Wilfork eager to tackle second season
FOXBOROUGH -- Just because it's called a ''passing camp" doesn't mean the big uglies can't get involved.
Patriots nose tackle Vince Wilfork said despite the name, the team's offseason practice sessions, one of which concluded with yesterday morning's workout, are just as important to linemen as to skill position players.
''A lot of people hear passing camp and think it's just for the receivers and defensive backs, but the whole team is out there," Wilfork said. ''We don't have to catch a ball for us to be at passing camp."
According to Wilfork, the latest four-day camp consisted mostly of drills to improve technique and even involved working on reads, philosophies, and blocking schemes.
Getting in shape isn't part of the program. In the modern NFL, players are expected to be in shape year-round.
Wilfork, who played at about 325 pounds his rookie season, tips the scale at 330, and vows to be a bit lighter when the season begins in September.
''I want to play somewhere around 315, 320 this year, and it's going to happen," Wilfork said. ''I think being that light, I'll be more effective. Weight is not an issue. That's irrelevant. When somebody talks about weight, I look at them and laugh."
Accordingly, Wilfork spends more time looking at film than scales. After sharing time last season on the nose of the Patriots' 3-4 defense with recently released Keith Traylor, Wilfork expects more responsibility in what he hopes will be a breakout second year.
''My main thing is I have to get better from the last time I stepped on the field," Wilfork said. ''Looking at film, there are a lot of things I could have done a lot better. I know I'll be better this year because I know [the defense] in and out. I'm starting to understand the whole defense, not just my position.
''It's tough, but it's starting to come. I think through training camp and two-a-days I'll have it down pat."
An important positive is defensive coordinator Eric Mangini can ask Wilfork about the positioning of ends and linebackers on particular defensive plays and he is able to answer. He couldn't do that a year ago.
Wilfork, who started six games in 2004, even surprised himself by how much he retained from the end of the season. He feels far more comfortable in his second year in the Patriots' offseason program than he did in a whirlwind spring and summer after being a first-round draft pick.
''I thought I'd be a lot rustier, have a lot of kinks to work out, but I really don't," he said. ''I picked up right where I left off and I can't do anything but add on from that.
''It's not like I'm blindfolded, where I'm a rookie coming in and basically I don't know what I'm doing. I've been in this system for a year now, so I know exactly the things I need to work on."
