TUCSON, Ariz. — The Patriots predictably and understandably stayed out West between their games against the Cardinals and the Raiders. But they didn’t take up residence in Phoenix or Las Vegas for a week.
No, they headed southeast of Phoenix on a two-hour desert drive to Tucson, home of the University of Arizona.
From Tuesday through Friday, the Patriots set up shop in the picturesque mountainside community while utilizing the football program’s facilities, which now are overseen by Wildcats head coach Jedd Fisch, who in 2020 worked as New England’s quarterbacks coach. It was an interesting experience to cover, one that obviously differed wildly from the day-to-day grind of hanging around Gillette Stadium.
With that in mind, we compiled a list of some of the interesting things that stood out to us from the Patriots’ week in Tucson. Some of the notes are football-related; some aren’t.
1. It was cold!
This shouldn’t have been a surprise, as Tucson sits at a relatively high altitude (about 2,643 feet above sea level), making it subject to colder temperatures during the winter months. Plus, with the general absence of humidity in Arizona, temperatures drop fast once the sun goes down. Arizona can get ridiculously hot during the summer months, but some areas, like Tucson, get chilly during the winter.
Still, it seemed like players, coaches and reporters were somewhat caught off guard by just how cold it got. It’s hard to wrap your mind around heading out to the desert for a week but needing to pack winter gear. Thanks to the Polar Vortex, temperatures in Tucson sat in high-40s to low-60s during the day but dropped to near-freezing at nighttime. It felt warm when standing in the sun, but if you stood in the shade, you needed a coat (more on that later). After Wednesday’s practice, players conducted interviews in a shaded area just outside the university’s practice field, and basically everyone remarked on how cold it was.
Just look at Trent Brown:
2. Hard to not compare this to the Miami trip
Before facing the Dolphins in the season opener, New England spent a week in West Palm Beach, Fla., located roughly an hour north of Miami. The goal, of course, was to acclimate to South Florida’s notoriously humid climate in an attempt to start the season with a win — which the Patriots failed to do. But the trip was most notable for where the Patriots conducted their practices: little-known Palm Beach Atlantic University.
Not even receiver DeVante Parker, who spent seven seasons with the Dolphins, had heard of the school, whose mascot is the “Sailfish.” PBAU doesn’t even have a football program, which left the Patriots to ship in makeshift goal posts and practice on a pair of patchy soccer fields. There weren’t even locker rooms for players to change in; they were bussed to and from the school in full pads every day. Furthermore, there was a general lack of privacy, as it would’ve required little effort for, say, a Dolphins intern to hide in a bush with a set of binoculars and watch New England’s practice. Honestly, they wouldn’t even have needed a bush.
In contrast, University of Arizona offered a legit setup. Belichick on Wednesday said Fisch’s understanding of pro-style preparation, logistics and facility management factored into his decision to choose the school, and it’s easy to see why. No, the Wildcats don’t benefit from SEC-level luxuries, but their stadium, weight room, practice fields and indoor training facilities all are of a high quality. The Patriots mostly were able to recreate the environment they enjoy in Foxboro, Mass., which wasn’t the case in Palm Beach.
3. That doesn’t mean it was perfect
At the end of the day, the Patriots only can control so much when they’re not on their own property. The bowels of Gillette Stadium are arranged in such a way that fans and reporters rarely see players outside of times when they have explicit permission to do so, such as at practice, in the locker room or in press conference rooms. When in Foxboro, players often can navigate from the weight room to the training room to the showers and, eventually, to their cars without ever seeing reporters. That wasn’t the case in Tucson.
The Wildcats’ weight room is separated from the Stadium’s main lobby by a row of long, large glass windows. You could look right into it if you wanted to. Some players used the same restrooms as reporters. The weight room also has a door behind one of the stadium’s end zones, which led to a few interesting moments. For example, Jakobi Meyers on Wednesday was spotted walking off the bus just before practice but moments later wasn’t seen on the actual practice field. He later was listed as a “limited participant” due to a concussion. The next day, he was standing on the edge of the end zone, not in uniform, as reporters arrived for the media portion of practice. He quickly ducked into the weight room and later was listed as limited before the Patriots issued a correction, describing him as a non-participant. Draw your own conclusions.
Lastly, while the privacy and security certainly were a step up from what we saw in Florida, it wasn’t totally airtight. New England on Wednesday used a practice field that wasn’t well-shielded from outside view and required players to walk across a parking lot when they wanted to use the weight room. The next two days were spent inside the actual stadium, though it’s unclear if that was due to privacy concerns, superior playing surface or something else.
