New England Patriots players will get to arrive at Gillette Stadium a bit later than usual on Christmas Day.
In honor of the holiday, the Patriots are consolidating their two day-before-game meetings and allowing players and coaches to enjoy Christmas morning with their families ahead of Sunday's home matchup with the Buffalo Bills, which kicks off at 1 p.m. ET.
"Usually, (for) Sunday games at 1, we come in on Saturday morning, and (the players) go to the hotel Saturday night," head coach Bill Belichick said Friday in a Christmas Eve video conference. "At times, on Sunday night games or late Sunday afternoon games, we'll come in on Saturday afternoon and then do a morning meeting on Sunday morning. With this weekend, we're going to do the Saturday afternoon meeting schedule and then play at 1."
It helps that the Patriots are facing a familiar opponent. Their last meeting with the Bills came just three weeks ago in Buffalo, with New England winning 14-10 amid extreme winds.
After what Belichick and several players called a bad week of practice leading up to last Saturday's loss to the Indianapolis Colts, the coach said he's pleased with how his team has prepared this week.
"We're pretty familiar with Buffalo, played them a couple weeks ago," Belichick said. "Not that there isn't a lot of preparation to be done, but I feel like we're in a good place and we can combine Saturday morning and Saturday night into one meeting on Saturday and we'll be ready to go on Sunday."
The Patriots can clinch the AFC East title and a home playoff game with a win Sunday and a Miami Dolphins loss to the New Orleans Saints on Monday. A Buffalo win would push the Bills back into first place in the division with two weeks remaining.
