Bill Belichick versus meteorologists: a tale as old as time.
The New England Patriots head coach’s concern — or lack thereof — for weather forecasts is well-documented. However, with Monday night’s game against the Buffalo Bills potentially being played amid wet, sub-freezing conditions, Belichick was asked when he might start focusing on weather preparations.
“Usually, you know, talk about it once we know for sure (what) it is,” Belichick told reporters Friday morning. “Which a lot of times is when we get to the stadium. Hard to, really, hang your hat on a lot of predictions here. So, we’ll go with the known information, understanding what it obviously could be.”
Belichick, with an approximation of a smile, added: “We’re not expecting overheating and fans on the sideline.”
Belichick then was asked to offer insight into how he prepares Patriots players for various weather conditions.
“Again, I would say on the weather, we don’t really spend a ton of time on that,” Belichick said. “We practice in a variety of conditions from the start of training camp to the end of the season. So, whenever they come up, they come up. We learn from those, those may or may not be what we get that particular week.
“But, somewhere along the line, it could come into play. So, we talk about that and how it would affect certain plays — situations, ball-handling, etcetera. So, it’s kind of a continual conversation that we have on that.”
Patriots rookie quarterback Mac Jones on Sunday talked about how practicing in cold weather last week helped him acclimate to what he dealt with while playing against the Tennessee Titans in Week 12. However, weather in Foxboro, Mass., this week has been comfortably mild — especially Thursday — in what could be a stark contrast to what New England sees Monday night in Buffalo.
Belichick apparently doesn’t expect that to be much of a factor.
“Well, I don’t think there’s too much we haven’t seen,” he said. “We haven’t seen a lot of snow this year, but I don’t know what we can do about that. We’ve practiced in wind, we’ve practiced in sunny days, cloudy days, windy days, calm days, hot days, cold days, wet days, dry days.
“I don’t know like, what’s it gonna be? Whatever it is, it is, and if we haven’t done it then we’ll have to adjust to it. But we’ve dealt with most everything.”
Fair enough.
The Patriots and Bills will kick off at 8:15 p.m. ET on Monday night. First place in the AFC East will be on the line, but it’s not a do-or-die game for either team.
