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Pats Posits: Padurday

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Two days of practice down and I caught glimpses of both of them, but today training camp gets real in full pads. I’m looking forward to getting an uninterrupted look at team on Sunday, but will likely roll through Saturday to at least hear the crack of some pads.

Belichick had a classic presser today. Just look at some of his savagery:

You know, you guys are asking a lot of questions about what have we seen from ‘this’ guy, what are we seeing from ‘that’ guy. We’ve yet to put on pads, alright? I understand that this is a pretty talented group of evaluators in this room, but in all honesty our evaluations come more in training camp when we actually practice… So I know everybody’s all excited when a guy catches a pass, but when the defense doesn’t jam him or their not allowed to really, because we don’t want heavy contact out there, aren’t competing for contact at the end of the play then it’s not quite the same as when all of that’s going on… The competitive level out there is not what it’s going to be starting tomorrow, so to evaluate players competitively when they’re not on a competitive level, I have a hard time with. But I know a lot of the people are real good at that and they can make a lot more out of it than I can, but due to my personal limitations and my personal inability to make those evaluations, I don’t make them.

Fire.

What I find most interesting at this point is who’s out there when and getting a better sense of how the depth chart has settled after an offseason of work.

Some notes on that:

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Will Belichick’s Hot Jacket Surpass His Famous Hoodie in 2017?

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We’re just 50 days from the opening game of the 2017 season, when the Patriots will raise their fifth banner and take on the Chiefs, as their fans unload two-and-a-half years worth of built up boos and jeers at the commissioner whose avoided all things New England like the plague since butchering the whole Deflategate saga.

With the positional previews out of the way it’s time to focus on training camp here on the blog, but first a look at the site’s very, very important signature stat — Bill Belichick’s hoodie tracker.

2017 provided one of the biggest plot twists ever for a site dedicated to tracking and analyzing what the head coach wears on game day. After much speculation what Belichick should and would wear in Super Bowl 51 he threw a giant curve ball.


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Yes, he wore the Hot Jacket, which he had gone 9-2 in during the regular season, but with one strange alteration —  the Flying Elvis had been ripped off the jacket. And no, it was not simply inside out as many have wondered. It was torn off.

Why? This is something we’ll ponder for generations. Was it a message to the NFL? Or was it simply a frustrated Belichick, having no sleeves to cut off, turning his shears on something else? We might never know.

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CNBC: Belichick on Everything

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This is a can’t-miss Belichick interview in which he touches on just about everything — from his coaching start, to Brady, to his mistakes and his kids. I can never get enough of this stuff and it’s always great when you get him relaxed and ready to talk.

Maybe the most interesting moment for me was Belichick describing the moment he realized he could coach at this level and ironically it came against the Patriots.

We were 1-4. We were playing the Patriots, who were 4-1. They had a great team, and I went back to an experience that I had in Baltimore. I talked to our offensive coordinator at that time, and said, “Look, I know we haven’t used this formation, but I studied this formation when I was at Baltimore last year. I think this is really going to give the Patriots a problem. Can we take a look at this?’ So we went through it, we looked at it and used it. We won the game by three touchdowns. It was a huge upset. That was kind of one of those [moments] where I was like okay, I can coach in this league.

This one is well worth the entire 15 minutes!

Belichick’s Hot Jacket Lives!!!

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The biggest surprise of Super Bowl 51 was not that the Patriots came back from 25 points down to win, but that Bill Belichick decided, for some unknown reason that will befuddle me for all eternity, to remove the Flying Elvis from his beloved Hot Jacket for the game. There had been much speculation as to what Belichick would wear in the big game. Heck, it even got me on national TV as everyone speculated if he’d wear a hoodie and which one it might be.

Instead, Belichick wore his Hot Jacket, which has been his favorite coaching attire since 2013 with that one small modification. Since the Hot Jacket is no longer being made, I wondered if this meant the end of it. Or would Belichick really continue wearing an Elvis-less jacket while coaching the team?

Yes, these are the things that keep me up late at night. Well today, we got an answer.

As you can see it looks like Belichick was sitting on a new Hot Jacket, because there it is back in its fully Elvis’d glory. We might never know why Belichick decided to cut off the logo for the Super Bowl, but it’s a good bet that this new version will carry him into future seasons and continue to build upon a post-Hoodie legacy.

A Brief History of Patriots Free Agents Who Left

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It’s going to be a fascinating March for the Patriots. With a number of significant free agents, the 2017 Patriots will likely look significantly different from the Super Bowl 51-winning version, especially on defense.

Each free agency period with the Patriots is a roller coaster. Guys we love often walk a year too soon, but the Patriots know how to make moves that also keep the fan base satisfied while also keeping the team from getting stale.

Over the years there haven’t been a ton of mistakes made by Bill Belichick when it comes to letting players walk. Plenty lamented the departures of Wes Welker, Vince Wilfork and Darrelle Revis in recent years, but all turned out to be the correct moves, even if those players might’ve been useful the year after they left.

Let’s take a look at some of the players that Belichick got rid of or didn’t re-sign and what kind of success they went on to outside of New England.

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10 Free Agents in Patriots Wheelhouse

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The Patriots are never interested in winning the offseason. During free agency they’re interested in rounding out their team so that they have no glaring needs heading into the draft. Not to say there won’t be needs still, but by mid-April the Patriots should have a 53-man roster that they could roll out there and make the playoffs. Hey, times are good.

Searching for external free agents when there are so many internal free agents to deal with can be futile. Still, there’s only a set number of players who really fit what the Patriots do, so identifying those players is a little easier.

I already took a look at five splashy signings the Pats could make. But let’s face it, splashy free agent signings are rarely their thing, unless you count signing your own players. I’m sure re-signing Dont’a Hightower, Malcolm Butler and a couple of the other significant free agent Patriots would be plenty splashy for all of us.

There are two types of external the Patriots primarily target. First, the talented but misused. You hope that some Brady and Belichick magic rubs off and all of sudden you’ve got a Rob Ninkovich, Mike Vrabel or Wes Welker or any of the other hundred or so of these guys who have helped build the dynasty, going from castoff to star.

Second, the talented vet looking for one last shot at a ring. Think Chris Long, Andre Carter, Brian Waters, even Junior Seau. Those are the guys who fly under the radar, because you just can’t know who’s willing to, as Long put it, “play for five dollars” to be in New England.

Here’s a list of 10 more free agents who jumped out at me.

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10 New Belichick Hoodie Facts

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By now you’re probably getting sick of the Bill Belichick Hoodie Database. I know I am, but with the help of a great Patriots fan twitter user @fearthe_beard11 I’ve been able to fill in all but ONE hole in the database going all the way back to 2003. (If anyone has the 2003 at Eagles game handy let me know!!)

Just when I think I can take a Hoodie vacation, they suck me back in!

Thanks to his great work, rounding up more than 10 missing games, it means we finally have the complete record of Bill Belichick and his hoodies, especially the one he’s most known for, shown above, the 2003 Gray Reebok Hoodie.

I even went back and re-tallied all the records to make sure it’s all accurate. In all, Belichick wore a variation of the 2003 Reebok Sweatshirt, both hoodie and mock versions, gray and blue, 97 times, going 74-22 (.762 win percentage).

All this new information uncovered even more interesting tidbits about Bill Belichick and the hobo-esque attire he made famous.

Here are 10 new Hoodie Facts I’ve uncovered.

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