« Bum hammy = buh-bye | Main | Communication with a capital ``C'' »

July 30, 2007

Chatting with Belichick

Hey all --

Yes, we're a bit tardy with this, but the lure of a lunch of baked macaroni and cheese and pulled pork made us forget all about being blogger-on-the-spot when it came to Bill Belichick's morning press conference.

The coach, who seems pretty upbeat here in the early going of camp, quipped that it's "another day in paradise" as he opened things up.

He was asked about communication, which is one of the themes of this camp given the high number of new, impact faces in the meeting rooms, but Belichick said communication and fundamentals are of equal importance.

"They're neck and neck. They're both really important," he said. "We talk about those every day. More than every day."

Veteran cornerback Tory James, who picked off Tom Brady in yesterday's morning session, has earned the respect of his teammates with his work ethic and approach to learning a new system, Belichick said.

He was asked about wide receivers coach Nick Caserio, who has returned to the team's coaching staff after four years in the personnel department as a scout and director of pro personnel. Though he has technically been in the front office, Belichick said Caserio, who started with the Patriots seven years ago as a personnel assistant and then an offensive coaching assistant, has always had a hand in the coaching.

"He's had a number of different responsibilities; he's stayed pretty close to the whole operation. He filled in when Ivan (Fears, running backs coach) was out last year during training camp."

Fears missed a few weeks last season due to medical issues.

Belichick spoke at length about his time as a special teams coach, which is how he spent seven of his first eight years in the league, with Detroit, Denver and the Giants. "It was one of the most valuable experiences I had in preparing me for becoming a head coach" because he got to work with just about every player on the team and all the positions and personalities that came with it.

As for corner Chad Scott, who hurt his left knee on Friday, Belichick said he's "day-to-day." Asked if that means Scott hasn't yet been diagnosed with a serious injury, he said, "he's being evaluated on a daily basis. Some players who are day-to-day come back the next day; some don't. When we have something definitive to tell you, we will."

Practice starts at 2:30 p.m. One of the things we'll be looking for is to see if rookie Kareem Brown makes his training camp debut. Reportedly, the fourth-round draft pick was suspended for the first three days of camp for violation of a team rule.

shalise

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 12:40 PM | Permalink