Patriots Start Preparing For Saints

[Ian]

One week of camp is gone, and now the Patriots will start working toward actually preparing to face their first opponent, with the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints coming to Foxboro next week for joint practices.

Patriots Start Preparing for The Saints :Ian's New England Patriots Blog

 

[jmt57]

Bill Belichick spoke extensively today about the logistics and what to expect this week.

It Is What It Is Bill Belichick Q&A, 8/9

Q: Logistically, how is it going to work Tuesday and Wednesday with the Saints here? Is everything going to be together?
BB: We’re going to start apart at the beginning of practice and warm up and go through whatever individual periods or drills or group periods each team wants to do and then we’ll come together and start working, probably about maybe one third of the way through practice and then we’ll work together the rest of the way.

Q: Will there be an actual scrimmage where your players are being signaled in off the sidelines or more seven-on-seven?
BB: No, it will be a combination of both. We’ll do some individual drills. We’ll do some group drills and then we’ll do some team drills – offense, defense, special teams. I think we will get a chance to look at everybody.

Q: Will you script everything? Will you know what offense or defense they’re going to run every play?
BB: No. No, we’ll do down-and-distance situations. We’ll play those situations however we play them and they’ll play them however they would play them.

Q: Do you want to go live with tackling?
BB: We’ll probably practice at team tempo that I think both teams use.

 

[Kontradiction]

I think this is a great idea. We have a lot of youth on both sides of the ball and there's not a better team to practice with/learn from right now than the Saints.

 

[jmt57]

BostonHerald.com - Blogs: Rap Sheet Blog Archive Alge Crumpler sees the upcoming practice sessions with the Saints as an early chance to bond

Crumpler endorses having these kind of intrasquad workouts.

”I’ve done it. It’s good. You get different looks . . . you get tired of banging the same guys every single day,” he said. ”I think it’s good for the league that teams can come in and get good work.”

Perhaps the best element, is the bonding aspect. As Crumpler said, instead of going at it with your teammates, you finally get to join forces and lock arms against an opponent.


”Everything right now has been (our) offense vs. (our) defense,” he said. ”Now you come together as a team, and work against another team, and get a good early look at how you stack up against other competition versus having to wait it out during the season.”

What kind of tempo might these practices take on?

”Whatever tempo the coaches set. We don’t have any expectations,” Crumpler said. ”We just come out and do what the coaches ask us to do. If it’s full speed high intensity, we’ll go from there. If not, we’ll adjust off of that.”

 

[sbpatfan]

I hope we're more prepared than last time!

 

[SilverBullet]

Love the Patriots, but the Saints have the momentum going into it. Drew is nasty. Hope Brady is up to the challenge

 

[Sicilian]

Love the Patriots, but the Saints have the momentum going into it. Drew is nasty. Hope Brady is up to the challenge

The game is meaningless. Sure you try to win, but neither of these teams will look the same in the regular season.

 

[Patspsycho]

Great thing about this type of competition is that it's full pads and probably full contact except for the QB's and select players (e.g., Welker). Great way for the rookies to get immersed, while protecting certain players, and developing chemistry all at the same time.

 

[BornNraisedWhoDat]

Hello Pats Fans!!

Saints Fan here (I come in peace)

Us Saints Fans are pretty amped about the up coming joint practice and pre-season game against that Pats. We feel it would be good to break the monotony of practicing against each other, plus as you know its get reeeeally hot down here and Im sure the guys could use a break from the tropical heat.

I am totally looking forward to it. I think Bill Belichick is one of if not the best coach in the league. I love our Brees but he still has a ways to go to catch up to Brady. Sean Payton had built our team using the model you guys use, as far as having depth at skill positions, and building your team through all phases (draft, FA, UDFA, and trades).

Anyways, I wanted to know if any of you guys will be there to post observations of the practice. A lot of us fans would like to get different view points on how our team if performing. Also, do you guys know the twitters for your different beat writers that cover the Pats? We football fans are dying for some football and ready to eat up any info we can get. :singing:

 

[Kontradiction]

Hello Pats Fans!!

Saints Fan here (I come in peace)

Us Saints Fans are pretty amped about the up coming joint practice and pre-season game againsts that Pats. We feel it would be good to break the monotany of practicing against each other, plus as you know its get reeeeally hot down here and Im sure the guys could use a break from the tropical heat.

I am totally looking forward to it. I think Bill Belichick is one of if not the best coach in the league. I love our Brees but he still has a ways to go to catch up to Brady. Sean Payton had built our team using the model you guys use, as far as having depth at skill positions, and building your team through all phases (draft, FA, UDFA, and trades).

Anyways, I wanted to know if any of you guys will be there to post observations of the practice. A lot of us fans would like to get different view points on how our team if performing. Also, do you guys know the twitters for you different beat writers that cover the Pats? We football fans are dying for some football and eat up any info we can get. :singing:

A lot of fans do practice observations here and I'm sure there will be more than a few that will make observations on how the Saints look as well as the Pats. You can also check out this website: Official Patriots Football Weekly Blog. That's the Patriots Football Weekly blog which has, IMO, the best training camp breakdown of the Pats. If the Saints are practicing with them, then they'll also be doing observations of your boys as well. Oh, and...

:welcome:

 

[QB12]

I love Alge's attitude.

 

[patsfan-1982]

i cant wait for the game 3 guys ill have my eye on are


#1 Jermaine Cunningham,
#2 Darius Butler,
#3 Myron Pryor,

 

[BornNraisedWhoDat]

A lot of fans do practice observations here and I'm sure there will be more than a few that will make observations on how the Saints look as well as the Pats. You can also check out this website: Official Patriots Football Weekly Blog. That's the Patriots Football Weekly blog which has, IMO, the best training camp breakdown of the Pats. If the Saints are practicing with them, then they'll also be doing observations of your boys as well. Oh, and...

