura County.
It is about 1/2 way between SF and SD

THis is a better bet if Kraft can talk Jones into it.

Use of a college facility is doubtful as the games will be in the height of the college season.

 

[3rd & Long]

Maybe the whole team could stay at Junior's house (or Rodney's if he still lives here in SD).

 

[Zeke_Mowatt]

Can't they just call Pete Carroll and crash at his place?