FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The Patriots were back to work Wednesday with their focus aimed at the task at hand: beating Buffalo on Sunday.
So, life was back to normal inside the walls of Gillette Stadium. It was business as usual.
Only it wasn’t.
Head coach Bill Belichick didn’t meet the media, as is his custom midweek, and provide his usual spiel pumping up the upcoming opponent. The players also weren’t made available. Along with Belichick, four other press conferences with team captains were canceled along with the usual open locker room.
Same deal in Buffalo. No media access or availability, which isn’t the usual practice.
Let’s just say normal went out the window Monday night when Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field in the first quarter and needed to be revived after going into cardiac arrest.
Normal disappeared when the Week 17 game between the Bills and Bengals was halted, didn’t finish, and might not ever reach a conclusion in wake of the Hamlin situation. And understandably so.
So while the game won’t resume, at least not immediately, the NFL has moved on to Week 18.
That means the Patriots are — for now — still scheduled to play the Bills in Buffalo with their playoff lives weighing in the balance under less than ideal circumstances for both teams.
Enter Belichick.
There’s no one better or more equipped to guide the Patriots through this trying situation with all of the uncertainty surrounding the week. As one of the most experienced coaches in the league, Belichick will bring the requisite calm to the situation, and impart just the right tone with his players.
Already, he’s taken control. It was Belichick who requested, and was granted permission, to avoid the customary press conferences and media availability that occurs on Wednesday. He also shut down three assistant coaches from conducting their scheduled video conferences on Tuesday.
Belichick has never been shy about taking advantage of any measure to protect his team, and keep the focus where it needs to be.
While the Patriots haven’t quite experienced anything like this, Belichick has had to shepherd his teams through many adverse situations, most notably Spygate and Deflategate, along with the Aaron Hernandez saga.
The Patriots also had to deal with the death of a teammate, losing Marquise Hill, their 2004 second-round pick out of LSU, in a jet ski accident.
There was also the COVID-19 experience in 2020, and having to navigate through all the speed bumps associated with a quarantine, testing and games being moved.
So it’s not Belichick’s first crisis. And he’s handling it the way he sees fit to try and avoid any and all distractions.
“I think of it as he’s shepherding his flock here,” Matthew Slater said in a recent interview with The Athletic. “He’s going to set the tone. He’s going to head us in the right direction. He is going to do everything he can to make sure he cuts out the outside noise and refocuses on the things that we need to focus on. … This team is only going to go where we’re directed to go, and fortunately, we have a great director.”
Add in the strength and wisdom of veteran leaders Slater, Devin McCourty and David Andrews, and the Pats will do what’s needed no matter if they play or not on Sunday. They’ll handle whatever comes down.
Understandably, there’s a somberness and pall surrounding the game, if it does in fact get played. While Hamlin has reportedly shown some signs of improvement, thoughts will be continue to be on the Bills safety and his progress.
Bills offensive tackle Dion Dawkins, appearing on CNN Tuesday, said all the thoughts, focus, and energy of the team is on Hamlin, as opposed to playing football. The second-year defensive back remains in critical condition at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
And given that, anything and everything remained on the table as of late Wednesday.
Whether it’s playing, not playing, a Buffalo forfeit, moving it to another date, any of the above could happen. Basically, everyone is in uncharted territory at the moment.
NFL executive V.P. of football operations Troy Vincent basically painted that picture Wednesday during his press briefing.
As it stands, the NFL seems intent on playing the Week 18 games as scheduled, with the possible exception of the Patriots-Bills game.
While Vincent said the league hasn’t officially discussed the possibility of postponing the game, he also didn’t rule it out. He said the overall well-being of the Buffalo players and coaches would guide the league’s decision-making process.
Given the situation, that’s how it should be.
The Bills had meetings Wednesday and a walkthrough, while the Patriots conducted a non-padded practice and did their best to stay in routine, with Belichick likely sending the message to just “control, what you can control” because the players can’t control what’s happening with Buffalo or Hamlin.
No doubt, the league is monitoring the Bills, and gaging how they’re coping, along with how Hamlin is doing, before making any final judgement on the game Sunday against the Patriots.
So the situation stands in limbo, which fortunately for the Patriots, is right in Belichick’s wheelhouse.