:welcome:

Thanks KontradictioN!! This will help. I will be hanging out here for the next few days then.

 

[jmt57]

It Is What It Is Bodden on Saints: We were better than that

“Definitely, definitely it’ll be a good test for us. Super Bowl champs, they’re passing attack was great last year and I’m pretty sure they’re fine-tuning it and we’re fine-tuning our defense.


“I think we were [good] last year but we just didn’t show it that game,” Bodden said. “We didn’t come out the way we wanted to. This year we’re focused, and we’re ready for the challenge and we’re ready to practice hard against them and just compete, something we didn’t do a very good job of last year and we’re definitely focused on that this year.”


“My first couple of years in Cleveland, we scrimmaged Buffalo,” Bodden recalled Monday. “It’s definitely intense. As a young guy, I was a free agent so I had to make a name for myself so I was doing anything and everything to show the coaches I could compete at the highest level.”

 

[BradyFTW!]

Hello Pats Fans!!

Saints Fan here (I come in peace)

Us Saints Fans are pretty amped about the up coming joint practice and pre-season game against that Pats. We feel it would be good to break the monotony of practicing against each other, plus as you know its get reeeeally hot down here and Im sure the guys could use a break from the tropical heat.

I am totally looking forward to it. I think Bill Belichick is one of if not the best coach in the league. I love our Brees but he still has a ways to go to catch up to Brady. Sean Payton had built our team using the model you guys use, as far as having depth at skill positions, and building your team through all phases (draft, FA, UDFA, and trades).

Anyways, I wanted to know if any of you guys will be there to post observations of the practice. A lot of us fans would like to get different view points on how our team if performing. Also, do you guys know the twitters for your different beat writers that cover the Pats? We football fans are dying for some football and ready to eat up any info we can get. :singing:

What is it about Saints fans and being overwhelmingly cool? No complaints from me, definitely a welcome break from Jets trolls.

I'm definitely looking forward to the scrimmages, for all the reasons that have already been mentioned but also because it will give Bill O'Brien and whoever's calling the plays on D some great practice work against some of the best playcallers in the league.

 

[jmt57]

What is it about Saints fans and being overwhelmingly cool? No complaints from me, definitely a welcome break from Jets trolls.

I'm definitely looking forward to the scrimmages, for all the reasons that have already been mentioned but also because it will give Bill O'Brien and whoever's calling the plays on D some great practice work against some of the best playcallers in the league.

Yeah, I agree; maybe it's a southern-hospitality thing. Last year the best people to interact with were the Saints and Falcons fans in the weeks leading up to those two games. For some reason I don't expect things to be on that same level when the schedule rotation results in the Pats playing the NFC East teams next year.

 

[BornNraisedWhoDat]

What is it about Saints fans and being overwhelmingly cool? No complaints from me, definitely a welcome break from Jets trolls.

I'm definitely looking forward to the scrimmages, for all the reasons that have already been mentioned but also because it will give Bill O'Brien and whoever's calling the plays on D some great practice work against some of the best playcallers in the league.

Shoot man, none of us Saints fans ever had a problem with the Patriots. It's the Cowboys, Vikings, and Falcons I cant stand. Their fans are just whiny and classless. I met some Pats fans on Bourbon St. after the MNF game last year, and we had a blast. I bought them a few drinks.

Anyway, how is Aarron Hernandez looking in camp so far? I was hoping we drafted him but we wound up taking the TE Jimmy Graham in the 3rd, which has worked out well so far. But I am just interested in Hernandez and how he is making out. I had early feelings that he would be a play maker.

 

[SammyBlueCat]

What is it about Saints fans and being overwhelmingly cool? No complaints from me, definitely a welcome break from Jets trolls.

They had to wait a long time for their shot at glory so that made their Football culture humble and mature even if the actual poster is a young person.

 

[jmt57]

Shoot man, none of us Saints fans ever had a problem with the Patriots. It's the Cowboys, Vikings, and Falcons I cant stand. Their fans are just whiny and classless. I met some Pats fans on Bourbon St. after the MNF game last year, and we had a blast. I bought them a few drinks.

Anyway, how is Aarron Hernandez looking in camp so far? I was hoping we drafted him but we wound up taking the TE Jimmy Graham in the 3rd, which has worked out well so far. But I am just interested in Hernandez and how he is making out. I had early feelings that he would be a play maker.

Most of the training camp reports have been very positive. Obviously rookies are going to have their learning curve, but we're all looking forward to watching him play in a real (okay, pre-season) game. Apparently they've had him in the WR group as well as the TE group for coaching and drills, which would make sense in order to take advantage of his skills and talents.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Shoot man, none of us Saints fans ever had a problem with the Patriots. It's the Cowboys, Vikings, and Falcons I cant stand. Their fans are just whiny and classless. I met some Pats fans on Bourbon St. after the MNF game last year, and we had a blast. I bought them a few drinks.

Anyway, how is Aarron Hernandez looking in camp so far? I was hoping we drafted him but we wound up taking the TE Jimmy Graham in the 3rd, which has worked out well so far. But I am just interested in Hernandez and how he is making out. I had early feelings that he would be a play maker.

By all accounts, Hernandez has looked great so far, and he and Brady are developing some real chemistry. I'm tempering my expectations, him being a rookie and all, but in the next couple years I'm really optimistic there.

How's Patrick Robinson looking for you guys? Reports on McCourty have been pretty much as expected (nothing alarming, nothing amazing), and it'll be curious to follow the career trajectories of McCourty, Robinson, and Kyle Wilson over the next couple of years. Your offense is so loaded, the idea of even getting an upgrade at nickel back on your defense seems pretty filthy.