Bye usually has meant hello to victories for the Patriots in Bill Belichick's coaching tenure. As players return from their bye weekend and get back to work today at Gillette Stadium - with back-to-back tests at San Francisco and San Diego looming - the question is: Will that continue?
The Patriots are 6-2 following their regular-season bye weekend under Belichick, which includes wins in each of the last five seasons. Four of those victories, in a scheduling quirk, have come over the Bills.
As for any secrets to their success, two former players offered their insights.
"We always focused on a combination of things," recalled linebacker Roman Phifer, who played for the club from 2001-04.
"I think the most important thing was rest, to heal up for guys who were dinged up a little bit. But we also spent a good amount of time making corrections, doing self-evaluation, and cleaning up some things that were giving us problems. I remember using the extra time to focus on the next opponent and it also helped that we were pretty good in the first place. So I think all of those things helped us come back from the bye strongly."
One of Phifer's teammates, guard Joe Andruzzi, believes the Patriots usually emerged from their bye as a better team.
"It rolls right down from the head guy and Belichick knows what he's doing. You also have a core of guys on the team that knew what needed to be done," Andruzzi said. "The first thing you did was try to get as much R&R as possible. Then you come back with the mind-set knowing that it's a long season, but you're hoping to get another bye in there [to start the playoffs]."
Under Belichick, this year marks the Patriots' earliest bye since the 2004 Super Bowl season, when the team was off in the third week of the season. In general, players often say any break coming closer to the eighth or ninth week is best because it more evenly splits the schedule.
Still, Belichick, who had players working in full pads last Wednesday and Thursday before giving them the last three days off, had a long list of items on his to-do list. He said improvements must be made in some of the following areas:
Rushing game - The team's top two backs on the depth chart, Laurence Maroney and Sammy Morris, have totaled 45 carries for 147 yards, which is a less-than-stellar 3.26-yard average. While LaMont Jordan has had the majority of his work later in games - with 19 rushes for 90 yards (4.7) - perhaps it's time to see what he can do earlier.
