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August 21, 2007
5 from Foxborough
FOXBOROUGH – Patriots coach Bill Belichick held his daily press conference (11:15 a.m.) and the media had access to the locker room after that (11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m.).
Here are five nuggets from the scene here at Gillette Stadium:
1) Sanders elevates to top group. When asked how safeties Rodney Harrison and Eugene Wilson complement each other, coach Bill Belichick noted that they do indeed play well together. At the same time, he offered an unsolicited compliment to James Sanders, saying that he is part of the top-3 mix at safety. “I think we’re at the point now that whichever two of those three [players] are in there together, all the communication is pretty good,” he said.
2) Seau and “Lucky”. What was going on at Junior Seau’s locker, as he had various Post-It notes with the word “Lucky” written on them? Well, it turns out Seau made a defensive call during Friday’s preseason game against the Titans, but it wasn’t picked up by one of the team’s defensive linemen. Presumably, the call was “Lucky.” So Seau wrote the word on about eight different Post-It notes and posted them in the locker of the defensive lineman who missed his call. The notes ended up back in Seau’s locker, which was OK with him. “I guess he got the message,” Seau joked.
3) Maroney ready to roll. Running back Laurence Maroney drew the largest media crowd in the locker room and said he was looking forward to playing on Friday night. It would mark his first game action of the preseason. “Just to get back into the groove of things and just to go out there and catch the speed of the game,” he said. "I need the game reps. You can't get game speed out there in practice, no matter how fast you go."
4) Focus on the Panthers. Coach Bill Belichick said the team’s focus was narrowing on the team’s opponent Friday night, the Carolina Panthers. This is different than Monday as the team had some other balls in the air. Belichick opened his press conference by noting: “We’re really into Carolina today. We did some training camp kind of things yesterday, generic things, but we’re into Carolina today. They are a real talented football team. Defensively, they have a lot of good players. They were one of the top defensive teams the last few years and they’re an explosive offensive team, especially at the running back position. Experienced quarterback [Jake Delhomme]. [Receiver] Steve Smith. Solid in the kicking game. This will be a good test for us down there. We’ve been down there a couple times in the preseason and we’ve had trouble down there. They’re a good football team. They’re solid. It’s going to be a good test for us on the road against a quality team. ...”
5) Michael Vick chatter. Curious what Patriots players think about the Michael Vick situation? Fullback Heath Evans said: “My heart and prayer goes out to him and his family, and to the league, because it’s affected all of us. This is our business. You hate to see a rap like that go down, but it’s one of those things I really don’t have an answer for you. It’s probably the same as [the media], you’re just kind of stunned and shocked.”
We’ll be back with some practice observations, as the media has access to practice at around 1:15 p.m.
Posted By: mreiss | Time: 12:37:19 PM | E-mail | Link
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