Don’t expect to see Cole Strange watching movies on New England Patriots plane rides to away games anytime soon.
The Patriots’ 2022 first-round draft pick told a story of how he was called out by a coach for watching a movie on a plane trip for the season-opener against the Miami Dolphins. According to Strange, he messed up a play during practice that week, and the coach made sure he didn’t forget it.
“The first game we were playing, I watched ‘Avatar’ because it was like a four-hour flight or something. And then one of the coaches got onto me and was like, because I had missed a single play in practice or messed up, and he was like, ‘If you weren’t wasting your time watching movies, you wouldn’t miss these plays.’ So I was like, ‘Alright, I’m never watching another movie again.’
➡️ @ColeStrange2 übt schon fleißig Deutsch und verrät uns, weshalb er im Flugzeug keine Filme mehr schaut ✈️. pic.twitter.com/V7iZ89jNuY
— Patriots Deutschland (@patsdeutsch) April 19, 2023
Strange never identifies what coach actually made that comment to him. Was it Bill Belichick or former offensive play-caller and offensive line coach Matt Patricia?
Or, was it another coach entirely?
Even though this brief exchange seemed pretty lighthearted and funny, it did have a positive impact on Strange, who learned to make the best use of his free time, like every other NFL rookie. There’s much more self-accountability at the professional level without coaches and teachers hovering over you every step of the way.
Besides, it took filmmaker James Cameron over a decade to release the first sequel to the “Avatar” movie. Strange should have plenty of time to catch up.
