Here’s Bill Belichick’s Message To Patriots Before Day 1 Of Training Camp

Anyone who knows New England Patriots‘ head coach Bill Belichick will tell you that he isn’t a man of many words. However, he never seemed to have problems making himself clear and getting his point across.

New England Patriots officially marked the beginning of the season with Thursday’s training. For that occasion, Belichick had a message for his squad. Tight end Benjamin Watson, while explaining why he decided to come out of retirement, relayed part of the coach’s message to the media after practice. In true Belichick spirit, it was pretty simple and straightforward.

“Well, training camp — Bill talked about it today — training camp is not punishment; it’s preparation,” Watson said.

“While training camp is tough mentally, physically, emotionally, it’s something that is a grind. It’s definitely a weeding out process, I would say. It’s necessary preparation if you individually are going to perform at your best, and if collectively as a team you’re going to perform at your best. That’s what it’s for. Obviously, as you get older, training camp becomes harder. Football in general is harder. It’s just tougher and tougher, but as a player you know that, hey, if I want to perform, I’ve got to get in there and I’ve got to make it through training camp.”

Most every Patriot has agreed that the page has been turned from last year. And judging by his speech, Bill Belichick is doing everything he can to make sure they’re ready for a fresh start.