Bill Belichick on what went into "hard decision" to cancel joint practices with Titans
FOXBORO -- In the aftermath of Isaiah Bolden's frightening head injury during Saturday night's Patriots-Packers preseason game, Bill Belichick decided to cancel New England's joint practices with the Titans this week.
Bolden suffered the injury after colliding with teammate Calvin Munson while trying to make a tackle and was motionless on the field for several minutes. He was carted off the field and spent the night in a Green Bay hospital.
With players shaken up after the injury and at the behest of Belichick and Patriots captain Matthew Slater, Saturday's game was suspended after Bolden's injury. Bolden was released on Sunday morning, but instead of traveling to Tennessee from Green Bay, the Patriots flew back to Foxboro. The two joint practices with the Titans were canceled and the Pats will now train at home leading up to Friday night's preseason finale against the Titans.
On Monday, Belichick shared what went into that decision with reporters.
"It just felt like after the game, you know, we had a little bit of time there in the locker room to just kind of look at the situation and made the decision that the best thing for the team would be to come back here and not go to Tennessee," said Belichick. "It was a hard decision. As much as we'd like to work against them, just tried to balance the situation. There was a number of things involved."
The good news is that Bolden was able to travel back with the team, and Belichick said that the player is improving.
"Had an opportunity to talk to him and he's alert," Belichick said, praising the medical staff on the field Saturday night.
The Patriots were supposed to have joint practices with the Titans on Tuesday and Wednesday, but will now practice on their own behind Gillette Stadium. Monday will be a film day for players and coaches, where they'll pinpoint what the team needs to work over the next few days.
"We'll be on the field [Tuesday], so really two days this week -- a shorter week. We'll head down to Tennessee on Thursday. Spend time this morning on what we need the most and how to get the most out of these next two days," said Belichick. "Really a two-day planning process rather than one, so we'll figure out how to maximize Tuesday and Wednesday. We know what Thursday will look like.
"Today will be a day to review film and we'll put things into practice. Take today to figure out what the priorities are and we want to address those over the next two days," Belichick added.
Tune in to Friday night's Patriots-Titans preseason game on WBZ-TV -- your television home for the New England Patriots. Pregame coverage begins at 7:30 p.m. with Patriots GameDay, with full analysis after the game on Patriots 5th Quarter. You can also tune in to McCourty "Twincast" streaming on WBZ.com!
