FOXBORO, Mass. — Tom Brady usually has visions of 11-yard scrambles dancing through his head by the time he’ll take the field for the New England Patriots’ Thursday night matchup against the Miami Dolphins.
The Patriots wake up before the crack of dawn for meetings during the week, which means early nights for players, who are accustomed to playing and practicing in the afternoon. So how does Brady adjust to suiting up for a football game when he’s usually conked out? The Patriots quarterback said he doesn’t mind the 8:30 p.m. start times.
“I do like night games because I always try to get some time of extended rest during the day and hopefully a nap if possible, so I have a lot of energy stored up for the game,” Brady told NESN.com
Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman told ESPN’s Bill Simmons last year Brady goes to sleep at 8:30 during the week. Brady was asked about the unusual hours on WEEI last year.
“I do go to bed very early, because I’m up very early,” Brady said. “I think that the decisions that I make are always, they always probably center around performance enhancement, if that makes sense.”
Naps like Brady’s are common for Patriots players on the day of a primetime game, but otherwise they try to keep a normal schedule.
“It’s weird. I don’t (adjust my sleep schedule),” Julian Edelman told NESN.com. “I kind of try to keep everything normal, but I’ll throw a nap in there on game day to keep you up.”
Naps aren’t a necessity for players, however. Sometimes the excitement of a game, and a dose of caffeine powder, is enough to keep them powered through a night game after sitting around all day waiting for kickoff.
“Usually whenever I just fall asleep,” McCourty said. “Sometimes I don’t take a nap.”
Wide receiver Danny Amendola likes to get to Gillette Stadium at 6 a.m. during the week, though he said on a short week, players are getting to the facility a little later — “nothing crazy,” he ensured.
“It’s a good question because you’re not used to playing at 10 o’clock at night during the week, but you just kind of prepare yourself that day, a couple days before to be up that late, playing at a high level,” Amendola said. “Get some sleep the night before and then kind of rest up early into the day of game day, so you can kind of cut loose some energy later.”
Bill Belichick instructs players to get out and see the sunlight on the day of a night game and not stay cooped up in their house or hotel room. So, if you see any Patriots pacing the streets of Foxboro on Thursday afternoon, you know why.
“I think just to get acclimated with the weather, what the weather feels like, see the sunlight,” safety Duron Harmon said. “Because you know, if you’re just sitting, laying around all day, you’ll feel drowsy when you get up. So just getting around, walking outside, getting acclimated to the light, stuff like that, it helps your body stay loose rather than getting stiff from laying around in bed all day.”
Perhaps that’s the trick to the Patriots’ success in night games. They have a .685 winning percentage since Bill Belichick took over the team in 2000 — second in the NFL during that time span behind the Seattle Seahawks — and have won eight consecutive primetime games.
“Yeah, kind of just get outside, get moving around,” wide receiver Danny Amendola said. “Don’t stay in air conditioning all day long. Get your body acclimated to being outside.”
Despite expecting his players to maintain their early hours, even prior to late games, exhaustion is not an issue for Bill Belichick’s players. The Patriots universally said their normal schedule works, despite the early hours in the days leading up the game.
“Definitely not tired. If anything, I’ve got more energy than ever,” Harmon said. “You’re just sitting around, and you’re waiting for that. Your addrenaline is already pumping. You’re just sitting around waiting all day. Definitely a long day. Not my favorite.”
Thumbnail photo via Mark L. Baer/USA TODAY Sports Images
