Patriots Blog: Bill Has Bye Week Talk With Rookies
FOXBORO (CBS) - Patriots head coach Bill Belichick spoke to the media on Wednesday for the final time before the team breaks for a mini-vacation.
As the Patriots enter their bye week, coach said one of the things he did Wednesday afternoon was talk to the rookies. Belichick said he spoke to the first year players for a long time, wanting to hammer out the expectations he had for them while away.
"I actually met with the rookies this morning for about 40 minutes, so we told them quite a few things," said Belichick. "It's just different for them. It's a different experience. What they did in college, and what happens in college relative to an NFL season, is just different. It's the kind of thing you can't really prepare for."
Read: Patriots Ready To Relax
"You just have to go through it and experience it," he said. "[The coaching staff tries] to talk to the players about some of the things that they could expect, some things that they might experience in future weeks. We've had players talk to them along those same lines. Players who have been through it, 'Here's what the coaches are telling you and here's what a couple of my experiences were.' It might be helpful for them to hear those or to let them ask questions, that kind of thing."
Stats: 2011 Patriots Stats
The rookies have been go, go, go ever since the lock out was lifted and the CBA ratified. First-round pick Nate Solder says these meetings are in place to keep the younger players on an even keel.
"The meetings are informative," says Solder. "The point of those meetings is to teach us rookies how they do things around here, how coach Belichick wants things done."
Read: Levan Reid's Patriots Blog
The youngster is learning quick, and not just on the field.
