“We did it before,” said Patriots defensive lineman Jarvis Green. “A lot of times, we’ve traveled on Christmas Day, so it’s nothing new. It’s work. It’s football. It’s part of the environment. We’re going to be here for three and a half hours. I don’t know what time we come in yet, but hopefully it’s later so I have time to open up gifts with my kids.”
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has shortened the day for the players, who typically spend between nine and 11 hours per day at Gillette. On practice days, the fiercest workers — like Junior Seau — show up around 6 a.m. to lift weights, but they’re all required to be at the facility in time for an 8 a.m. meeting. The players are usually allowed to disperse sometime around 5 p.m., but some will stick around to log extra film time — others will take the film sessions home.
So, in a sense, Belichick has lightened their load on Christmas, but with the stakes so high at this point in the year, he couldn’t afford to give his team a full day to kick up its toes like he did last month for Thanksgiving.
“I don’t feel like I’ve really had a Christmas for a long time, since high school, so it’s nothing new for us,” said wide receiver Wes Welker. “We just kind of roll with it and try to have some quality time with the family, move on and get back to work.”
More than anything, the Patriots realize there are many more positives than negatives when it comes to being a professional athlete. If that means they’ve got to sacrifice some of their personal time around the holidays, they’ve got the attitude of, “Let’s make it worth it.”
“That’s part of what our job is,” said quarterback Tom Brady. “We’ve always dealt with this — Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays and weddings and so forth. There are a lot of great things that sometimes you may miss out on. Sometimes you don’t. It’s Christmas, and everyone feels excited about Christmas, obviously, but we’ll have our time with our families and so forth. We’ve got to win. That will make for a great Christmas.”
