Tuesday Daily Rundown 5/3: Morning New England Patriots News and Notes
Greg M. Cooper - USA TODAY Sports
Here’s a look at this morning’s rundown on this Tuesday.
Scarnecchia Talks About His Return – The Patriots are hoping that the return of Dante Scarnecchia revitalizes a pretty stagnant group on the offensive line, and it sounds like the last couple of years off have helped revitalize Scarnecchia a bit as well.
New England’s offensive line coach said he enjoyed the time off away from the long hours involved, but he missed the game.
“I didn’t miss the routine,” Scarnecchia said via NESN. “I was reminded of the routine when I got back and the second day we were in a 14-hour personnel meeting. I said, ‘Oh, my God.’ But that’s all right.”
When it comes to the amount of preparation put in by the coaching staff for an organization that hasn’t won fewer than 10 games since 2002, there’s obviously some long hours and preparation. Scarnecchia had been a part of all of it over those years and obviously it took its toll.
There are long days in the office. There are long nights. After retiring he had spent the last couple of years traveling and enjoying time with his wife and his grandchildren. The NFL lifestyle obviously isn’t conducive to family life, and that’s been one of the things that he admitted was hard to let go of.
Fortunately after getting some time away he’s slowly getting back into the routine. After a couple years off, he’s ready to go.
“I love coaching football,” said Scarnecchia. “I didn’t retire because I didn’t like coaching football. I retired because I got tired of the lifestyle. Two years off, I’m OK.”
Steve Belichick Wants to Be Just Like His Dad – Seeing the ascent through the coaching ranks of Bill Belichick’s son Steve has been fun to watch, and listening to him talk about his new position on Monday was pretty interesting.
Considering his father is a future Hall of Fame coach, the expectations are obviously pretty high for someone who has started from the bottom and worked his way up, much like his dad did over his career. The young Belichick has since taken on the role of safeties coach and when you listen to how he got to where he is, the attitude obviously sounds very familiar.
“Just kept my mouth shut and learned. Everybody in this building is smarter than I am,” Steve Belichick told Patriots.com when discussing his experience.
“It’s been cool. Obviously I love my dad,” Belichick said. “He’s my role model. He’s my idol. I want to be just like him. I have since I knew what an idol was.”
It’s been great to see and the players seem to think highly of him, with Devin McCourty offering up praise following the promotion of the coach’s son.
“It’s been cool for me, just to see how much he’s developed and worked hard and it seems like he’s always here so he’s very excited to be the safety coach and have a good group coming,” McCourty told Mike Reiss of ESPN last month. “We have some leaders and guys that are definitely going to try and help him out as much as possible.”
For now he’s just working hard and trying to get better every day. He’s earned the respect of guys in the locker room and now it’s just a matter of continuing to get comfortable in his new role.
“I’m just gonna bring myself, bring my energy, bring my excitement, my hard work,” said Belichick. “I’m just excited to get in there. It’s so new. I just have to feel it all out.”
He’s come a long way and it would be cool to see him eventually grow into a head coach, which you’d think won’t happen for quite a few years. The good news is, it sounds like he’s certainly headed in the right direction.
Cooper in a make-or-break year – when the Patriots acquired Jonathan Cooper in the trade of Chandler Jones from the Cardinals, there was obviously some question about his future given his current contract situation.
On Monday Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reported that Cooper’s future for now only involves the 2016 season, as the team reportedly won’t pick up his option and that will make the veteran a free agent after this season.
The decision obviously makes sense given the size of the option ($11 million) and the injury history he’s had during his short time in the league. He joins what should be a pretty competitive group heading into training camp, and it’s his chance to prove his worth playing for a team where he’s sure to get recognition if he can rise to the challenge.
The move puts the ball firmly in Cooper’s court as he’ll be playing 2016 with his future in mind, which should hopefully allow the Patriots to cash in on the former first round pick’s motivation for a future payday.
Hundreds Honor Former DT Brace – And finally we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the fact that Monday saw hundreds come and say good bye to former Patriots defensive tackle Ron Brace.
Brace, who passed away a week ago Saturday at the age of 29, was laid to rest on Monday as friends and loved ones were on hand at the St. John’s Congregational Church in Springfield.
According to WesternMassNews.com there were so many people on hand that the church needed to add an overflow room as so many people came out to honor a man who clearly made a positive impact in the community.
“Very awesome young man, very awesome. He gave back to his community, never turned his back on Springfield. He was always here. I’m really going to miss you Ron,” said Gregory Harris, a family friend said via the website.
Our thoughts go out to his friends and family, and we shared this before but here’s a video we found of Brace working with local school kids from a few years ago when Brace visited a school in NH to help teach kids about nutrition. He was a big person with an even bigger heart, and he also had a smile that certainly brightened up the room and it’s definitely very sad that he was lost so young.
Posted Under: Daily Patriots Rundown
