Belichick isn't horsing around

FOXBOROUGH -- When Patriots players gathered in the middle of the week to begin preparations for today's game against the Lions, coach Bill Belichick let it rip.

He detailed the high expectations he has for the team. Told his charges not to be content. Reminded them that a five-turnover performance like last week's will usually result in a loss. Added that a 17-point effort on offense isn't enough.

Belichick often describes each NFL season as a horse race, and this was his way of playing jockey. He grabbed the whip and struck it repeatedly with a message that the homestretch was in sight, and it's time to open it up.

Tom Brady called it one of the toughest speeches Belichick has delivered to the team.

So when the Patriots take the field today against the Lions at Gillette Stadium, they will essentially be competing against two things: an underwhelming 2-9 Detroit team looking to spring an upset, and their own high expectations.

Asked why he was so hard on the team, Belichick said he was simply doing what he always does: getting the squad ready to face another tough opponent.

Then he took a dig at himself.

"Everybody knows I'm a pretty happy-go-lucky, easygoing coach," he cracked. "I guess I must have really made an impression if I came down hard on them."

One theme that reverberated throughout the week was ball security. The Patriots have fumbled eight times over their last two games, losing four, and now have 20 fumbles on the season, tied for fifth most in the NFL. They have lost 10 of those fumbles. Toss in 11 interceptions and the team has a concerning 21 giveaways.

Of the 11 teams with 21 or more giveaways, only three have winning records: the Patriots (8-3), Seahawks (7-4), and Bears (9-2).

"We've had a hard time keeping control of the football," said Brady, who appeared to send his own hard-nosed message to teammates by not having quarterbacks wear red noncontact jerseys in practice.

"The best offenses in the league tend to keep the ball, possess it at the end of every play, and we just haven't been very good at that through these first 11 games."

Fullback Heath Evans and rookie running back Laurence Maroney echoed that the Patriots have given opponents an opening to believe they can create turnovers.

"It's no different than a scheme run that we might put in to attack a team's weakness," Evans said. "If it appears to other teams that we're lax in ball security, we have to know they're going to come after us."

Maroney indicated he was poked and prodded throughout the week, reminded to keep the ball high and tight at all times. "It's been one of our real focuses," he said.

The other focus, of course, has been the horse race and rising to the challenge that Belichick presented the team in the middle of the week. The coach later mentioned the 2001 season as one example, referring to it as the Breeders' Cup and noting that the Patriots were 6-5 and in the middle of the pack at what he called the "three-quarter pole."

"It really didn't make much difference," he said. "It's the team that crossed the finish line first. I think there's a lot of truth to that.

"The games at the end of the season, at this point, every one of them is a big game. There's a lot at stake. This week against Detroit. Each succeeding week. They're all big."