For Pats, practice makes perfect
Practice.
Former NBA star Allen Iverson never thought much of it, and famously so. Games were his deal. Not practice. Who needs practice? The Patriots, for one.
They were back on the field Wednesday with the hope — fingers crossed — of getting in a full week of work.
Thanks to COVID-19, the Patriots have spent an unusual amount of time away from the facility. They’ve practiced only twice over the past two weeks. It’s been a significant, missing component of their formula.
Through practice, the players get the full benefit of the one advantage they hold over most teams: coaching.
It’s the Patriots’ X-Factor.
It’s the element that makes up for having a roster that might not be as talented as others. Coaches need practice to implement what they’re teaching in social-distanced meetings and or Zoom calls. Belichick needs practice to do what he does best — teach and install a game plan he believes will take down the next opponent.
To that end, the players often use this saying: practice execution becomes game reality.
On Sunday, their game reality was a woeful-looking offense and a defense that bent but didn’t break, forcing six field goals. The defense probably escaped more harm because many of the players in that elite secondary have been together awhile and had a clue what they were doing collectively.
The offense?
No clue.
Cam Newton has been learning a new offense on the fly. As it is, he hasn’t had a lot of time on the field, working out the kinks with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels — not to mention gaining trust with his receivers.
He was involved in the Zoom meetings, but the lack of practice did him no favors. The rest of the players are also learning in an evolving offense.
The unit looked completely disjointed, and lacked any kind of tempo. It’s hard to gain that if you’re only in the classroom.
Sure, the Patriots coaching staff was expected to handle all the twists and turns of a pandemic better than everyone else. That was supposed to be their edge on the rest.
Take away the practice field, however, and that advantage diminishes.
Assuming practices continue, the Patriots will get their edge back against the 49ers. But that trump card hasn’t been on display the past two games.
This is what Rodney Harrison said about his former team on NBC’s Sunday night telecast.
“I don’t recognize this Patriots team. I just don’t recognize them. I’m not used to seeing the Patriots struggle and make the mental mistakes that they’ve made the last two weeks,” he said.
Seven turnovers in the last two games, five on picks, plus two fumbles. It’s so un-Patriot-like.
No one wanted to use the lack of practice as an excuse. And that’s fair. Excuses are for losers.
But when coaching is your greatest asset, outside of an elite secondary, it doesn’t help when you can’t utilize that weapon fully to prepare for an opponent.
Zoom calls have been a great tool during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially with the facility closed, but it makes teaching much tougher when you can’t take it out on the field. Typically, the Patriots are pristine with their execution.
That wasn’t the case Sunday in the 18-12 loss to the Broncos. It has to be frustrating for the players, but especially Belichick, who is a stickler for preparation and leaving no stone unturned. It’s much harder to execute a game plan without seeing it first on the practice field.
Think back to Super Bowl XLIX against the Seahawks. Think that was the first time Malcolm Butler defended the pass play that ultimately sealed the win? There’s film of Butler defending it in practice, and failing to execute numerous times until he got it right.
Butler knew the play so well, he immediately anticipated Russell Wilson’s fateful pass at the goal line. That comes from coaching, and preparation.
Even one-time Patriots, like wide receiver Dontrelle Inman, who was with the team for a brief stint last season during training camp, quickly recognized how much practice factored into the success equation.
“With this organization, everything matters. There isn’t a scenario that you won’t practice before doing it in a game. That’s what makes the game easier because you’ve experienced every single thing in practice, you’ve experienced every single thing in meeting rooms,” Inman was quoted as saying in a Sports Illustrated article last year.
“You’ve seen everything. And it’s not like you’ve seen everything once, it’s a grind, it’s repetition, repetition, repetition is what makes habits, and habits are what make great players and can be accountable from that.”
Preparation for the 49ers, who are in town Sunday, will be aided with a fuller complement of practice time.
If the Pats are as bad as they were against the Broncos, they’re in deeper trouble than believed. After regaining their ultimate advantage, though, they should be better.
“It was great to have some kind of normal Wednesday,” defensive captain Devin McCourty said during a video call. “Guys need direction. That’s been the biggest thing.”
The return of several players off reserve-COVID-19 list and getting them back on the practice field doesn’t hurt, either.
Belichick certainly hasn’t argued about the effect of not having practice time in recent weeks.
“Yeah, I think that’s something that would really help us … and the more we can get out there and practice and improve our timing, our execution, our anticipation, our awareness, our communication, the more I think those things will help us,” Belichick said Monday. “We’re going to do everything we can to maximize that and I think that will definitely help our individual performances and it will also help our unit performances the more we can do that.
“Hopefully, we’ll get a full dose of it this week.”