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July 27, 2007

Training camp first look

Alright y'all, those of you who look here for information are probably wondering what has happened. Well our brain wasn't baked by the morning sun -- we were stuck in that colossal mess on Route 128 and it took three hours (three hours!!) to travel to the stadium this morning from home (which is just outside Boston).

Anyway, thanks to the backups on the way in, we missed the morning practice session, though we were on the field for the player interviews and in the room for Bill Belichick's first press conference of the summer.

First of all, Tedy Bruschi is alive and well. We saw him with our own two eyes, along with his wife, Heidi, and his sons. Bruschi was playing with his sons on the field after the session before greeting a few friends and heading back into the stadium.

Now that he's in his fifth training camp, Ty Warren has learned that while it's a generally unpleasant time, it's necessary:

"It's got to be done," he said. "People look at it in a negative light, but you need those reps before the first game."

Randy Moss said training camp makes the rest of the season seem easy.

"Training camp is where you get the feel of football. Sundays are easy. The hard part of playing the the NFL is what you do during the week and during the summer," he said. "We're up early, don't get out of meetings 'til 9 o'clock (at night), I'm in bed at 11."

Moss said he has been taking notes and studying the offense since mini-camp in June, and in his assessment, the Patriots are "loaded at the skill positions," something few observers would argue with.

Rodney Harrison, who was incredulous when we talked in March about pundits already penciling New England in as Super Bowl champs, isn't buying it now either: "We have the ability to be competitive. That's our mindset. It comes down to health, it comes down to being prepared, we need to get some breaks" in order for the season to end with a Lombardi Trophy being handed to Robert Kraft.

Belichick brought up the contract situations with rookie Brandon Meriweather and corner Asante Samuel, but also said he wouldn't comment on them. When he was asked if the situation with Cleveland and Brady Quinn -- Quinn, the 22nd pick, wants to get paid like the top-10 pick he thinks he should have been. Dope. -- would impact talks with the 24th pick, Meriweather, and Belichick simply said Quinn doesn't play for his team.

In a familiar refrain, he said the team is just trying to get better from practice to practice and week to week.

shalise

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 12:04 PM | Permalink