FOXBORO, Mass. — Patriots head coach Bill Belichick had a good laugh when he was asked Friday about the decision to practice outdoors in poor weather during the earlier part of his coaching career.
That’s because there was no decision. Back in those days, teams didn’t have practice bubbles or the opportunity to escape the wind and rain.
Belichick, who said November brings on the “real football weather,” jumped at the chance to practice outside Friday, and it sounded like he was hoping for the rainstorm to continue. However, at the start of practice, the rain had mostly subsided.
Even if there is no rain in the forecast for Sunday’s game, Belichick said the experience could help the team further down the line. The fact that Belichick now has the luxury of making such a decision, though, makes him chuckle.
“Bill [Parcells] was a big believer in, ‘Whatever it is, it is,'” Belichick said. “There were a lot of days when you didn’t even think about it, no matter what it was. You knew you were practicing [outside]. It didn’t make a difference what it was, which is not a bad mentality to have because that’s the way it is on Sunday. Whatever it is, it is.”
Belichick then shared some memories of some old practice stories that helped teams build character back in the day.
“At the Colts, we were either in Memorial Stadium, which wasn’t a great practice facility because they sodded the infield after baseball season, and that area was all roped off so you couldn’t practice on that end of the field,” Belichick said. “You had to practice at the other end. Or the other option was you could push the walk button [on the traffic light] and walk the team across the street to Eastern High School on a field there that was, I’d say, 2 percent grass and 98 percent dirt, glass and rocks. And practice over there, that’s what it was. There was no indoor facility at Denver. There was no indoor facility at the Giants. We practiced every day, obviously, outside.
“The world in the NFL now is a lot different than what it was.”
