FOXBORO, Mass. — Patriots special teams coordinator Cam Achord is extremely detail-oriented in how he approaches the kicking game. And you need only look at last season’s Week 13 victory in Buffalo to know how seriously Bill Belichick considers wind and weather when building a game plan.
So, it should come as no surprise that the two already are thinking about how the major Gillette Stadium renovations could impact games both before and upon the project’s completion.
For the uninitiated, the home of the Patriots currently is undergoing extensive construction that is expected to be completed by the time New England starts its 2023 season. The work ultimately will produce a new, updated fan plaza and a larger, more prominent lighthouse replacing the (now extinct) one that used to tower over the north end zone.
Perhaps most importantly, the same area will feature a glass-enclosed, 75,000 square-foot hospitality atrium that will be partially covered by the largest outdoor stadium video board in the United States. The final product will close off a significant portion of the large opening in the northern part of the stadium.
Compare these pre-construction photos with the concept art shared by the Patriots last December.
The progressive closing of that gap could prove significant for the offense and, more immediately, the kicking game.
In 2002, roughly three months into Gillette Stadium’s first season, Belichick made an interesting remark about wind behaving differently in the new facility than it did in old Foxboro Stadium — thanks to the open end zone.
“I think it’s different,” Belichick said, via the Sun Chronicle. “In the old stadium, the games that I played there and have been involved in, the wind more ran down the field. There happened to be two games last year where the wind was significantly across the field, which was unusual, but most of the time the wind pretty much ran straight down the field.
“In this stadium, it looks like as the wind increases, it has a little bit of a swirling effect. … “It runs part of the way down the field at the open end, at the lighthouse end, but then it seems to quarter more toward from the home bench to the visiting bench.”
Could we soon return to more Foxboro Stadium-like wind behavior?
The Patriots, just a week into training camp, currently have bigger fish to fry than future gust patterns. But the issue is on the docket for Achord and New England’s kicking game.
“Definitely I’ve thought about it,” Achord told NESN.com before Monday’s practice. “Actually have not been in there, able to actually kick yet. But that’s something we have to do, we’re going to do, because it’s going to be different. Whether it’s good or bad right now, I couldn’t tell you because we haven’t been in there — but it’s gonna change from what it used to be.”
Renovations don’t need to be complete for wind to act differently than it might’ve the previous 20 seasons. The large video board that previously existed in the area has been removed, and substantial progress already has been made on the hospitality atrium.
“It’ll be different this year than it will be next year,” Achord said. “Once the whole project is completed, then the wind’s gonna change in it. So, once we get in there, start kicking there, hopefully, day-to-day there’s going to be some wind. The more we can get in there, the better it’s gonna be.
“We definitely have to get in there because it’s going to change the element of the ball — and maybe even the trajectory of the wind. Normally, the wind would come one way. Now, may come from the opposite way.”
But the wind isn’t the only thing to consider.
Achord explained how a field goal kicker, like Nick Folk, picks targets beyond the uprights when preparing to kick. With his old target in the north end zone now gone, and a massive structure slowly inching from one side of the end zone to the other, Folk might be forced to adjust throughout the season.
“We’ll take it week by week,” Achord said. “And the more that comes up, the more targets you may have. In the old open end, you could see the scoreboard. You kind of knew, ‘I’m always gonna play this logo on the scoreboard.’ Now, with everything being open, it’s like there’s nothing there. … So, it’s gonna change, definitely. It’s gonna probably make it more difficult to kick that way.
“It was already hard to kick that way, and I would say this year’s gonna be more difficult than, potentially, next year because then the project’s gonna be done. You’ll have more targets at that point. You’ll have a bigger scoreboard and everything up. I think each week they’re making progress, so I think each week is gonna change.”
Last week was a busy one at Gillette Stadium, with Elton John’s farewell tour occupying the facility Wednesday and Thursday and staging still in teardown mode Friday. A youth soccer camp was held on the field during the week.
Consequently, Achord and kicking specialists wouldn’t have been able to get on the stadium’s field even if they’d wanted to. But we probably can expect that to change in the near future.
“We’ll have to try and go in there as much as we can,” Achord said. … Even Giants (preseason) game is gonna be different than our first home game against Baltimore. Like, I guarantee there’s different (construction) progress between those two.
“So, it’s gonna be important for us throughout the week to at least get in there once or twice.”
There are no such things as subtle details with the Patriots; minutia is important in New England. While the rest of us are busy admiring the scale and appearance of Gillette Stadium’s makeover, Belichick and Achord probably will be somewhere on the sideline — with their fingers in the wind.
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