4. Local Patriots fans got word of it
While not as large as the one in Florida, the contingent of New England sports fans in the Southwest is no joke. A group of Patriots fans convened near the team’s busses on all three practice days and made noise whenever a player showed up.
On Wednesday, quarterback Mac Jones stopped to sign some autographs — minutes after a young fan erupted upon seeing Bailey Zappe.
5. Players hung out at a sweet hotel and argued a lot.
After Thursday’s practice, Matthew Judon complimented the team’s hotel and revealed players spent much of their downtime relaxing at the resort and engaging in spirited debates. He offered few details — players apparently argued over the merits of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and who could make it in the NBA — but did reveal the constant debating led to the forming of “alliances,” with Devin McCourty and Adrian Phillips leading the charge.
“Dev and AP, they’re creating an alliance right now,” Judon said. “They’re always backing each other up.”
It was all in good fun, though.
“We hang out. We enjoy each other,” Judon said. “We get to talk. We talk about a lot of stuff, man. It’s a lot of laughter.”
Judon also revealed that he, Trent Brown and Ja’Whaun Bentley formed a counter-alliance to combat McCourty and Phillips. Bentley confirmed it after Friday’s practice and also gave his pick for which Patriots player could succeed in the NBA.
6. Everyone was in good spirits
Likely fueled by their much-needed win over the Arizona Cardinals days prior, many Patriots players were in a great mood all week. Belichick was, too, often smiling and giving long, thought-out answers — unless he was asked about Jones’ attitude. While still a business trip, spending a week away from New England, especially in a beautiful college town, might’ve offered everyone a brief escape from what’s been a difficult, heavily scrutinized season.
Perhaps that’s why Jones after Wednesday’s practice felt it necessary to remind his teammates that they weren’t on vacation. His message, according to special teams captain Matthew Slater, was to reinforce the need for players to replicate their normal routines and put themselves in position to beat the Raiders on Sunday. The Patriots are fighting for their playoff lives, after all.
With all that said, you got the feeling that some of the older players, such as Slater and McCourty, weren’t thrilled to be away from their families for that long.
“I’m not going to lie to you, obviously we’re chasing a result this week,” Slater said Wednesday. “You ask what’s going to make this a successful week, it’s going to be winning the game.”
7. There was a cool moment before Wednesday’s practice
Moments before meeting with reporters, Belichick and Patriots strength and conditioning coach Moses Cabrera walked onto the Arizona Stadium field (yes, that’s the real name of the stadium) and spent a few minutes looking up at the Wildcats’ Ring of Honor. Belichick has connections to multiple players honored at the stadium, most notably Patriots and Wildcats legend Tedy Bruschi. After Friday’s practice, Belichick offered fascinating insight into New England’s unusual drafting of Bruschi in 1996 and also talked about some of the other famous players and coaches from the program’s underrated history.
8. Bruschi, not Rob Gronkowski, has his name all over campus
And that makes sense, as Bruschi is considered by many the best player in Arizona history whereas Gronkowski battled injuries throughout his Wildcats career, missing all of the 2009 season due to a back surgery. Still, you might expect that Gronkowski’s success in the NFL would’ve led to statues, memorabilia and other references around campus. But, at least in the places we went, it’s Bruschi who gets the most love.
9. It’s a really, really cool town and campus
Many students were on Christmas break, so we didn’t get a full sense of what Tucson is like when it’s really happening. But that didn’t prevent anyone from taking in the views and appreciating the university’s vast and impressively clean campus. Many of the side streets in Tucson are flanked by stucco homes, palm trees and, of course, cacti. If you stand in the middle of a street and look down one end or the other, you almost always see a large mountain rising up in the distance. The entire place is surrounded by epic desert mountains that are completely unlike what you see in the Northeast. Not necessarily better or cooler in any specific way; it’s just different.
But, once you arrive in Tucson, there’s no mistaking that you’re in a college town. The University has buildings all over town and everyone wears Arizona gear. One of those buildings is the McKale Memorial Center, home of the school’s storied basketball program. We wandered in after halftime of Tuesday night’s game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and watched the No. 9 Wildcats polish off a 99-61 victory. Despite the school being on holiday break, the arena still was packed and had a great atmosphere.
Anyway, if you ever have a couple of days to kill in Arizona, the trip to Tucson is worth the drive.
Bonus: Shoutout to the Buffalo Exchange, which had a particularly loud jacket available for a certain someone who didn’t heed his own advice about the weather.
