Bill Belichick: We’ve got to get a feel for practice and see where everybody is

[Pat Patriot]

Getty Images

The Patriots are going to practice on Thursday for the second time in the last two weeks and the interruptions to the usual schedule will make it a different session than a normal in-season one.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick explained how he and the rest of the coaching staff are approaching the practice during his press conference. Belichick was asked if quarterback Cam Newton would have a regular workload and responded by saying that the team would be monitoring all players to make any adjustments that are needed after the extended layoff.

“Well, we’ll have to see how it goes,” Belichick said. “We haven’t had an opportunity to do much here in the last 10 days or so. We’ve been on the field really one time. So, we’ll just have to see how things go here and that’s with everybody — it’s not specific to any individual player — but just in general, we’ve talked about kind of getting back into things and evaluating a little bit as we go. We’ve talked about that as a coaching staff and I think we’ve just got to have a good awareness and feel for practice and see where everybody is. Are they where they were the last time we practiced regularly or do we need to make a little bit of an adjustment there? So, we’ll just have to see.”

While Newton will be back in some fashion, the wait goes on for cornerback Stephon Gilmore. Belichick was asked if he’ll practice on Thursday and said Gilmore “would have to be cleared” for that to happen.