Patriots Notes: Pats Used Music, Dancing To Keep Warm During Ice-Cold Practice

FOXBORO, Mass. — A grab bag of notes from Friday’s early-morning media availability at Gillette Stadium:

— The New England Patriots added a new face to their receiving corps Thursday, claiming wideout Michael Floyd off waivers from the Arizona Cardinals.

Wide receiver Julian Edelman deflected most questions about Floyd’s arrival, saying he’d prefer to focus on Sunday’s matchup with the Denver Broncos.

“Hopefully he can help,” Edelman said. “I’m not really worried about that right now. I’m worried about the Denver Broncos. It’s always good to have another weapon, but if he’s not playing this week, I’m not worried about it, because we’ve got a tough opponent ahead of us.”

Rookie receiver Malcolm Mitchell said he’ll offer Floyd “a friendly smile in the morning” and let the coaches and veterans handle getting the newcomer up to speed.

“I’m a new guy myself,” Mitchell said. “I don’t think there’s much I can do. I think there’s a lot of veteran receivers and the coaches who can point him in the right direction and give him as much help as he needs. I guess I can be someone who smiles … but I’m pretty sure that’s all I can do for him.”

Floyd will travel with the team to Denver, but his playing status is unclear.

— Mitchell earlier this month mentioned he doesn’t know how fantasy football works. The topic of fantasy came up again Friday, with the scrum of reporters giving the young wideout an impromptu crash course.

“I’ve got to learn something,” he said. “That’s been coming up a couple times.”

Mitchell also said he’s never filled out a March Madness bracket, though Warren Buffett’s $1 billion bracket challenge from a few years back nearly convinced him to.

— Friday morning was bitterly cold in Foxboro, with wind chills dipping below zero as the Patriots players arrived at Gillette.

“It’s pretty burrr-ito out there,” Edelman said.

The team practiced indoors Wednesday and Friday, but Thursday’s session was outside in the elements. Cornerback Logan Ryan said he and his teammates made the most of it.

“We were all just cold, so instead of being miserable, we just had fun,” Ryan said. “We were dancing a little bit. They played music to keep warm, and we were all huddled up.”

He added: “We actually had more fun that I thought we would in the cold. If you can have fun with what you do in zero-degree temperatures, you’re living a good life.”

— Ryan locked down Demaryius Thomas last season, limiting the Broncos receiver to three catches on 20 targets over two games.

New England’s cornerback alignment this Sunday likely will depend on the health of Eric Rowe (hamstring), but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Ryan matched up on Thomas again.

“I remember how big and how freakish of an athlete he is,” Ryan said. “He’s a great competitor, and I just knew that it brought the best out of me each time. It was a lot of intense focus for every single play. I think I was pretty much trying not to have any plays off when I play a guy like that.”

— The Patriots enter the weekend with the AFC’s best record (10-2), but they’ve traditionally struggled in Denver, losing in each of their last three visits to Sports Authority Field.

“There’s always been battles with them,” Edelman said. “They’re a really good football team, and that’s just how it’s always going to be when you go to Denver. They’re coached well, they have a lot of good talent, and we’ve got to sharpen our pencils, dot our ‘i’s and cross our ‘t’s to go out there and compete at a high level against a team like this.”